506 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 



with care as to his previous qualifications and as to his fair-mindedness, 

 decision of character and tactfulness, a man to whom any of you can go 

 with any complaint which may arise in the process of marketing your 

 stock there and who will give it immediate attention if it is the sort of 

 complaint that can be handled on the spot. We have not said very much 

 about the results which have been accomplished by that organization, 

 but those of you who have come in contact with it know some of them. 

 We have been able to bring about a great many reforms in the live stock 

 markets. We have been able, I think, to show that the old practice of 

 boycotting the co-operative or the individual shipper has got to be stopped. 

 We had one round on that at St. Louis, and I think the matter 

 has been settled. Now and then there will be some friction come up, but 

 people have learned that the law does have teeth in it. At the time that 

 law was passed, I remember it was rather a common remark that the 

 amendments had taken the teeth out of the law. Well, I want to say to 

 you, as I have said many other times, that that law carries all the au- 

 thority that any one man ought to exercise, I do not care how fair-minded 

 he is or how able he may be. It carrier all the authority that any one 

 man ought to exercise over packers, stockyards companies and live stock 

 commission merchants, and as time goes on I think you will agree with 

 me that as the organization becomes more perfected, men become more 

 skilled in working in the discharge of their duties, I think you will agree 

 with me that that law will prove to be of tremendous benefit to the live 

 stock industry. 



Someone asked me about the proposed packing merger under that 

 law and wanted me to say something about it. I can not say much about 

 that that has not been said. One packer proposes to buy out another. 

 There is nothing in the law that specifically prohibits or forbids one 

 packer from buying out another. The law does give authority to put a stop 

 to anything which is in the nature of a monopoly or which has a tendency 

 toward monopoly, or which unreasonably restricts competition. The law 

 does not contemplate giving approval in advance to any transaction of the 

 sort proposed. The law does give authority to make a most complete 

 inquiry into the effect of that transaction. What will be done about that 

 will depend altogether on how the matter is presented and when. Up to 

 the present time there has been no formal application, and therefore no 

 action has been called for. That is about all I can say about it. 



We have conducted very considerable investigations as to the possible 

 effect. It is not an easy thing to determine what the effect will be. 

 Some may argue that that would result in increasing competition because 

 of the increased strength which comes from the bringing of two concerns 

 together and the economies which will result from that. Others argue 

 that it will restrict competition because it will take one set of buyers out 

 of the market. I suppose there are good arguments to be made on both 

 sides. It is one of the times when I would just as lief the law did not 

 have quite as much authority as it has, at least while I am there to 

 administer it. 



One piece of legislation which has been very generally desired by 

 farmers for twenty years past or more is the matter of intermediate farm 

 credits. That matter is now being considered by the committees in the 



