AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



The demand for an investigation of the industry grew. After some 

 controversy, the President ordered the Federal Trade Commission to in- 

 vestigate the industry from the "hoof to the table," as someone put it, to 

 determine whether or not there were any "manipulations, controls, trusts, 

 combinations, or restraints out of harmony with the law or the public in- 

 terest." 16 As the investigation proceeded, the clamor for reform mounted. 

 In so far as the press, the public, and the politicians were concerned, the 

 meat packers were chiefly responsible for the high cost of living. 17 



Shortly after the Federal Trade Commission had completed its investiga- 

 tion and made its recommendations, bills were introduced in both houses 

 authorizing the President to acquire and operate the large stockyards 

 which the commission had recommended to be taken over. Two of the 

 proposals provided for government acquisition and operation of the larger 

 stockyards, while one, the Kenyon bill, strictly a war measure, treated the 

 meat-packing business as a public utility. 



The meat-packing industry also became a prime concern of the "red- 

 baiting" Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer. Finally, at the request 

 of the packers, a conference was arranged between their representatives 

 and Palmer, who stipulated that the packers must agree to "go out and 

 stay out directly and indirectly, from all the lines of business unrelated 

 to the meat business, and in addition must submit to an enforceable in- 

 junction against any act that would constitute a violation of the Sherman 

 Anti-trust law. . . ." Eventually this led to the drawing-up of the Packers' 

 Consent Decree, which had the effect of congressional legislation on the 

 subject but with one major difference: by cleaning up the packing in- 

 dustry from within, this decree was intended to forestall the passage of 

 the more drastic legislation that had been recommended by the Federal 

 Trade Commission. 



But agitation for legislation to regulate the packers persisted despite 

 the decree, and the result was the enactment of the Packers and Stock- 

 yards Act in 1921. This measure provided that packers engaged in inter- 

 state commerce were prohibited from resorting to unfair, discriminatory, 

 or deceptive practices, manipulating or controlling prices, or otherwise 



1 6. G. O. Virtue, "The Meat-Packing Investigation," Quarterly Journal of Eco- 

 nomics, XXXIV (August, 1920), pp. 626-30. 



17. "Packers State Their Case," Literary Digest, LXIII (October 4, 1919), pp. 

 14-15. 



