falo and the Indians had to be moved aside to make room for the great pastoral invasion", which he calls "the most sordid and shameful saga in the history of the American republic" (71 & 64). Next, the cattle trails and grazing lands had to be seized or leased often through force or graft, "one of the biggest land giveaways in modern history," (106). Finally, the financing had to be raised in America and in Great Britain to build the slaughterhouses, and the railroads and ships, including refrigerated cars, needed to transport the cattle, and/or the carcasses, to market.
The resulting meat-packing, distribution and retailing enterprises became very large integrated businesses. The beef processing business grew from $12 million per annum in 1850 to $4.2 billion in 1920 (113). Ownership was very highly concentrated in relatively few companies, the beef trust. Attempts through enforcement of the antitrust laws to break up the trusts did not end concentration wh
...