1909.] Combinations in the Meat Trade. 215 



circumstances connected with the home meat and frozen meat 

 trades, any combination in regard to them would be extremely 

 difficult to establish or maintain, and they are satisfied that 

 no such combination exists or is likely to exist. Subject to 

 the consideration which is referred to below, the same may 

 be said of the Argentine trade. 



The position of the four American companies, which form 

 what is known as the United States Beef Trust, is discussed, 

 and in the opinion of the Committee a measure of combina- 

 tion does exist, and they describe the companies as carrying 

 on their business in co-operation rather than in competition, 

 though this co-operation appears to be for the purpose more 

 of advancing their own interests than of injuring the trade 

 of others. 



The conclusion of the Committee is that the combination 

 which exists between four of the United States companies 

 engaged in the beef trade in the United Kingdom is not at 

 present sufficiently powerful to be a serious danger to the 

 beef trade as a whole. About three-fifths of the total supply 

 of beef and veal comes from home-grown beasts, and of the 

 remainder a large and increasing proportion comes from 

 Argentina and Australasia — the supplies from the former 

 country having advanced very rapidly in the four latest 

 years. 



As regards Argentina, however, it appears that although 

 until lately the supplies of the United States firms trading in 

 the United Kingdom have been drawn solely from the United 

 States, one or other of the four American companies has 

 recently bought out two large Argentine companies, and it 

 seems certain also that other negotiations, having for their 

 object the acquisition of existing works in Argentina by 

 United States firms, are proceeding. There have also been 

 inquiries by representatives of United States firms in 

 Australia and New Zealand. 



The Committee gather from this that it is within the limits 

 of possibility, to put it no higher, that the United States 

 firms will acquire very considerable interests in Argentina, 

 and perhaps elsewhere. If this should be the case, it is not 

 improbable that the methods of combination, which have 

 been adopted so effectively in the United States, might be 



