The Hog Market Monopoly
A local stock buyer accuses Northwest meat packers of price-fixing and failing to honor promises made to farmers.
The story, cleaned up
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“The packers of the Northwest are not keeping faith with the farmers,” said George Finley, pioneer stock buyer of the valley, in discussing the downward tendency of the hog market. “There are probably many reasons for an off market at the present time but there is no getting around the fact that our packers are not playing the game fairly with the producers. A few years ago there were not enough hogs produced in the Northwest to supply the local demand and Coast packers were forced into Omaha and Chicago markets where they paid the going prices and stood freight charges and shrinkage. In the last few years there has been a great change in the pork situation in the Northwest. The vigorous ‘more hogs’ campaign carried on by the packers, railroad companies, agricultural colleges and commercial clubs has brought results. How are the packers carrying out their part of the agreement? They are not only not giving the producer the benefit of Omaha freight and shrinkage but they are paying 50 cents per cwt. under the Omaha market. I don’t know what kind of a combination or working agreement exists among the packers, but I do know that there seems to be little or no competition. The price is apparently fixed by the Union Meat company, of Portland. I should like to see some organized effort started to compel the packer to play the game fairly with the producer.”
“He isn’t getting it now and is placed at an unfair advantage between high-priced feed, high-priced meat and low-priced hogs.”
Finley’s 1914 complaint about the consolidation of agricultural markets and the erosion of farmer autonomy highlights a recurring tension in the Pacific Northwest economy. Today, small-scale producers in the Tri-Cities area continue to navigate the same power imbalance between regional agriculture and global distribution monopolies.
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