The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1920. THE MEAT TRUST.

Timaru Herald, Issue 170301, 21 August 1920, Page 8

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1920. THE MEAT TRUST.

Whether Ms conclusion 'is accepted ox' not, the statement of Mr W. J. Poison, president of the Wellington Fanners' Union, wHcli we published yesterday, puts the issue raised by the claim of Armour and Co., of Australasia, Ltd., for a meat export; license, in the only way in which !N~ew Zealanders can be justified in regarding' it. So far as they are concerned, the firm which takes an Australasian title is one with the American firm of Armour and Co. It is admitted that Mr Armour, of America, is the preponderant power in both. And a Commission set up by the United States Congress, which took twelve months to investigate, has condemned Armour and Co., of America, as one of .five firms which make up the. American Meat Trust. v lt is latevi'or New Zeaianders to be told, as they have been recently, that Americans during- niany years have been under an hallucination in regarding this Meat Trust as a real creature, most oppressive to. them, when :t really has no more existence than the .griffin, or the bunyip: or the unicorn. We must suppose that Americans know their own troubles, and that their Feds.-c.ti Ccmmission knew' of what it was speaking' when it said of the parties to the Meat Trust that, as a result of the bigness- and variety of their operations, "the.y controlled at will the market, in which they buy their suppli ;s, the market in which they scU their products, and hold the fortunes of their competitors in their hands." Armour and Co. may denounce the. report, which surprised nobody in America and suggest that they are really angels of light, but we must regard the Meat Trust as a real, and extremely powerful thing, whose operations have been bad for every country in which they have been able to expand. '= Mr Poison takes that view as a matter of course, but he goes on to. argue that little INew Zealand can make.use of this dangerous monster for a time. The

Meat Trust has been too strong i'or the American Government to control,'up to this stage, but we can put a hook in leviathan's mouth, make him abide by the crib, and send him oft' when be bus served our convenience. His proposal is that Armours should be allowed a license to export, but not to kill, for twelve months, till the congestion of .British stores is ended. The license need *uot bd renewed longer than suits our purpose. Most of the sheepowners, probably, who urge that a license should be granted would argue ou the same lines. There may not, seem much danger in such a course, but it is doubtful if anyone could have been found to favour it when a New Zealand Parliamentary Committee was considering the danger of the Meat Trust, and the precautionary Act was passed without :i division in either House two years ago. The Meat Trust has not changed since, but a temporary glut in the British market lias caused some people to modify their opinions, and the possibility cannot be ignored that, if the Trust is once allowed an entry, new and stronger reasons may be found for continuing' a license that is once granted, and perhaps" for extending' it. It is a big body with which we have to deal, one which knows how to make the best case for itself. The assets of Armour and Co., of America, amounted last year to nearly one 'hundred millions, and they are only a fifth of the Meat Trust. Presumably it"was on a small scale that the Trust began its operations in the Argentine. It pursued them so successfully that, some years ago, nearly the whole of' the meat trade of that country Avas in its hands. It is natural to suppose that that control was not desired by the South Amen-' can producers, and'the Argentine is a bigger country than Now Zealand. A correspondent, to-day points out, what has been emphasised by many in the trade, that no need exists for taking the slightest risk with the Meat Trust in this country, when the congestion in Great, Britain ."s admitted to be only temporary, and America can take,, and is taking New Zealand meat, .without any provision, for a license. Most people must agree with the Farmers' Union, which prefers to take no chances with the Meat Trust. "There was a young lady of "Riga, Avho went for a ride on 'a tiger." ' She might have got off all right, but she did not, and her boldness has not prompted imitation.