WHY THE PUBLIC KICKS To listen to the big Chicago meat packers one would think every last one of them is going to starve to death before the year is over. In fact, if there was even one citizen of Vass addicted to i^utting up as much of a whine as the meat packers are putting up, we’d feel like ordering the tar and feathers for him right away. The packers claim they’re making but one-fifth of a cent on each dol lar invested. And yet they have so cornered the meat business of this country that no one else can get in to it on a big scale, even if they were satisfied to earn that sum They appear to .overlook the fact that the public generally doesn’t care if they make a reasonable profit. What the public is generally sore about, and good and sore about, is that the pack ers have not been content to stick to the meat business, but have, after sewing it up so tight that competition was completely stamped out, sought to enter other lines. They have at tempted to branch out to such an ex tent that they would have controlled in a few years* various other forms of food stuffs, even to vegetables and fruits. There is where the public registers its kick againts the pack ers, and that is where the public de mands stern action on the part of congress. The packers are giving good ser vice, and the public appreciates it. They are entitled to a fair profit, the same as anyone else, and the public wants them to have it. But when they seek to monopolize other lines of business—that is where the pub lic kicks, and has a perfect right to kick. cans of fruit and vegetables crovght int:» town to be displayed on a jr