Poultry Code to Assume Duties Now Handled by New York City

All live poultry inspection activities now being conducted by the City of New York will be made part of the code of fair competition now in effect for the New York live poultry industry, it was learned here today. This was seen as a direct step toward wiping out the traffic in diseased and “cull” poultry on that market, which sells chiefly to Jewish consumers.

A public hearing on amendments to the code which would make this step possible has been called by Under-Secretary of Agriculture Rexford G. Tugwell. This hearing will be held at the Hotel New Yorker, New York City, on Aug. 17. It will be under the direction of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

The move toward assuming responsibility for live poultry inspection was taken by the poultry code authority after it was learned that on Sept. 19 the City of New York was planning to rescind all health regulations relating to live poultry inspection. Under present arrangements, members of the industry pay for this inspection service and this arrangement would be continued when the service becomes incorporated in the code. Under the code, inspection of live poultry by competent inspectors would be mandatory.

Another amendment which will be considered at the hearing would require all live poultry dealers to file sales prices and terms of sales with the code authority. It would also provide for listing of these schedules in a prominent place for public inspection at the individual establishments. Industry sponsors of this amendment say it is designed to bring competition out in the open. They also claim it will permit the more effective handling of destructive price-cutting practices and is expected to result in material price benefits to both consumers and producers of poultry.

Authority to enforce health regulations in the live poultry industry will give the code enforcing officials an important weapon with which to combat a distinct form of racketeering. One of the rackets with which the code administrators have had to contend has been the traffic in diseased poultry.

Already the Federal Government has taken steps to stop this traffic. Recently authorities started action in the Federal Court in Brooklyn to determine the government’s authority to enforce provisions of the New York live poultry code.

SCHECHTER FIRMS INDICTED

A Federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicted two live poultry firms, the A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corporation of 858 Fifty-second street, Brooklyn, and the Schechter Live Poultry Market, Inc., of 991 Rockaway avenue, Brooklyn, and four individuals, Joseph, Martin, Alex and Aaron Schechter, the joint owners of the two corporations, on charges of violating and conspiring to violate the live poultry industry code for the metropolitan area of New York.

The corporations and individuals are charged with sixty separate offenses against the code, each punishable, if proved, by a fine of $500 The conspiracy charge under the law is a felony punishable by a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment and $10,000 fine.

Specifically the government’s move is designed to break up the interestate traffic in diseased fowl. It was explained that ninety-eight per cent of New York’s live poultry supply comes from the West and South. This particular market it is alleged, has virtually been made a dumping ground for “culls” and chickens infected with disease or otherwise unfit for human consumption.

That the attempt to wipe out the traffic in diseased poultry is significant may be seen from the fact that the live poultry industry in the New York area involves a turnover ranging from $175,000,000 to $200,000,000 a year. Conditions and practices in the industry affect millions of consumers, particularly Jews, who are the chief purchasers of live poultry on this market.

Recently William Fellowes Morgan, Commissioner of Markets in New York, charged that racketeers in the New York poultry industry were taking more than $10,000,000 a year from the consuming public.

The code for the industry is administered jointly by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the National Recovery Administration.

The Schechter firms are reputedly the “key” people in the industry, doing a business of more than $60,000,000 annually. The indictment against the Schechters contains more than 15,000 words and charges them with having bought uninspected and diseased poultry. Other charges include the slaughter of poultry by methods other than on the basis of official grades, committing acts of violence, coercion and intimidation against code authority representatives, withholding reports or furnishing false reports to the code officials, and working their employes in excess of the regulation hours and paying employes less than the prescribed rates of pay.

Prosecution of the case is in the hands of Walter L. Rice, special assistant to Attorney General Homer S. Cummings. Assisting are Leo J. Hickey, United States Attorney in Brooklyn; Arthur M. Loeb, attorney for the live poultry code authority, and Irving Dale, Mr. Loeb’s assistant.

The government’s case is based on information resulting from weeks of inquiry by Leroy Peterson, code supervisor. Additional investigational work was done under the direction of Mr. Rice. Efforts are being made by the Department of Justice to bring the case to an early trial. While the case is pending the government intends to write into the code specific provisions relating to the inspection of poultry offered for sale on the New York market.