"THE BIG FOUR"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15449, 9 May 1912, Page 8

"THE BIG FOUR"

REM SUPPLY CONTROL SMITH FIELD TRADERS FRIGIITIvN'MD. (Fnoii Oun Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 23. Tho question of the supply of tho roast beef of Old England is onco* more coming to the front. Lord Robert Cecil's committoo reported that it saw no immediate danger to tho English meat supply "unless tho Argentine market and imports cama under tho control of tho Amcrioans." Apparently what liord Robert Cecil's oommitteo saw in 1903 its u possiblo danger to English markets and English tradora lias, in 1912, actually ooirto to pass. At tho recent meeting of tho Court of Conunon Council Mr Key pointed out that up to a short timo ago tho Smithficld markets wcro n great suoccm, and 70 por cent, of tho produoo which went through them was English. " Hut for several years English produco ha 3 been gradually forced out_ of tho market, and, although "thoro i 3 an increasing business in moat at Smithficld, that increafio is solely duo to tho foreign produco." English traders at Smithficld have boon gradually disappearing, and there has arisen a strong foreign element, chiefly American, which takes its orders lis to supplies—and as a result- as to prices— to a large section of tho British publki r.'om Cluoago.

Sineo tho Government inquiry in 1908-09 the tentaclrs of tho American firms havo fastened a Mill tighter anil moro sccuro grip nn tho bulcliore' show of tho United Kingdom. Messrs Armour and Co., Messrs Swift and Co., tho Morris Beef Company, mid tho Hammond Beef Company, known in tho United States as "Tho Bin Four," havo widened their operations. Though it is not suggested that tlioy actually form a trust, there is little doubt that thoy act in co-operation and with steady effect. 1 AMERICA FIXING PRICKS. A big Knglish trader declares:— "Three_ American firms can ruin mo or any English trader if they choose, and I nm a biMimsn nmn—not a philanthropist There is no doubt about it. Tho Americana aro now a determining influenco on pnoco, rot only nt Smithficld, but in the provinocs. Prices are fixed bv telephone and to leg ram to tho wholesalers, throughout tho Kingdom. Tho retailer has' very littlo option. .... I do not all ego that tho Americans' are doing anything which tho law does not allow l.hom to do. They aro splendid business men, quick and courteous. At present 'Tho Big Four' Li growing in England hand over fist. I venture to say that 65 per cent, of the meat of next Sunday's dinners in tho United Kingdom has travelled overaea. H Around Dundee, In tlio Nowcastlo dratrict, and in tho Eastern Counties, tho pro ihieo is largely homo produco. But at and around Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and the great industrial contrcs, in London ami the Southern Counties largoly, tho beef is American and Iho mutton Dntch, New Zealand, or Australian, As yet thoro i« littlo connection between beef and mutton in Ihis matter, although 'Tho Big Four' has got a foothold on our colonial mutton interests."