NINETEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 401 



at that time, 'where the territory was divided, each to pay a certain por- 

 tion of the territory mapped out. Of course, that method of control and 

 combination was abandoned shortly after that time, on account of tho 

 government prosecution, and they adopted another system which accom- 

 plished the same result, and that was by dividing and turning in the re- 

 ceipts, each packer taking a certain percentage of the receipts at the 

 various markets. For instance, a market like Denver, where Swift and 

 Armour are the only ones, they divided on the 50-50 basis, as young Philip 

 wrote his uncle a number of years ago. He was out there looking over 

 the Denver plant, and he wrote to his uncle: "You know the divide here 

 is on a 50-50 basis, and our plant here is so inadequate that there should 

 be immediate improvements here." Mr. Armour explains that 50-50 basis, 

 not on the basis of combination, but on the ground that that was the 

 natural economic division of the business at that point. It just came 

 about naturally. It is a good deal like Arthur Meeker talked a number of 

 years ago. He said: "Well, what are you fellows trying to do, anyhow? 

 This business is a natural monopoly, and you can't get away from it." I 

 was going to say, on the basis of $1,700,000, if Armour and the two Eddies 

 had contributed their proportion that would be about $5,000,000 that these 

 people spent for advertising alone. That would make quite a little differ- 

 ence in the price, if it could be divided between the producer and the 

 consumer, without doing any harm to anyobdy. 



I would like to read you ju3t a few words in regard to the publicity 

 situation. We were at our wits' end to know how we were going to 

 combat this campaign. Our friend charged us with being in a conspiracy 

 yesterday, and he also said he had it on good authority that the Market 

 Committee themselves had spent $150,000 per annum in connection with 

 this work, and he thought that was a pretty dangerous thing in the hands 

 of men who might misuse that fund, and it might be well to have some 

 kind of an investigation to find out hov/ that money was used. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, I am sorry to say that the money we could get last year to 

 combat this $5,000,000 campaign of the packers was only $13,550. I am 

 sorry we did not have $150,000, because then we might have gotten a little 

 publicity as a counter-offensive. We recently got out a statement to the 

 editors of the United States, in which we clearly stated our position, and 

 I am just going to stop long enough to read you a few lines from that 

 statement: 



"The American National Live Stock Association views with serious 

 concern the extraordinary campaign of concentrated power and concen- 

 trated profits which the packers have been and still are conducting to 

 influence American public opinion. 



"It does not possess the financial resources with which to combat it 

 on its own ground, even if it desired to do so. All it does desire to do is 

 to make certain that the evidence and arguments of all parties in so vital 

 a controversy shall be fairly and fully presented to the great popular 

 jury of the country. 



"It believes that neither the producer nor the consumer desire any- 

 thing that is unfair to those who perform the necessary and useful func- 

 tions of slaughtering live stock and marketing its meat and other prod- 



