Seventy-one persons were summoned to appear in Federal Court before Judge Julian W. Mack today, Friday, August 24, in the kosher chicken market inquiry, after the bombing of the home of one of the kosher chicken dealers in Brownsville, bringing to the surface the existence of unusual conditions in this industry.
An organization known as the Greater New York Live Poultry Chamber of Commerce was described by the authorities as a trust which is responsible for the high prices on kosher poultry and is said to be involved in a number of actions to maintain its supremacy.
The disclosures and the following intervention of the United States and New York State authorities have called forth consternation in Orthodox Jewish circles, where the wish was expressed that an end be put to the scandalous conditions. It was asserted that the poultry dealers could well afford to sell chickens with a three to four cent profit per pound. Under present conditions, poultry is sold by the wholesaler at a profit of from seven to ten cents per pound. It was estimated that by this trust method a sum of $14,000,000 is being extorted from the consumers of kosher poultry annually. The assertion was also made that certain individuals among the shochtim (ritual slaughteres) are involved in the manipulations. Some of them will be summoned to appear in court.
The charge was also made that the leaders of the trust have been paying out $3,500,000 annually to gangsters to intimidate the individual butchers and retall chicken dealers.
The matter was frankly termed a “Hilul-Ha’shem” (a disgrace to the Jewish name) and the demand was vorced that the organizations of Orthodox Rabbis issue a statement on the matter.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
