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Show GREAT INDUSTRY WILL BE REORGANIZED BY PACKING HEADS CHICAGO, Dec. 18. Segregation or disposal dis-posal Of commercial lines not directly allied al-lied with the meat and provision business of the five great packing companies, as agreed upon between them and the United States attorney general, announced by the latter today, will involve reorganization reorganiza-tion of a huge industry with assets of more than $1,000,000,000. The agreement was regarded by the packers as marking an epoch In industry, in that for the first time big business bows to public opinion. Tho packers said that 'heretofore they have conducted their business with regard re-gard to economics and legality. They have been sure of their economics and equally certain of the legality of their business methods, they say, and now thev have taken account of the good will of the public. In divorcing their lines not directlv connected con-nected with the meatn and provision business, busi-ness, many organizations with separate identities, involving millions of capital, are expected to come into being. Some of them had already begun the segregation segrega-tion process. Will Drop All Control. In the reorganization the firm names of Armour & Co., Swift & Co.. Morris & Co., Wilson & Co., and the Cudahy Packing Pack-ing company are expected to be absent from the controlling boards of the separate sep-arate corporations. The five big packing companies will he restricted to meats and provisions, Includ- ing butter, egss, poultry and cheese. While prohibited under the agreement from owning own-ing stockyards, stockyard terminals and other interests not directly related to meiits and provisions, they were not separated sep-arated from ownership of refrigerator car lines, but the use of such cars was restricted re-stricted to handling their meat business. busi-ness. According to packers' representatives, soap, glue, cleansing powder and fertilizer manufacturing is directly connected with the meat business and will be retained. Groceries, canned fruits and vegetables, cereals and leather were among the side lines expected to be dropped to other concerns. Segregation Is Begun. Swift & Co. already has segregated Its leather, canned fruit and vegetable business. busi-ness. Armour & Co. do not manufacture cereals, which, it was expained,' is tho province of the Armour Grain company, although the former company had distributed distrib-uted the latter's products. Wilson & Co. also has disposed of its groceries. All statements from tho packers tonight reaffirmed that they had violated no laws; that their agreement with the at-tornev at-tornev general implied no guilt on their part, but that they had encountered prejudice preju-dice which they wished to eradicate. Edward Morris, president of the Morris Mor-ris companv, said the packers "still insist in-sist that It was In the interest of the livestock live-stock producers" that stockyards should be owned by people interested in tho industry, in-dustry, and that the packers' staple grocery gro-cery business was sound economically and "in the interest of the public generally," because 1t utilized facilities in slack seasons, sea-sons, reduced overhead expenses and furnished fur-nished the retailer excellent service. He added: Strong Public Feeling. "If this business is taken away, either tho livestock producer must get less for the live meat animals or the consumer must pay more for meat. But we live in a democracy and, rightly or wrongly, a strong feeling has been created in the public mind against these activities on the part of tho packers, and in order to meet and satisfy that opinion we have met this issue with our government with true Americanism , and along big, broad and constructive linen. " . .-, The settlemenf would, necessitate no readjustment re-adjustment of the .corporate organization. organiza-tion. Mr. Morris said, explaining- that "we are simply giving .up 'certain activities." "We hope the public now will accord fair treatment to this vital industry and in tho future eliminate needless and unjustified un-justified criticism and agitation, which helps no one and hurls all." Louis F. Swift, president of Swift & Co said his company had "consented to retire from the distribution of groceries and to dispose of its interests in public stockyards." and that the step was taken "at the suggestion of the department of justice and in spite of tho fact that there is no law requiring It." He said his company com-pany was "convinced It was justified In being In those lines of business it will drop." Armour's Statement. J. Ogden Armour, president of Armour ('o., made this statement: "In agreeing to the terms of the decree referred to In the attorney general's statement, state-ment, Armour it Co. 'have aliandon.il a jmsitinn which w.'is economically sound and which was unassailable from a legal standpoint, wholly because of our desire to bend the knee to public opinion an opinion not justified by the facts, but strong for all that. "Armour & Co. at all times will do their part in cooperating with the government gov-ernment in its attempt to allay the unrest un-rest now prevailing in the country and to prevent any suspicion of the public toward the great and vital industry in which they are engaged." Packer representatives pointed out that no antitrust suits have been filed against the big packers. They said the only actions ac-tions pending were a grand jury investigation inves-tigation begun in Chicago on September 1 and then suspended; complaints issued by the federal trade commission, alleging unfair competition, not yet heard, and the interstate commerce commission's hearings on the National Wholesale Growers' Gro-wers' association complaint that refrigerator re-frigerator cars were used to haul groceries and thus packers were favored over wholesale grocers by the railroads. That latter action, however, was directed against the railroads. Probe Is Not Dropped. District Attorney Clyne said tonight that tho grand jury quiz had not been dropped and that it had been his understanding under-standing that it would be resumed in the near future. Clifford Thorne, counsel for the National Wholesale Grocers' association, tonight said that he had communicated with the big packing companies, insisting that hearing by the interstate commerce commission com-mission of the association's complaint that the railroads favor the packers in allowing groceries to be hauled in and distributed from packers' refrigerator cars be resumed January 10 or early thereafter. there-after. Mr. Thorne said that "efforts to unscramble un-scramble eggs have generally resulted in "the public has been entertained with several interesting and amusing farces, staged in our courtrooms, entitled dissolution disso-lution suits." and that the original organization or-ganization emerged stronger than before. |