United States Senate Select Committee on the Transportation and Sale of Meat Products
Encyclopedia
The Select Committee on the Transportation and Sale of Meat Products, also known as the Vest Committee, after its first chairman Senator George G. Vest of Missouri
, was a select committee of the United States Senate
from 1887 – 1921. It was established to consider various aspects of the meat packing industry
.
The committee's report stated, in part:
| valign=top |
{| class=wikitable
! Name
| Party
! State
! Years
|-
| | George G. Vest
| Democratic
| Missouri
| 1887-1893
|-
| | Orville H. Platt
| Republican
| Connecticut
| 1893-1895
|-
| | William B. Bate
| Democratic
| Tennessee
| 1898-1899
|-
| | Richard F. Pettigrew
| Silver Republican
| South Dakota
| 1900
|-
| Vacant
|
|
| 1901
|-
| | John W. Daniel
| Democratic
| Virginia
| 1902-1907
|-
| | Samuel D. McEnery
| Democratic
| Louisiana
| 1908-1910
|-
| | Murphy J. Foster
| Democratic
| Louisiana
| 1911-1912
|-
| | Henry A. du Pont
| Republican
| Delaware
| 1913-1915
|-
| | Carroll S. Page
| Republican
| Vermont
| 1916-1921
|-
| | John K. Shields
| Democratic
| Tennessee
| 1919-1921
|-
|}
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, was a select committee of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from 1887 – 1921. It was established to consider various aspects of the meat packing industry
Meat packing industry
The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock...
.
History
The committee was formed in response to complaints by cattle producers and ranchers of abuse by major meat packers. It was the first investigation of the meat packing industry by U.S. Congress. One of the committee's first hearings was in St. Louis in November 1888 to investigate allegations that the "Big Four" meatpackers in Chicago were trying to "freeze out" competitors. In 1890, the committee issued a report that found no evidence of collusion by the major meat packers, but outlined various incidences of price fixing in the beef industry.The committee's report stated, in part:
"The principal cause of the depression in the prices paid to the cattle raiser and of the remarkable fact that the cost of beef to the consumer has not decreased in proportion, comes from the artificial and abnormal centralization of markets, and the absolute control by a few operators thereby made possible."
"In place of the old system when shippers and butchers went from one cattle raiser to another, competing in the purchase of cattle, there is now a concentration of the market at a few points… So far has this centralizing process continued that for all practical purposes the [Chicago] market… dominates absolutely the price of beef cattle in the whole country."
Chairmen
{|| valign=top |
{| class=wikitable
! Name
| Party
! State
! Years
|-
| | George G. Vest
| Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
| Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
| 1887-1893
|-
| | Orville H. Platt
Orville H. Platt
Orville Hitchcock Platt was a United States Senator from Connecticut. Born in Washington, Connecticut, he attended the common schools and graduated from The Gunnery in Washington. He studied law in Litchfield, and was admitted to the bar in 1850, commencing practice in Towanda, Pennsylvania...
| Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
| Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
| 1893-1895
|-
| | William B. Bate
William B. Bate
William Brimage Bate was the governor of Tennessee from 1883 to 1887 and subsequently a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1887 until his death...
| Democratic
| Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
| 1898-1899
|-
| | Richard F. Pettigrew
Richard F. Pettigrew
Richard Franklin Pettigrew was an American lawyer, surveyor, and land developer. He represented the Dakota Territory in the U.S. Congress and, after the Dakotas were admitted as States, he was the first U.S. Senator from South Dakota.-Biography:Pettigrew was born in Ludlow, Windsor County,...
| Silver Republican
Silver Republican Party
The Silver Republican Party was a United States political faction active in the 1890s. It was so named because it split from the Republican Party over the issues of "Free Silver" and bimetallism. The main Republican Party supported the gold standard....
| South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
| 1900
|-
| Vacant
|
|
| 1901
|-
| | John W. Daniel
John W. Daniel
John Warwick Daniel was an American lawyer, author, and Democratic politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates and represented Virginia in both the U.S. House and then five terms in the Senate...
| Democratic
| Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
| 1902-1907
|-
| | Samuel D. McEnery
Samuel D. McEnery
Samuel Douglas McEnery served as the 30th Governor of Louisiana from 1881 until 1888, and as a United States Senator from 1897 until 1910....
| Democratic
| Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
| 1908-1910
|-
| | Murphy J. Foster
Murphy J. Foster
Murphy James Foster, Sr. , was a Louisiana politician who served two terms as the 31st Governor of Louisiana from 1892 to 1900.Early and personal life...
| Democratic
| Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
| 1911-1912
|-
| | Henry A. du Pont
Henry A. du Pont
Henry Algernon du Pont , known as "Colonel Henry", was an American soldier and politician from Winterthur, near Greenville, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a veteran of the American Civil War, and a member of the Republican Party, who served two terms as U.S...
| Republican
| Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
| 1913-1915
|-
| | Carroll S. Page
Carroll S. Page
Carroll Smalley Page was a United States Senator and the 43rd Governor of Vermont. Born in Westfield, Vermont, he attended the common schools, People's Academy in Morrisville and Lamoille Central Academy in Hyde Park. He was a dealer in raw calfskins at Hyde Park and was president and director of...
| Republican
| Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
| 1916-1921
|-
| | John K. Shields
John K. Shields
John Knight Shields was a Democratic United States Senator from Tennessee from 1913 to 1925.-Biography:Shields was born at his family's estate "Clinchdale", near the early pioneer settlement of Bean's Station, Tennessee in Grainger County. His education as a youth was by private tutors, a sign of...
| Democratic
| Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
| 1919-1921
|-
|}
Sources
- Report of the Select Committee on the Transportation and Sale of Meat Products, Senate Report No. 829, 51st Congress51st United States CongressThe Fifty-first United States Congress, referred to by some critics as the Billion Dollar Congress, was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C...
, 1st Session. United States SenateUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. Government Printing Office. May 1890.