MONOPOLY IN MEAT
Nikoloric, L. A.
Monopoly in Meat MEAT AND MAN: A Study of Monopoly. Unionism, and Food Policy, by Lewis Corey. Viking Press. 377 pp. $4.50. Reviewed by L A. Nikoloric TO MY knowledge this is the only...
...The Amalgamated, for all its unquestioned virtues, is shown here to be an old-line AFL organization with a relatively narrow view of labor relations...
...Lewis Corey's discussion of the packing industry is a documented argument against unenlightened self-Lewis Corey interest on thc part of economic groups...
...The unions see that stubborn opposition to technological change kills off an industry and jobs...
...Corey makes no mention of these facts nor of the intransigent position taken by the packers which led to the CIO's 1948 strike...
...The so-called "Communist slate" prevailed at the 1948 convention, and it has been alleged that this union's 1948 strike was a political one...
...Since 1948, however, UPWA has behaved as a model trade union...
...The author secured most of his docu-mentation from the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America (AFL...
...The argument is a powerful demonstration of the suicide engineered by an unenlightened drive for power...
...It has a familiar record of incidental racketeering and opposition to technological change...
...Since 1920 the Big Four have been unable to extend their dominion over the industry...
...Meat and Man is a tremendously ambitious project which is very nearly successful...
...Corey is polite about his solution —public packing corporations— which is found in a few of the middle pages...
...Problems of conservation and inspection are being more widely understood both in terms of self-interest and ultimate policy...
...It proves the necessity for mutual understanding and assistance in terms of constructive ultimate objectives...
...furthermore, their profit picture has been poor, particularly as compared to that of the more vigorous independents such as Hygrade and Morrell...
...It is not slated for CIO purge and is not listed in the current exposes of red unions...
...He proves that there is no apparent relationship between dominance and efficiency, or even profits...
...Corey dismisses the UPWA as a Communist organization...
...Corey's article, "The Revolution in Food" in the November, 1949, issue of The Progressive was adapted from this section.] His case is not convincing, perhaps because he does not develop it fully...
...Almost anyone with an interest in current problems can find material here...
...He believes that he people of the world can be feet are quately if we pay attention to the various problems of technology conservation, distribution, and mcl nopoly...
...The analysis of labor relation...
...The discussions of the monopoly prob-" lem are particularly good...
...This is not to say, however, that the Big Four have not continued to use most of the familiar techniques to build monopoly...
...He also believes that the packing industry itself can prosper if it approaches this objective with intelligence...
...Corey examines conservation, labor relations, monopoly, the farm problem, and world policy in terms of the packing industry...
...The look is unduly friendly...
...The Amalgamated comes off heroically...
...Corey is quick to jump on the companies and the rival union, the United Packinghouse Workers of America (CIO), for their activities which jeopardize world food policy...
...Reviewed by L A. Nikoloric TO MY knowledge this is the only contemporary book which examines an industry and its interrelated segments and attempts to evaluate them with respect to each other and world policy...
...This picture could not have been presented without the ambitious attempt to examine the inter-relation of all aspects of the industry...
...The employers are beginning to understand that high wages mean purchasing power...
...This Corey has done, and in spite of an obvious organizational problem and his biases, it is a noble effort...
...Corey is no neo-Malthusian gloom peddler...
...Furthermore, Corey demonstrates a growing awareness, at least in the packing industry, of this fact...
...The book pulls apart the packing industry to determine how well the job is being done by its component parts, the Big Four (Armour, Swift, Wilson, and Cudahy), independents, unions, farmers and ranchers, retailers, and the others concerned...
...As monopoly has developed, these companies, because of absentee ownership, inefficiency, and the consequent inability to meet changes in technology and markets ing conditions, have simply become mired in the entanglements of their own feudal empires...
...II The most important contribution this book makes is to demonstrate clearly that the Marxian concept of class and institution warfare is futile and expensive in terms of ultimate policy...
...Corey analyzes in some detail the drives and the devices used by the Big Four to gain power...
...iffers from a violent bias...
Vol. 14 • May 1950 • No. 5
