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Show Page UTAH LABOR NEWS. SALT LAKE CITY. UTAH SEPTEMBER 30. 1938 2 happened, according to the trade, that Continental got and made it possible for the new' comers to start in business by giving them credit. Established 1929 A MEMBER OF THE . These little canners couldnt afto put their goods into ware ford This paper receives Union Newt houses and wait until they could Service, a Cl. O, affiliate. sell at high prices. They had to sell right off in order to pay Continental. So they generally sold their goods at prices that simply matter March 28, 1930, at the post office allowed them to stay in business. Entered as second-clas- s And those prices were considerably at Salt Lake City, Utah, under the Act of March 3, 1879. below what Del Monte and Libby annum wanted to sell for. ' While the to$1.50 per Subscription tal volume of business done by the Advertising rates by request. little fellows wasnt large, it was Address all communications and remittances to Utah Labor News, enough to make trouble for the big canners. Utah. Salt Lake 28 South 4th East Street, City, Del Monte and Libby couldnt do Published weekly at 28 South 4th East Street, Salt Lake City, anything about the closed-dow- n canneries their little competitors Utah. Telephone Was. 2981. had leased. And they couldnt do Publisher much about Continental Can. They M. I. THOMPSON. could, however, do something about Office Manager L. M. THOMPSON. raw' material prices about the price of peaches. Both Del Monte and Libby are owners and operators of big peach farms. Besides the farms they We stand for what the Constitution stands for own, they likewise control the out domestic tranquility, the establishment of justice, and put of a hundred or so huge farm the promotion of the general welfare. con corporations via long-tertracts. Exactly how much of the UTAH LABOR NEWS. peach crop is thus directly controlled by the big canners nobody knows, but some in the industry better than 50 per cent of the say that it is as high as 50 per cent MONOPOLY Canners clings, the Industry of the crop. Board covered Hog-tie- d less than Them agreement AT WORK half of the pack. But Libby and Now it happened that last year Del Monte must have given a bless- there was a bumper crop of cling (Continued from Page 1) ing to their old friend and business peaches. Despite the big supply, associate in his new job because Del Monte and Heartless Monopoly Libby went into the The story might well begin with they, too, offered not to sell their field and bought at prices 50 per the first Iowan who sold out his peaches below the high price set by cent higher than they had paid the business at home and went to the the Board. before. The trade price for Under the small canners agree- year land of sun and beauty to invest clings went up to $45 a canning his earnings in a peach farm. But ment a time limit was set on the ton. The smaller canners and the that would get into too long a story price fixing. That limit was the very little newcomers had to pay of successive Iowans drained dry in first of August this year about that price and did. They took a the time the peach growers would life and death risk in California farm speculation. doing' so, but The recent shorter story can have a new crop ready to market. not to have bought would have well begin with a central figure, a The agreement held. Neither the meant going out of business. prominent Oakland lawyer who has smaller canners in the Canners InWhen the fall of the year came figured largely in canning affairs dustry Beard nor the two big can- around peaches werent selling; in California for a number of ners sold for less until a week or they were too high. Then Lawyer years. IIi3 name is Harrison Rob- so before the deadline. Robinson came into the picture inson. g with his Monopoly Profits scheme and Lawyer Robinson is currently the the smaller canners fell for it. The results of this g director of the Canners Industry operation were several: Again they risked their commerBoard. Hes a number of other of cases (1) 8,000,000 Only cling cial lives. True, Del Monte and things besides. He has a law busisold were Last Libby kept their prices up, too; but this peaches year. ness. He owns some other busi- year and the sale they didnt risk much. the before, year nesses. Little is known exactly was 10,000,000 cases. In the first place, these giants And, this 20 about the ramifications of either. cent idrop in sales took' place have large sales forces and adverper Before he was made director of an industry advertising tising budgets. They are in a the Canners Industry Board, Rob despite to move a good part of over position campaign $300,000 costing inson was head of the California which the peach farmers were their goods through wholesale and Processors and Growers Associa taxed to retail channels via this sales and for. pay was That tion. organization A huge carry-ov(2) advertising pressure. The smaller (unsold spawned in 1936. Prime mover in cans) of 5,500,000 cases lies unsold canners, who cant afford big adits setup was Del Monte. It was in the warehouses instead of the vertising appropriations, must sell organized at a time when cannery usual carry-ovof about 3,000,000 on a price basis to move their workers were beginning to form cases. goods in competition with Del unions, and its purpose was to act Monte and Libby. But with the The small canners face (3) as an employer united front on la- bankruptcy because of the loss smaller canners hog-tie- d through bor policies. Robinson was consid- - must sustain on this excessive they the agreement with the Canners carry-ered a find for that job. over. Industry Board, Libby and Del As his assistant in running the Monte had no price competition to Because of the carry-ove- r, (4) Processors and Growers' Associa- farmers are now being offered as worry about. tion, Robinson brought in another low as $5 a ton for their peaches In yet another way Del Monte lawyer whose name is J. Paul St. when it costs them at least $20 a and Libby had an advantage not Sure. When Robinson left the Pro- ton to grow them. . available to Pinecessors and Growers Association is a Who benefits and all from this of canned apple competitor to become head of the Canners In- how? peaches. When canned peaches dustry Board, St. Sure took over and large, and in the long get too high, consumers are likely By his old job. The two are known to run, the business has been to buy more pineapple and less have worked closely together in the highly canning and Del Monte peaches. Now three canners do alprofitable past. And the notion is widespread has been by far the biggest profit-mak- most all of the pineapple packing. that they are, or until recently have (except for the can com- They are Hawaiian Pineapple combeen, partners. At the moment panies, which is another story). pany (Dole), Del Monte and Libby. Lawyer St. Sure is representing Since the depression, however, the So there they stand, Del Monte Del Monte in a case brought domination of Del Monte and runn- and Libby. against them by the NLRB. er-up has geen made less Libby Pineapple Trust Sets a Trap not really threatserene, Their although sales look rosy. pineapple the Lawyer Robinsons concern, the into the packing (The pineapple industry, according Canners Industry Board, is some- ened, by of aentry number of tiny new- to the newspapers, is planning the industry thing new. It was set up about a comers. These little fellows had biggest advertising campaign yet year ago, ostensibly by the smaller no big financial backing. They for this year.) And on peaches canners which, in California, didnt build new canneries, genergot the small canner commeans everybody except Del Monte but simply leased old can- theyve ally, and ing If he drops his going. and Libby. Its purpose, Robinson neries that had shut down on during his price peaches now he runs has said, was to stabilize the can- the dark 1930-3of days the of risk because it bankruptcy ning industry of the state. It would cost him so much to buy them. If Farmer Takes a Rap do this by agreements between its Their entry into the field was he doesnt drop his prices he wont members. One of those agreemade possible primarily by a quirk., sell many and Del Monte and Libd ments was that none of its in between the two big by will move their own in large competition members would sell canned cling can American and and profitable volume because they companies dozen for less than $1.55 a peaches Continental. In of ways, wont face any price competition. lots for No. 2 choice quality cans. American Can and Meantime the farmers face ruinCan Continental Now $1.55 is a very high price. do not act like ation. The carry-ovFor is so big competitors. But it was necessary, said Robinhave that maintained the small the instance, canners they have been because son, farmers had been paid such a high price for their peaches price on cans like good partners afraid to pack much, hence the can- the summer before. And it wasnt all through the depression. But a monopoly agreement, according American, far and away the bigger A Welcome, Labor contracts to him, because Libby and Del of the two, had long-terPawith the on canners the major Monte were not members of the Canners Industry Board, thus not cific Coast. Continental wanted a Boulevard Service slice of this business. And so it party to the agreement. Station Since, according to Robinson, Del and Monte Libby together pack W. V. Palmer, F. N. Wells, DE FRANCESCO Props. Welcome, Labor MUSIC CO. GAS - OILS - TIRES Interesting volumes on almost any Specializing in subject, for every member of the Coin Operated Phonographs REPAIRING family, can be found at $50 up. Quality, Satisfaction ZIONS BOOK STORE 1445 So. Main 133 W. 2nd So. Hy. 8593 Was. 4850 28 E. 1st South Was. 3006 big-heart- ed tSftaf) Hafcor 04. m price-riggin- as nery workers as wellare sacrificed. and farmers laborers to And the big canners do not plancan- more hence pack much either, nCAlreadyfaccording to the Pacific sold Rural Press, Del Monte has some of the peaches f?row own farms. Both Del Monte and the bankLibby can buy up from this canners small of sales ruptcy than cheaper year and get peaches could pack them. themselves they consumers that mean Nor does this to get peaches at a very are likely much cheaper price. Del Monte ana Libby can afford to wait. LABOR ON ITS FORWARD MARCH CANNERY WORKERS WIN $700,000 WASHINGTON CIO salmon cannery workers in Seattle and Portland, Ore., have just won one of the largest wage boosts in northwest labor history, under an award announced by a Fact Finding Board set up to regulate rates for 02 canneries. The amount is $700,000, to be divided among workers. 3600 of Monopoly Ways The unions, Locals 7 and 226 case is a history skeleton in Here and Agriculof the effects of business combine of the CIO Cannery secured the boost life tural Workers, and monopoly on the economic a of farmstiff result as a fight put up of the country. Consumers, 20 wage cut ers, small business men (in this against the on page 3) case, small canners) and workers bear the brunt of this raid on their resources. Best Wishes Lawyer Robinson and Lawyer St. Sure are, personally, not so very Joseph U. Peterson important. They are obvious pawns and, while Robinson is getting his TRUCK BODY BUILDER salary of $75,000 a year from the AH makes built to speciCanners Industry Board and St. fications the at sum a Sure is earning tidy Also Platforms and Stakes helm of the big canning companies drive against the trade unions, the 133 E. 4th So., Salt Lake City real payoff is going to Del Monte Was. 10236; Res. W. 8740-and Libby. There is some evidence that the WRITE OR PHONE US canners realize they may have gone FOR ESTIMATE too far in this game. The farmers are angry. The canning companies are looking for a convenient red herring. There is talk about ringing in the Associated Farmers to Best Wishes to Labor draw such a fish across the trail. Western Consumers Union has heard that this organization is GOLDEN DAWN proposing to launch a campaign to persuade California peach farmers DAIRY that organized labor, not organized monopoly, is behind the ruin GOLDEN RICH SPECIAL that faces them today- MILK But the facts are as youve just read them in the Utah Labor COTTAGE CHEESE News. BUTTERMILK First Golfer Confound it, sir, 201 Brook Ave. you nearly hit my wife. Phone Hy. 3127 Today Second Golfer Did I? 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