Morris & Company facts for kids

1922 newspaper ad for Morris Supreme ham.

Morris and Company was a big meatpacking business. It was one of many such companies in cities like Chicago, Illinois, and South Omaha, Nebraska. Meatpacking means preparing meat products for people to buy and eat.

History of Morris and Company

Morris & Company was started by a man named Nelson Morris in Chicago.

Forming a Big Company

In 1902, Nelson's son, Edward Morris, became the president of the company. Morris & Company decided to join with two other large meat companies: Armour & Company and Swift & Company. They formed a huge new company called the National Packing Company.

This new company was mainly a "holding company." This means it owned parts of other companies. National Packing started buying up many smaller meat businesses, like G. H. Hammond and Fowler.

Growth and Reach

Between 1904 and 1910, National Packing bought 23 places where animals were kept and processed across the United States. This gave them control over about one-tenth (or 10%) of all the meat produced in the U.S. The company had offices in more than 150 cities around the world. They also owned 2,600 special train cars that could keep meat cold.

Government Action

Starting in 1905, the U.S. government began looking closely at the companies that made up National Packing. A person named Arba Seymour Van Valkenburgh used a law called the Elkins Act to investigate them. Because of pressure from government regulators (people who make sure businesses follow rules), National Packing had to break up in 1912. After this, the meat industry in America went back to how it was before 1902.