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Show LET'S BE HONEST ABOUT PACKERS ALSO. (Tho Doily Republican, Cedar Rapids, Friday, July 25.) Senator Kenyon and those who think as he does, have been nettled by the fact that letters have been written to Wash, pro : testing aglnst some of the features of the packers' bill now pend-' ing in congress. In a statement the senator said: i "Telegrams and letters are pouring in on senators and representatives rep-resentatives by the hundreds from people who know nothing whatever about these bills, but are stimulated to protest by the agents of tho packers now active all over the United States. "They now have agents in their employ travel around the country interviewing retair merchants, telling them that these bills will destroy them, borrowing letter heads from storekeepers on which thoy send their letters to congress, stimulating commercial, com-mercial, bodies and leading banks to believe that these bills wiij simply destroy the nation. This battle is fast becoming onq to find out wheathcr the packers, with their combination and monopoly, mon-opoly, are so strong that they can practically prevent tho consideration con-sideration of bills to regulate them." Our esteemed senator should not bo peevish about that Let it be borne in mind that the people havo the right to protest and the right to inake their wishes and opinions knows. Congress men chould of all be most anxious to hear from them. It is possible that some of the correspondent he has been prompted by; the packers. That is often done. There is not a matter in congress con-gress that the protest do not come that tho people write t their congressmen on their own motion. The people are In dlf-fencnt dlf-fencnt and even unkowing. Tho packers' bill might not Interest them until their attention had been called, to It. But let It not be assumed that all those who write at such suggestions are ignorant of the bills or that thoy have no opinions opin-ions on tho provisions of that bill. It is well to boar in mind also that all the opposition to the packers is not from tho people direct, but much of It, on tho contrary, has been cleverly directed direct-ed by other big corporatcd interests. The cereal mill men havo seen the packers invade their field and tho wholesale grocers have Been them enter competition with them and those Intcrsb ed In mills and groceries of that kind have been active in creating creat-ing the sentiment that Senator Kenyon has embodied in liis bill. It is largely a fight of conflicting Interests, more than It is a fight of the people. Nor is It plain to many men that further regulation of the packers is going to accomplish what Senator Kenyon is hoping for, that is to lower food prices. It is attacking the proposition in the middle and the attack 1b made there to onvado either end It Is safer to make tho attack on thc'TIve" who are supposed to constitute the packers that it is to make It on tho fanners a tho other end, yet it Is possible that either one of those ends or both of them have something to do with the high costs of living. liv-ing. After the packers havo been smashed to smitherens will mpa prices be lowered? May they be mado higher because is 1 not true that the meat packing business as conducted on th present big scale has reduced to a minimum tho charges for tho, part of the process of supplying food to tho people? Unless tl, packers aro liars, and If thoy are they oujlit to bo hanged, they are not greatly to blame for the prices of meats. Their sworn HUtftemcntu are to the effect that it Is only a fraitlon of a cent a' pjound that clings to their hands. It is a quarter of a cent w believe that Is added to tho whole carcass that is to say, "they handle every animal at a profit to themselves at about a quarte of a cent a pound. If the packers are smashed will that quarto of a cent bo saved. The killing and the curing and preparing oB meats must still be done and will the new agencies be able tJ do it for less? The packers say that of every $100 that they receive from all sources connected with meats, they pay $85 ct it to tho producers of the animals, tho farmers, $13 more of it to the laboring men who do tho work.. That makes $98 In all and tho other two dollars are what the packers have for their I profits, including Interest on their investments. If these statements arc true, and they ought to bo suscitlbl of rcmonstrntion, then it is not tho packers who are to blame for the high prices, for only one-fiftieh, or two dollars of cperj; hundred stays in their hands. If that Is a true statement then ' our legislative, reformers aro on tho wrong track, and If they are j not true then the falsity of it ought Co be shown and the men wh( 1 havo made tho false sworn statements ought to be punished for j it. What can be saved to tho people who pay high prices for meals by attacking those two dollars In a hundred which they, pay for meats? Is It not a ridiculous proposition that tho cost of foods can bo lowered by such processes? The primary part of the high meat prices is in the prices that are being paid to farmers. In Iowa we are fanners all, but there is no use in lying about It. Twenty-three and a half for hogs means high prices for meats and nothing else can be mado out of it. What is the uso of trying to make anything else out of It? But no senator from Iowa would have the political courage to propose to proceed by investigating fann prices and they would find that farmers' prices are necessarily high with tho other high things, such as com and labor and land. You cannot cu $15 bacon from a $23.50 hog. Why not havo this admitted, overt in congress? And is the packer responsible for the price paid for hogs. Somo believe that, but every farmer knows that It is not packer pack-er but the price of corn that makes tho prlco ol hogs. There is left the retailer and the costs of distribution, including includ-ing deliveries of meats to homes that enters the problem. And here wo have a sad fact to consider. And that sad fact is that I it costs almost as much per pound to distribute and deliver meata as 'the total costs paid to the farmer and packer. Meat that leaves tho packer at 20 cents a pound may cost the consumer 40 cents a pound In the big cities, and even at such prices tho butchers but-chers who cut it up and distribute it do not make much money) and few of them grow rich. But can that problem be solvd by Investigating and upsetting the packers? Is it an honest way to get at it even? We hold no brief for any packers. In Cedar Rapids we havo a packing house which is highly esteemed as a business Institu- I tion and which all of us believe is conducted along stralghtfor- I ward and honorable lines, but we assure Senator Kenyon and-,all and-,all others that not a man connected with that plant has suggest' ed the writing of a word of this, or has ever asked us to write I a word In their defense. Mr. Kenyon has refered to tho facti that some of the packers hove been running paid advertisement in the noys, paper and assumes that that Vug (loiio"tu,lnriueirtqr the editorial policies of the papers. That is not a correct or oven honest conclusion. It is an assult upon tho integrity of tho honest as the rest of mankind, inclcding tho two houses of coti- v gross, and while the press Is spotted, it is-at least as honest as tho rest of mankind, rolltlcans, when they run for offices nowadays, nowa-days, insert paid adv. for themselves In tho newspapers but it should not be assumed that they do that to influence editoiia expression. They do It to get themselves before the people and tlie packers advertise to get their side before the people and they, have the same right to do that as pollticans have no more and ho less. We would like to seo tho high prices of meats knocked galley, . west, but can a national reduction be hoped for by attacking the 'packers all over again? If their sworn statements about ern-Ings ern-Ings and profits aro correct and true then there is nothing to be hoped for along such lines, and congress ought to seek a solution solu-tion in other ways; plaything politics is not going to boIvo anything any-thing now, but It may upset more, things and this does no0( mean we think Senator Kenyon is playing politics; he Is sol doubt sincere seeking a remedy for a growing complaint. |