Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1866-10-25
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Tbe Price Of Beef and Mutton

nrospect, at present, tnat peei siiu
,nr.ton will decline in price, so long
ss the patient public VIII continue to
nav the extortionate prices demand
ed by butchers. And yet, butchers
are not so culpable as brokers and
droyers. They are the ones who
keep The prices OF meat ct the high
figures that have been paid for
months past. Beef sDd mutton ought
not to be sold for the enormeus prices
that consumers are required to pay
as the present time. The producer,
as q general rule, does not receive
for his beef and mutton, more than a
fair equivalent, while the consumer
is required to pay far more than is
really equitable. The producer
should always receive fair remu-
neraton for the products of the farm;
and it is not equitable, that the price
of the producer should be cut down
to the very lowest figure, and then
the prices which the consumer must
pay for the same article be advanced
beyond the bounds of reasonable
equality by unprincipled brokers and
spectators. And yet this is the
very state of things touching the
meat supply of New York, Brooklyn,
and the surrounding cities.
Let us sift the mode of operation
practised by droyers and brokers.
The greater proportion of the beef
cattle received at the New York mar
kets are brought from Illinois and
other Western States, where they are
purchased by droyers, and put on
board the cars and started for New
York. If the supply of meat is
heavy, sales slow, and prices favor
buyers more than sellers, brokers
here telegraph, at once, to unload
those cattle, and put them in the pas
ture till further orders. By this
means, they control the prices of
beef cattle completely. There is
good reason to conclude, that cattle
brokers have regular meetings, al
which they deliberate upon the prices
obtained, and fix the prices for the
different grades of beef, from week
to week. The weekly supply of ami
mails is thus kept of a uniform num-
Der, which seldom exceeds the week
ly demand. In case the number OF
animals received during any one
week exceeds the supply, the facts
are at once transmitted by telegraph,
and a smaller number is forwarded
for the succeeding week.
In the country, the price Of beef
cattle is from &c. to &c. per pound,
live, gross weight. Now, allowing
that every bullock will waste forty
per cent. in dressing, which is about
fair allowance, we can perceive at
once what an enormous profit cattle
brokers are putting into their pock-
cts. The price, per pound, oil beef
cattle has been, for the past six or
ten months, from 15c. to lie. for the
four quarters of dressed meat, the
butchers receiving all the hides and
rough tallsw without charge.
The expenses of transporting bul-
locks from the farthest portion of
Illinois, to New York, will not ex-
ceed SIS or $50 per head. There
fore, by carefully comparing tie pri-
ces paid to the producer, with the
prices paid by the consumer of beef,
we see at once what immense profits
are put into the pockets of brokers
and drovers. These are facts that
cannot be successfully controverted;
and for which there is an effectual
remedy, if producers and consumers
would only demolish this vast and
sll-absorbing power between them.
Producers might receive much more
for the products of their farms, in
the line of meat, just as well as not;
and consumers might obtain the same
supply, at greatly reduced prices. if
the former would manage his own
affairs with more discretion and in
dependence. A farmer could take 4
lot of his own and several neighbors'
cattle on the cars, and 90 with them
to the New York cattle markets, just
as well as an experienced drover.
The cars deliver the stock directly
into the sale yards, where there is a
good supply of water. On the sides
of the yards are feeding racks, where
teef cattle can be fed for week or
more at pleasure, They can be pur-
chased at the yards almost as cheap
as in the country. On the great
days of the market, there is a rush
of the butchers for the best cattle
And they care not who owns the ami
mails, whether producer, broker, or
drover. A man is not required to
drive his stock about the city to find
purchaser. II the beeyes are in
good condition, New York butchers
do net need to be told of the fact by
broker, who often demands and re-
ceives 81 per head, for simply intro
ducing a butcher to the owner Of
stock, leaving them to bargain rs
they can. Whether q man takes his
cattle to Communipaw yards, en-
Bergen Point, to the Hudson City
Drove yards, or the National Drove
yards on Tooth street, the accom-
modations are ample; and only 40c.
per head yardage is charged. Thus
the producer and the consumer are
both brought upon the same footing,
annihilating these enormous COM
missions, and paying the producer a
larger price for the products of the
farm, while the consumer receives
supply for his family at a cempara-
lively lew figure. What is true of
beef cattle, holds equally good of