The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-09-13 00:00:00

THE PRESENT HIGH PRICE OF MEAT.

The high price of meat is a subject which
never NNW command attention in this country,
and it is not, therefore, surprising that some
recent derucustra•ions against what has been
term, lithe eßre4ii.7o charges made for animal
food shoold have been the theme of consider-
able comment. The fact that meat is dearer
than it was a few years ago is not open to
question, but that this is only one side of the
story must be evident at a glance. Meat, after
till, is not such a prime necessary of life as
bread, for it is indisputable that in the agri-
cultural districts immense numbers of the popu-
lation see it upon their tables once a week only,
and then in very small qaantities. Contrasting
the price of hi-cal ill this country now with t :tat
which provaLed during the war with lt.issia, the
balance of advantage is decidedly on the side of
the present rates. True, meat was then cheaper,
hut it will not be doubted that cheap anitnal
food is 111,t, as. enti:tl to the existence of the
mass of p •35 (heap bread. There are
several !,111i for the high prier of meat,
wh;e .V,•!1 lo taken ill') tee,uii whit we
hear 0. Lae neeaueiations levelled at the heads
of the butchers and graziers. In the first place,
there is a greater deinand for it now than there
was even ten )e irs ago. The working classes
in every department of industry are better paid
that they were then, and can consequently now
afford to indulge in a superior description of
diet. Anair, there was the cattle plague, which
in 1806 Ins;cle sad havoc with our Illocks and
herds, and seriously diminished the stocks
accessible to the people for consumption. Then
it should be remembered that while there has
been an Liere Laing dsmand for animal fOod, the
snoply in these idiots cannot bat be limited
We are unable to angment at will the area of
Is id to be devoted to p isturage, and it will also
be borne in mind that every mile uf new railway
constructed in this kingdom, and every addi-
tional house raised upon the surface of the laud,
diminishes the extent, of soil available for agri-
cultural purposes. To use this argument is to
discourage neither the tuakiug of railways, nor
the erection of houses; it is merely to state
that which must he recomnized as an iucoutro-
vet-Wile truth. And it will be seen that if meat
is expensive, a large nutuber of articles of
domestic use are now nothing like the price
which they fetched smite years ago We do not
hear in the present day of (mit at Id per lb., of
tea at 8s per lb., of an ordinary pair of Welliwg-
ton boots for two guineas, or of a respectable
broadcloth coat at seven guineas. Yet within
the lifetime of inaoy stilt amongst us these
prices were re4ularly paid. Again, let us con
aider the reduction and extinction of the excise
duty upon such things as soap, glass, sugar,
paper, and a vast quantity of others called into
requisition every day in our households, and we
shall be convinced that we live in days very
different front those of our forefathers. Meat
and coals are dear, but bread and clothing are
very much cheaper than they used to be, and if
we look at our seaside resorts at this Season of
the year, and note the numbers who crowd the
sanos at those places, we shall fail to detect
any sign of distress amongsteur working popula-
tion, or of bird times in toile ranks of tne lower
middle cia.oc..