PACKERS AND STOCKYARDS ADMINISTRATION. 667 



PRICES STAMPED ON SCALE TICKETS. 



The question has been raised at different times whether it would 

 not be advisable for the price at which livestock is sold to be stamped 

 on the scale ticket at all markets. The merits of this plan have been 

 carefully studied by the administration, and at one important market 

 the members of the trade, including the stockyard company, have 

 cooperated with the administration by putting the plan into effect in 

 order to determine its merits. At the close of the fiscal year the plan 

 seemed to be working satisfactorily' at this market and had produced 

 practical benefits. 



FRAUDULENT PRACTICES. 



At a leading market the audit disclosed proof that one firm had 

 witliheld portions of the moneys due three cooperative shipping asso- 

 ciations. This information was imparted to officials of the exchange 

 of which the firm was a member. This giving of such information to 

 the exchange had previously been authorized by the members. A few" 

 days later the firm in question agreed in writing to repay with interest 

 the sums wrongfully withheld from cooperative shipping associations 

 and to dissolve its organization and discontinue its business in the 

 local commission field. Cases of this kind result in prompt and effec- 

 tive action. 



An attempt to continue to describe in detail the activities of 

 the Packers and Stockyards Administration in all markets would 

 lengthen this report to such an extent as to be burdensome; but as 

 there has been a considerable amount of discussion of the work of the 

 administration in the South St. Paul market, it is believed that a 

 brief statement of the results growing out of the audit of the books 

 of the commission agencies in that market will serve to illustrate the 

 manner in which the policies of the administration are carried out. 



A force of auditors was sent to the St. Paul market to audit the 

 books of the individual commission agencies. At that time we had 

 a conference with officials of the livestock exchange, which is com- 

 posed of most of the commission agencies at that market. They ex- 

 pressed their desire to cooperate with us in making the audit and told 

 us that if we found anything wrong on the part of any of their mem- 

 bers they wanted to know it, so that they could take disciplinary action 

 as provided for in their rules, and each of the members signed a state- 

 ment authorizing us to make known to the officials of the exchange 

 any irregularities of which the individual members might be guilty. 



Before the auditors had been at work very long they discovered 

 that some of the commission agencies had been engaged in irregular 

 or unfair trade practices. These were of varying seriousness. In 

 most of the transactions involved the market agencies did not derive 

 any direct profit. It appeared that in many cases it was the practice 

 for commission agencies to return out of the net proceeds of ship- 

 ments a small amount to the manager of a shipping association or the 

 individual who was responsible for handling the proceeds of the ship- 

 ment. This was the result of an arrangement between the shipping 

 manager and the commission agency under the apparent inducement 

 to the commission agency of holding the business of the shipping 

 association. We have no authority over these local shipping man- 



