NO amount of criticism, investigation, misrepresentations or
“exposures” has ever shaken Armour and Company’s faith in the fairness
and final endorsement of the great body of American livestock producers.
That the consumer found grievance in recent high food prices and
attributed his troubles to the packer or producer, or both, was perhaps
not to be wondered at, though his reasoning was not sound. That
competing food distributors should object to the extension of packer
efficiency to general food distribution is easily understood from these
competitors’ viewpoint.
The retirement of Armour and Company from all lines of production
and distribution not directly associated with meats and livestock
by-products, was in response to these disturbed elements of public
opinion. But these restrictions of packer activities in no way affect
the relations of mutual confidence and dependence between Armour and
Company and the livestock producers.
The fundamental things remain, and they are these: The livestock
industry must continue to exist and expand; producers must be rewarded
with fair profits; livestock markets must be maintained and made more
convenient; and the markets for meat products must be enlarged and
extended.
To these basic facts Armour and Company have pinned their business
faith, and upon them shaped their policy. Ninety per cent of the
profits of the Company have been re-invested in the business and
are represented today by great packing plants at sixteen market
centers, and many branch houses throughout the country, together with
refrigerator car lines connecting the livestock markets with the
consuming centers of the nation.
It requires no argument to show the livestock producer that his
interests and profits are inseparably associated with these properties,
and it is quite as plain that the necessities and conveniences of the
consuming public are dependent upon and served by them.
America and the world will continue to demand more and more meat and
other products from livestock. Agriculture will not successfully
continue without the production of meat animals. So the future reveals
no reason why Armour and Company should not continue the policy of
re-investing their earnings in the business that gives the most direct
and substantial support to the basic industry of animal husbandry.
[Illustration: The packer must, with utmost carefulness, balance his
daily purchases against his daily sales.]