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About The Bartow tribune. The Cartersville news. (Cartersville, Ga.) 1917-1924 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1918)
Are The Packers Profiteers? Plain Facts About the Meat Business THE GOSPEL OF THRIFT. Thrift means system in saving. Thrift pays as it goes. It fits our wants to our needs. *lt never inert gages the future to gratify the whims of the present. thrift means cash in hand. Cash paflnnt enables a merchant to take a dlSpint on his bills. To him thrift means a stabilized stock of merchandise, carried on a smaller investment, with an increased turn over and less handling expense. Thrift means future independence. It discountenances waste in clothing food and expensive pleasures. It eliminates extravagance and makes for mental, moral and physical strength. Thrift releases labor and mater ials for government use. It keep? off the market luxuries, and useless •wares. Every bit of labor and mater ials thus conserved the government needs, and must have to win the war ‘ For want of a nail, the shoe was lost, For want of a sltoe the horse was lost, For want of a horse, the rider wae The Federal I rade Commission in its recent report on wa? profits, stated that the five large meat packers have been profiteering and that they have a monopoly of the market. These conclusions, if fair and just, are matters of serious concern not only to those engaged m the meat packing business but to every other citizen of our country. The figures given on profits are misleading and the state ment that the packers have a monopoly is unsupported by the facts. The packers mentioned in the report stand ready to prove their profits reasonable and necessary. The meat business is one of the largest American indus tries. Any citizen who would familiarize himself with its details must be prepared for large totals. The report states that the aggregate profits of four large packers were $140,000,000 for the three w&r years. This sum is compared with $19,000,000 as the average annual profit for the three years before the war, making it appear that the war profit was $121,000,000 greater than the pre-war profit. This compares a three-year profit with a one-year profit a manifestly unfair method of comparison. It is not only misleading, but the Federal Trade Commission apparently has made a mistake in the figures themselves. The aggregate three-year profit ol $140,000,000 was earned on sales of over four and a half billion dollars. It means about three ceuts on each dollar of sales-or a mere fraction of a cent per pound of product. Packers profits are a negligible factor in prices of live stock and meats. No other large business is conducted upon such small margins of profit. Furthermore-and this is very important-only a small portion of this profit has been paid in dividends. The balance has been put back into the businesses. It had to be, as you realize when you consider the problems the packers have had to solve-and solve quickly-dur ing these war years. To conduct this business in war times, with higher cost and the necessity of paying two or three times the former prices for live stock, has required the use of two or three times the ordinary amount of working capital. The additional profit makes only a fair return on this, lost, For want of a rider, the battle was lost, And losing a battle, a nation was lost.” Thrift, abstaining from wasteful consumption, increases useful produc ton, ant 1 , keeps down the cost of lv ing. Thrift will prevent stagnation, and facilitate readjustment after the war, by providing on a large scale, and on easy terms, the capital needed to sup ply the demand for peace and to em ploy the men now at the front. Save, and lend your savings tc your country. Systematic investment' of savings in War Savings Stamps in sure- the United States and ner al lies the speedy consumption of vie tory, without which notihng we own can have any worth. In one Army camp there are now 55 battalion baseball teams, besides the headquarters, staff, brigade and di* vision teams. The substantial men of coming years will be those who formed the saving Habit in their youth. Start with a Thrift Stamp today.. THE TRIBUNE-NEWS, CARTERSV.LLE, GEORGIA, JUNE 11, 1918 HOW PERSHING GOT TO WEST POINT. A story of gerat determination and bulldog grit is General John J. Perish ing's life, says William Heyliger, in the July Boys’ Life, the Boy Scouts’ Magazine. Pershing was born poor. His father was a section foreman at Laclede, Missouri, lived in a one-story cabin, and right from the start the boy had to stand on his own feet. He was not Lrilliant, but he was a hard worker. As he grew up he was ambitious to be a lawyer, and it cost money to study law, and he had no money.. Many boys would have quit rightt there. But Pershing was made of sterner stuff. In a Missouri newspa per he read a notice of a competitive examination for an apopintment to West Point. Many of the rich hoys of the district were after the appoint ment. The outlook was not encour aging, but Pershing was used to fight ing for what he wanted. With that bulldog grit of his he faced his les sons, grappled them* held them, mastered them. When the examina tion papers were graded, Pershing. and as has been stated, the larger portion of the profits earned has been used to finance huge stocks of goods and to provide additions and improvements made neces= sary by the enormous demands of our army and navy and the Allies. If you are a business man you will appreciate the signifi cance of these facts. If you are unacquainted with busi ness, talk this matter over with some business acquaint ance--with your banker, say—and ask him to compare profits of the packing industry with those of any other large industry at the present time, No evidence is offered by the Federal Trade Commission in support of the statement that the large packers have a monopoly. The Commission’s own report shows the large number and importance of other packers. The packers mentioned in the statement stand ready to prove to any fair minded person that they are in keen competition with each other, and that they have no power to manipulate prices. If this were not true they would not dare to make this positive statement. Furthermore, government figures show that the five large packers mentioned in the report account for only about one-third of the meat business of the country. They wish it were possible to interest you in the details of their business. Of how, for instance, they can sell dressed beef for less than the cost of the live animal, owing to utilization of by-products, and of the wonderful story of the methods of distribution through out this broad land, as well as in other countries. The five packers mentioned feel justified in co-operating with each other to the extent of together presenting this public statement. They have been able to do a big job for the government in its time of need; they have met all war time demands promptly and com pletely and they are willing to trust their case to thefairmindedness of the American people with the facts before them. the setion forman’s son, was first bf a single point. He had correctly answered one question on which all the others had failed. BARTOW VOLUNTEERS ELECTED OFFICERS The Bartow Volunteers, the local organization of home guards, recent ly elected City Commissioner A. Cook as their captain, Col. W. T. Townsend, Ist lieutenant, and Mr. C. T. Conyers, second lieutenant. These gentlemen will head the first company, and it is expected another will be formed within the next few months. The Governor of the State and his advisors have given heartiest approval of home guard companies in Georgia and there are many phases of the work which will be interesting to all men between the ag§s of 18 and 45. The officers of the new company are enthusiastic over the outlook and they cordially invite any one interested to join them in their work. PPATROTISM VS. CIGARETTES Our country needs men, men, MEN. The most patriotic job boys have on hand is to make men of themselves. And cigarettes hold them back, says the Cave Scout in Boys’ Life, the Boy Scouts’ Magazine, for July. It seems impossible to make some fellow believe that though every medical expert i nthe country knows that cigarettes are a bad thing for growing boys, millions of men who smoke —and surely they ought to know —agree that cigarettes are bad lor boys. And yet there are some toys just sprouting into long trousers who think they know more about cigarettes than all the doctors in the country. Some case of “swell head,’’ don’t you think? Every time I see a boy smoking a cigarettp I get mad clear through. 1 feel like taking him by the nap of the neck and shaking the porr fool until his teeth rattle. Bad points: Hurth a felolw physically—stunt his growth, dull his brain, take the keenness out of his “smeller” and the .edge off his appetite. ' |t n Armour and Company Cudahy Packing Cos. Morris & Company Swift & Company Wilson & Company Hurt a fellow’s chance for getting a job. Class a fellow either as a tough or a fool —and It’s hard to choose be tween the two. Waste a fellow's money. Make it impossible for a fellow to travel with a decent bunch. Good points: Can’t think of a single one. Can you? It’s my humble opinion that about the most unpatriotic thing a growing boy can do is to smoke cigarettes— or to use tobacco in .any other form. Thousands of women are employe! in the United States gas-mask plant. They are acting as inspectors and are engaged throughout the entire pro cess of manufacture according to a statement from the Gas Defense Ser vce. Hundreds cf girls have been trained in the special art of sewirg the face pieces. Each separate step in the assembling of the maslc is done by women woTiers, unfil t* - ' mask 39 completed, the last inspec tion is made and the final product is ready for shipment overseas,
