Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Now, do you understand that the Big Five can put you out of business if they wanted to?

Mr. BRENNAN. Let me answer that question in this way.

There

is not anything in the world that would stop the big packers from putting me out of business by going out and holding a gun up to my head and shooting me.

Mr. MARSH. Very well. Do you think it is any encouragement to the independent cooperative packing plant to have that condition continue?

Mr. BRENNAN. Here is all I can say. You heard my statement about what our success has been in 15 years. I am satisfied; I am getting along in years; I have enough to go ahead and live on, and if the big packers can do anything, why, all right. They have not done anything to me that I am sorry for. I am going along in my own way. I am not inviting any scrap with anybody; I am attending to my business as I have always done; and I think that is what the country wants-that people should attend to their own business and go along in a reasonable and sane way, and if they are doing pretty well let it go at that.

Mr. MARSH. Well, of course, you do not blame the committee for taking the public viewpoint?

Mr. BRENNAN. Certainly not, but don't you see the reasonableness of the stand I take?

Mr. MARSH. You have asked me a question. With the permission of the chairman I will answer it.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not care whether you answer it or not.
Mr. MARSH. Very well, I know you are hurried.

Mr. ANDERSON. Do you operate branch houses, Mr. Brennan?
Mr. BRENNAN. Not exactly what we call branch houses.

We have

sales branches. For instance, we have a representative in New York-an office.

Mr. ANDERSON. And you use public storage?

Mr. BRENNAN. Well, it is usually sold on track, you know, by special orders-delivered.

Mr. ANDERSON. To jobbers or retailers?

Mr. BRENNAN. To wholesalers; that is, butchers and that classham boilers.

Mr. ANDERSON. You do not operate any branch houses as such? Mr. BRENNAN. Not outside of Chicago. We have sales departments at different points in the East-Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

Mr. MARSH. Just to keep the record straight, I do not agree with the proposition the gentleman put to me, as I understand it.

May I ask this final question: I did not hear you object to the railroads owning the stockyards. Do you see any objection to such ownership of the principal and necessary stockyards?

Mr. BRENNAN. I have not had that question brought up. I did not know the railroads had any interest in the stockyards.

Mr. MARSH. No. Of course, they are owned largely by the packers now. I do not know the details of that, but the suggestion has been made by the Farmers' National Council and others that the railroads acquire the principal and necessary stockyards.

Mr. BRENNAN. I shall be glad to answer that by giving you the experience I have had. I have been in Chicago in the stockyards for

41 years. I have not been in the packing business that long, but I have been 41 years in the stockyards, and intimately connected with the people doing the actual business there, in touch with them all the time, and I have never seen or known of or experienced any difference as to who owned the stockyards or who did not. I have been there a long time, as I told you, and the question has never occurred to me; it has never been discussed by people doing business in the stockyards-shippers or speculators or packers. It never seemed to occur to them to make any difference who owned the stockyards. That is how uninterrupted was the business carried on through all those years.

Mr. ANDERSON. Have you operated in other stockyards than Chicago?

Mr. BRENNAN. Only in buying our supplies at times. For instance, we might send an order for a few loads of cattle to St. Paul, or a few loads of hogs-Sioux City, Kansas City, Louisville, or St. Louiswhen in our judgment it would probably be a little bit cheaper than we could buy them in some other market.

Mr. ANDERSON. You buy through order buyers in those cases, I assume?

Mr. BRENNAN. Usually, yes.

Mr. ANDERSON. The only reason I asked you that question is that your experience in the Chicago yards would not be significant so far as packer ownership is concerned, because there has not been much, if any, there until recent years.

Mr. BRENNAN. But I say I have never had any difficulty in securing supplies from any market, wherever we found it to our advantage to give orders.

Mr. MARSH. Were you a live-stock commission man before you went into the packing business?

Mr. BRENNAN. No; I was a live-stock speculator.

Mr. MARSH. You did not conduct any commission business at all? Mr. BRENNAN. No; I never had anything to do with any commission business-just a speculator in a small way.

Mr. LEE. Just buying and selling?

Mr. BRENNAN. Just buying and selling.

Mr. BURKE. May I ask you this, along the line of Mr. Andersons' questions, about branch houses? Mr. Brennan, do you find it to your disadvantage at times, particularly in times of oversupply and glutted markets, not to have these branch-house facilities where you are shipping your refrigerator cars? Do you find it a drawback to your business?

Mr. BRENNAN. Not having had that experience, don't you know, I could not say.

Mr. BURKE. You must have the experience of running into glutted markets at times when you have your refrigerator car out and get it down to some distributing center?

Mr. BRENNAN. But those sales are made in advance before they are shipped.

Mr. BURKE. Don't you ever shoot them out into space and have to depend on the market to take care of them?

Mr. BRENNAN. Oh, no; we could not afford to do that unless we had some connection with a broker that we might ship the stuff to on consignment. That has often been done both here and abroad

I do not speak of beef now when I speak of shipping abroad, but other products-pork products, for instance.

Mr. BURKE. But the ownership of branch houses on your part would be of decided advantage to you in your way of doing business? Mr. BRENNAN. If we had enough we might consider that it would, but don't you know, it requires a larger organization and a little more trouble?

Mr. BURKE. And a little more money.

Mr. BRENNAN. Not so much the money; but it requires a bigger organization. For instance, if we had a branch in Washington we would have to have a little organization, four or five men; and in case our manager here quit then we would be up against a difficult proposition. I think that explains the situation pretty well. On the other hand, if you have a representative, a broker who sells your product on commission, I do not know that there is any great handicap.

Mr. BURKE. But that broker does not have storage facilities, so if you did not happen to find a market he could not take care of it? Mr. BRENNAN. There are brokers who have storage facilities and refrigeration. That is true; I know that.

Mr. RAINEY. If you believed it to be advantageous to your business, you would establish branch houses?

Mr. BRENNAN. Yes; there would not be any law against it, of

course.

The CHAIRMAN. You said your plant was outside the stockyards? Mr. BRENNAN. Yes; just outside of the stockyards..

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any opportunities for new concerns to engage in the business?

Mr. BRENNAN. Why, yes; there is if they can get a location and if they wish to. In fact, I know some who are building now, possibly. The CHAIRMAN. Locations are available?

Mr. BRENNAN. Yes, it is possible.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have to drive your stock through the streets?

Mr. BRENNAN. I do not have to, but other people do.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any other locations accessible to the yards?

Mr. BRENNAN. Not that I know of.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well. We are very grateful to you, sir.
Mr. BRENNAN. I am much obliged to you, gentlemen.

Mr. RAINEY. I will ask the committee to hear Mr. Baldwin.

STATEMENT OF MR. M. W. BALDWIN, TRAFFIC MANAGER, REPRESENTING THE SIOUX CITY LIVE STOCK EXCHANGE, SIOUX CITY, IOWA.

Mr. BALDWIN. Mr. Chairman, I have here a few telegrams and letters from constituents at Sioux City, which I would like to put into the record, even if you do not care for me to take the time to read them. They are the usual kind of letter and telegram that comes from people who are interested in these matters, but I would like to read them if there is no objection.

The CHAIRMAN. You might read one.

Mr. ANDERSON. I have about 500 of them in my office if you are going to start that practice. I am perfectly willing to have you start it if you want to.

Mr. RAINEY. I agree with Mr. Anderson; I have got them, too. Mr. BALDWIN. This letter is from C. S. Buckley & Sons, of Dakota City, Nebr., and Holstein, Iowa; they have two places [reading]: HOLSTEIN, IOWA-DAKOTA CITY, NEBR., February 28, 1920.

PAUL H. CALDWELL,

Secretary Sioux City Live Stock Exchange, Sioux City, Iowa. GENTLEMEN: Wish you would use all your influence to prevent the passage of the Anderson bill now before Congress and fight any similar bill that comes up.

The sooner those folks down at Washington can be made to realize that this continual agitation against the live-stock business is costing cattle feeders thousands of dollars, that it is such bills as these Kenyon-Kendrick-Anderson affairs that spell ruination for the stockmen, that an end to such nonsense would do much to strengthen livestock conditions and would serve to increase instead of decrease rural production, the better off this country will be.

Government control of the railroads was a complete failure and mighty expensive to the live-stock men. Government control of the telephones was not a success, so then why take anything of such importance as the live-stock industry away from men who thoroughly understand the business and have made a success of it? Every move to hamper the packer is a blow to the live-stock producer, and there are too many limitations now. Thanking you, we are,

Yours, truly,

There are only eight of those.

C. S. BUCKLEY & SONS, By C. S. BUCKLEY.

The CHAIRMAN. Are they all of the same character?

Mr. BALDWIN. They are all of the same character.

Mr. MCLAUGHLIN of Michigan. If they are all of the same character, you might give the names.

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes; if you want to give the names of the parties they are from, I will not object to that.

Mr. BALDWIN. One is from Mr. Payne Sargisson, addressed to W. D. Boies, Representative, Washington, D. C. He is the largest landholder in the county of Woodbury, State of Iowa.

Here is another from R. E. Richards, Moville, Iowa, producer and feeder of live stock. It is to the same effect.

Another from Peter Lamp, of Mapleton, Iowa, a large producer and feeder of live stock.

One from Henry Willer, who lives at Akron, Iowa. He is a large feeder of live stock and buys most of his stock west of the River.

C. P. Downing, of Ute, Iowa. I think he is a banker and also a live-stock man.

The Fullerton Lumber Co., of Platte, S. Dak. They maintain a buying station at Platte.

F. P. Swan Lumber Co., who also maintain a buying station. H. H. Cable, of Hudson, S. Dak. He is a large feeder of live stock. Then there is a telegram from the Sioux City Live Stock Exchange, sent to Mr. Boies:

Having heard from a multiplicity of our patrons, producers of live stock, most earnestly protest as to the proposal to place control and supervision of the live-stock industry in the hands of a commission or bureau, without prescribed limitation as to their regulatory powers. We again register our most vigorous opposition to pending legislation. On behalf of the producer and ourselves we most earnestly pray your opposition to all such legislative action which does not have the unqualified indorsement of the actual producer of live stock.

Representing the Sioux City Live Stock Exchange, we desire to protest against the passage of this bill, believing that the future good of the public will not be served by hampering restrictions and arti

ficially increased production in the live stock business. The history of the past few years is eloquent in denunciation of the latter. During the war the farmer and live stock raiser, imbued with patriotism, "did his bit," and our armies and allies were well fed.

Stock raising made rapid increase in order to meet the ever increasing demand for food. Urged on by the Covernment, and by the individuals' honest desire to be of help in making the world safe for democracy, production was so increased as to meet the demands. To-day the war is over; the demand for live stock is greatly reduced, the prices are lower to such extent that financial ruin is staring many men in the face who made the war supply possible.

History will show that this is not an isolated case; that wherever artificial stimulus is applied, results are bad in the final reckoning; what is excusable, what is the right and proper thing to do under stress of war, is frequently the reverse in peace; we are firmly of the opinion that it is not to the interest of the producer of live stock that artificial stimuli be applied to this industry at this time; for whenever legislative action endeavors to superimpose itself over the law of supply and demand, havoc is in the offing.

We are firmly of the opinion that the live-stock industry needs protection along certain lines which we wish to call your attention to a little later; but we are equally of the belief that production should be increased or reduced only under the law of supply and demand, and then only under normal conditions; and we find nothing in this bill tending to that end.

We oppose the passage of this bill in that it proposes that the commission of three shall be political appointees, with no provision of their fitness for position; they have the power to employ and fix the compensation of certain parties without limitation; thus putting the revenues of the nation at the mercy of an unknown quantity; they have the power to make rules which supersede the law of the land, and have autocratic power of enforcement; thereby robbing the citizen of his constitutional right of defense in the open courts of the land; also denying our citizenry the right to vote and elect those who are to make our laws.

Mr. ANDERSON. I would like to ask you about 29 questions on that paragraph, if I may. You say they have the power to employ and fix the compensation of certain parties without limitation, thus putting the revenues of the nation at the mercy of an unknown quantity.

Now, I do not know whether you know it or not, but is it not true that they can not hire anybody and pay them anything unless Congress first appropriates the money?

Mr. BALDWIN. It says in section 4, line 18:

Each commissioner shall receive an annual salary of $10,000. The commission shall appoint a secretary, who shall receive an annual salary of $5,000, and it may employ and fix the compensation of such attorneys, special experts, examiners, clerks, and other employees as it may from time to time find necessary for the proper performance of its duties and as may be appropriated for by Congress.

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes-as may be appropriated for by Congress. Of course until Congress makes the appropriation they have no authority to employ anybody, and if they employ anybody and do not have the money to pay him they would be violating the law.

Mr. BALDWIN. Certainly it appears that there is no limitation there. Mr. ANDERSON. No; there never is in any of these laws.

« AnteriorContinuar »