Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-08-11


world, Such statistics would be not only deeply
interesting but very profitable.
In the last number of that most interesting and
instructive periodical, 'De Bows Review" we
find article extracted from the Cincinnati
Price Current, which throws some light on the
subject II is as follows:
Consumption OF Amin al Food In the Uni
ted States.
4. Heretofore we have known very nearly the
number of animals raised in the United States
but we have not known the number and weight
OF animals actually consumed in the country
but this fact is very desirable, and will prove
very useful Ii is well known that the cattle, as
wen as the hog trade, furnish very large portion
OF the exchanges of the country, and hence the
question OF how much where, and when animal
food is consumed, has a direct relation to the
| financial as well commercial concerns of the
country The progress of statistics, however,
| gradually furnishes the materials TO show this,
and all similar problems The great difficulty is
to find a unit of measurement for the consump-
| ton OF cattle and hogs. In the cattle trade we
| know that the great cities of the country the
main purchasers of CATTLE insomuch that what
| enters into general commerce a very small
amount of what is consumed in the large towns.
With hogs it is something different, for an i'm
mense amount ofpork and lard enter into gene
raj commerce for expectation, especially to south
ern ATTITUDES, and for the naves and armies of the
world
| At present shall conine ourselves to the
supply and consumption of cattle and sheep as
| food; in other words, beef and mutton. For the
| consumption of beef, we want a unit 1t might
| have been furnished by the statistics of Smthfed
| market, London; but we not aware that they
have been kept and recorded The New York
| market, however, is still better test, for the
whole OF our population are meat eaters Fortu-
L taIxr oil frn Ia Ill, -.
sumed in New York are sold from some half dozen
yards. Fortunately, also, the New York Tribune
has kept reporter especially for those yards, and
| has given us the entire number of cattle, sheep,
| and calves consumed in 1854 in New York city,
including Brooklyn, SC. The aggregate result is
! as follows:
| Cattle consumed. ................ 154, 900
| Sheep and lambs 100000
| We know very nearly the average weight of
these animals, and the population by whom they
| are consumed. The average weight of the cattle
may be taken at $50 pounds, and of the sheep
| and calves, 81 pounds. The population of New
| York, Brooklyn, and Williamsburg, in 1854, was
| about $780, 900 Here, then, we have the elements
| for the solution of the general problem.
| Before we 90 further, let us look at the fnan-
cial aspects of the questions, as between New
York and the West where cattle sold for an aver
age of $40 each; the sheep and calves at an aver
| age of IS so each. We have then this result:
| Value of l5O,O0O cattle ........ $40, 780 ,00O
| Value of 100000 sheep and lambs 1855 900
| Aggregate value of beef and NUT
ton in New York. ......... Sl3 365, 900
| Now, full three-fourths of this entire amount
came from the West, beginning with the valley of
| the Allegheny, in New York and Pennsylvania
New York, then, has to pay ten millions of dollars
to the West for cattle and sheep, Independent of
wool,) and the West is thus furnished with ten
millions in exchange for the payment of its dry
goods This financial operation is one of great
Importance, and makes no small part of the bust
ness of the banks in the interior of Ohio and
kentucky. 1t is safe and profitable business;
| and in regard to their own operations, no banks
| are safer than those based on the cattle trade
| But let us look at the general consumption of
cattle in this country The above facts show that
| each 900 persons in civic population consumes
205 cattle and 533 sheep per annum. What does
TINS give us Tor the whole town population of the
United States The following table will exhibit
| the account: