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Show I BIG FOUR: Or Little 14? The U. S. government's spectacular spectacu-lar suit against the "big four" meat packing companies Swift, Armour, Cudahy and Wilson promised to be one of the biggest anti-trust actions since President Theodore Roosevelt said something about carrying a big stick. Filed by the justice department in federal court in Chicago, the suit asks that the four companies be broken up into 14 separate firms. Specifically, the U. S. wants Swift and Armour to be carved into five separate companies each and Wilson and Cudahy each to be split into two firms. TOM CLARK, attorney general, said in a statement: "The four defendants de-fendants named in the complaint are charged with suppressing competition competi-tion in the sale of meat .and meat products." The Sherman anti-trust law is being invoked in the action. Clark described the suit as "another "an-other in a series of cases instituted by the department of justice in furtherance fur-therance of its program to free the production and sale of food and food products from monopolistic restraints." re-straints." THE PACKERS had another story to tell, however, with "playing politics" poli-tics" as one of their key phrases. Said John Holmes, president of Swift and company: "It is significant that the charges appear at the beginning be-ginning of this fall's political campaign. cam-paign. Apparently an attempt Is being be-ing made to shift responsibility for inflationary price trends. "No one can control either livestock live-stock prices or meat prices," Holmes fumed. |