Additional information-Continued Department of Agriculture-Continued List of packers subject to provisions of the Packers and Stock- Page Excerpts from annual report of the Federal Trade Commission for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1946___ Gwynne, Hon. John W., chairman: Letter, June 5, 1957, to Hon. Emanuel Celler Letter, June 5, 1957, to Hon. Emanuel Celler_ Letter, June 24, 1957, to Hon. Emanuel Celler- Letter, June 5, 1957, to Hon. Oren Harris_ Letter, June 4, 1957, to Herbert N. Maletz with enclosure__ 296 Letters submitted for record: Baker, A. Z., president, American Stock Yards Association, Barton, Alden K., commissioner of agriculture, Utah State De- Burger, George J., vice president, National Federation of Inde- 225 Byrne, Martin J., president, Kansas Farmers Union, Topeka, 381 461 Dickie, Alex, Jr., president, Texas Farmers Union, Denton, Tex., 374 Downs, Robert W., president, Arkansas Farmers Union, Little Forbes, E. F., Western Meat Packers Association, Inc., San Fran- cisco, Calif., June 6, 1957, to Hon. Peter F. Mack, Jr. Ford, Frederick W., Acting Deputy Attorney General, Depart- ment of Justice, April 30, 1957, to Hon. Oren Harris Hall, Radford, executive secretary, American National Cattle- Hones, K. W., president, Wisconsin Farmers Union, Chippewa 456 Hooper, James A., Utah Wool Growers, Inc., Salt Lake City, Little, Andrew D., president, Idaho Wool Growers Association, Marsh, Edwin E., executive secretary, National Wool Growers Additional information-Continued Letters submitted for record-Continued 219, 379 Morrow, Gay, Dr. and Mrs., Walla Walla, Wash., May 18, 1957, 455 371, 377 Noble, Cornelius C., president, Noble's Independent Meat Co., 380, 457 Raber, John C., president, Indiana Farmers Union, Indianapolis, 226 373 221 Tierney, Leo F., 231 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Ill., August 2, 1957, to Hon. Peter F. Mack, Jr., and Hon. John E. Moss. 416, 421 Tucker, George N., manager-secretary, California Cattle Feeders Watkins, Senator Arthur V., June 21, 1957, to Hon. Peter F. List of American Meat Institute members_ Resolutions submitted for record: Kansas Livestock Association_ Montana Stockgrowers Association _ _ 375, 458 459 435 227 219, 379 National Independent Meat Packers Association_ 461 208 Statements submitted for record: American National Cattlemen's Association, Denver, Colo... Baker, A. Z., president, American Stockyards Association_ Berry, Hon. E. Y., a Representative in Congress from the State of Gwynne, Hon. John W., Chairman, Federal Trade Commission. 114 163 Holmes, Ernest S., president and general manager, John R. Daily, 217 Jackson, Charles E., General Manager, National Fisheries Insti- Nobel, Cornelius C., president, Nobel's Independent Meat Co. 372, 377 Norton, E. M., secretary, National Milk Producers Federation.. Rogers, Watson, president, National Food Brokers Association_ Smith, Harold O., Jr., executive vice president, United States Clark, Ralph, president, Cascade County Farmers Union, Great 380, 461 Cook, Ralph, secretary-treasurer, Montana Farmers Union--- 371, 455 224 Harrer, W. G., Green Meadow Ranch_. Holmes, Ernest S., president, John R. Daily, Inc., Missoula, Jackson, Chas. E., National Fisheries Institute, Washington, Johnson, Ralph B., executive vice president, National-American Wholesale Grocers' Association, New York, N. Y............. Johnson, Robert O., president, California Cattlemen's Association, Riddell, R. J., executive vice president, National Livestock Ex- 217 Rowe, R. H., vice president, U. S. Wholesale Grocers Association_ 459 228, 378 Sanders, C. T., executive secretary, American National Live- Simpson, Douglas T., president, Utah Farmers Union, Salt Lake Talbot, Glenn J., president, North Dakota Farmers Union. 223 381, 456 380, 458 379 MEAT PACKERS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1957 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, ANTITRUST SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE AND FINANCE OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 10: 10 a. m., in room 346, Old House Office Building, Hon. Emanuel Celler (chairman of the Subcommittee on Antitrust) and Hon. Peter F. Mack, Jr. (chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance) presiding. Present: Representatives Celler (cochairman of joint committee), Rodino, Rogers, Holtzman, Keating, McCulloch, and Miller. Present: Representatives Mack (cochairman of joint committee), Bennett, Dollinger, Moulder, Jarman, Moss, Alger, and Avery. Also present: Herbert N. Maletz, chief counsel, Kenneth R. Harkins, cocounsel, Subcommittee on Antitrust of the Committee on the Judiciary, and Kurt Borchardt, legal counsel for the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Cochairman ČELLER. The Joint Committee of the Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and the Subcommittee on Antitrust of the Committee on the Judiciary will come to order. As chairman of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, I welcome the members of our sister committee, and more particularly the chairman of the subcommittee, the distinguished gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Peter F. Mack, Jr., and my very distinguished colleague from New York, Mr. Isadore Dollinger and other members of the subcommittee. I would like to read a brief statement concerning the bills before us. The Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Commerce and Finance Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce begin joint hearings this morning on a number of bills to transfer to the Federal Trade Commission, from the Department of Agriculture, jurisdiction over unfair and monopolistic trade practices in the meatpacking industry. Several of the bills dealing with this subject which will be considered at the hearings—namely, H. R. 5282, which I introduced on February 25, 1957; H. R. 5283, introduced February 25, 1957, by Mr. Dixon; H. R. 5454, introduced February 28, 1957, by Mr. Berry; H. R. 7764, introduced May 24, 1957, by Mr. Evins; and H. R. 7796, introduced May 28, 1957, by Mr. Bentley-were referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Two other bills having the same. purpose-namely, H. R. 7038, introduced April 18, 1957, by Mr. Metcalf, and H. R. 7319, which I introduced May 7, 1957-were referred to the Judiciary Committee. 1 Under existing law, jurisdiction over unfair and monopolistic trade practices of meatpackers is vested in the Secretary of Agriculture, by virtue of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921. That act ousted the Federal Trade Commission of jurisdiction under the antitrust laws over unfair methods of competition by those engaged in the meatpacking industry. In lieu thereof, the act authorized the Department of Agriculture to issue cease and desist orders after hearing, with respect to packers engaged in practices similar to those prohibited under the Federal Trade Commission Act and under the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts administered by the Department of Justice. More particularly, title II of the Packers and Stockyards Act dealt with the regulation of packers and made it unlawful for them to engage in specified anticompetitive practices. Thus, packers were prohibited from engaging in any unfair, deceptive, or unjustly discriminatory practice in the conduct of their business and from buying or selling any article for the purpose of, or with the effect of, manipulating or controlling prices in commerce. Title III of the Packers and Stockyards Act provided for the regulation of stockyards posted under the act, that is, stockyards operating in interstate commerce having an area of 20,000 square feet or more. It also provided for the regulation of market agencies and dealers operating at such stockyards. The pending bills, it must be emphasized, would affect only title II of the Packers and Stockyards Act and transfer jurisdiction to the Federal Trade Commission of responsibility for exercising supervision over unfair and monopolistic practices by those engaged in the meatpacking industry. Jurisdiction for administering title III of the Packers and Stockyards Act would remain in the Department of Agriculture. As reasons for the pending bills, it has been contended that by virtue of giving the Department of Agriculture jurisdiction over unfair and monopolistic practices in the meatpacking industry under title II of the Packers and Stockyards Act, that industry has allegedly enjoyed virtual immunity from effective supervision of the trade practices of its members by a Federal administrative agency. It has been further contended that a loophole in the law has created a situation in which certain food store chains and other large elements of the food industry can likewise escape and are escaping-Federal supervision of practices destructive of antitrust principles, by the simple expedient of acquiring a minority interest in a meatpacking plant regardless of capital investment just so long as the interest acquired is 20 percent of the packing plant. Several reasons were given for placing authority over the monopolistic practices of the packers in the Secretary of Agriculture, and are now advanced for keeping it there. Primarily it was urged that the Department already had employees stationed at the various stockyards. Other reasons include the arguments that meatpacking is integrally related to agriculture; that the size and importance of the industry warranted establishment of a single specialized agency; that the Federal Trade Commission lacked power or experience to regulate stockyards; and that to give the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Agriculture powers in the same area of industrial activity would produce overlapping jurisdiction and confusion. |