Wilmington daily commercial., 1874-11-25
How an OK cuts Up.

FIGURES WHICH SNOW THAT THE BUTCHERS HAVE
LITTLE OR 40 PROFIT.
d" wish, said one of the public, to q reporter
Of the Boston Herald, you men would tell t,-
why it is that meat ls SO high when wages aie
So low, when times are so hard, and when nearly
everything else has gone down in prceH" The
idea was good one, and the reporter went to
the markets and obtained the story OF the mar
ket men. Among the statements they made was
this
We now come to the point Of explaining, nc
cordng to the showing of the butchers, why
meat Is so high In doing this it il not pro-
posed to go back to tile points of production, and
ind out just why cattle cannot be there fur
nished at cheaper rates, or Why car load Of cat
Tie costs $50 from Meredith. n. H.. and 500 to
1850 fand there have been cases where 500 was
paid from Chicago. The cost of "a g0CH beef is
from 10 cents per pound, live Weight The
shrinkage in bntchellng amounts tu from % to
4O per cent. Of the weight the hide and horns
being counted a. dead weight
The cost of the carcass of a .20l pound qy
slaughtered, would be, say / cents per pound
From this Will be taken 100 pounds of t4llow al
O. cent? per pound giving on that portion il
loss OF cents per pound. or about SG.5J on the
whole. Tie hide weighs from 100 10 ll1
pounds, at ( cents per pound, giving IL l0-s of
3 cents per pound or about s3.GJ-a loss Of
over slO IN all, and bringing the cost Of the
meat remaining to over ~ cents per pound
The choice parts, which brug high priceH. are
not very large. as will be seen.
The siroin will weigh ON II / 200 pound ami
NAL about GO POUNDS, and sells at from ~ to 80
cents per pound for one portion. and for the
other, Which yields pOrterhonsc steak, 33 to 8i
cents. The rnnp weighs over GO pounds, and il
sold ut from % to 80 CENTS Tic round uf tl4igli
weighs about go pounds, 10 OF which sell for ~
cents per pound, and 20 for from 10 u cent?
per pound. The back half Of forequarter Will
weigh about lao pounds, and sells at from IS to
- cents per pound. The first cut Will sell for
from % To y cents per pound, the nest from H.
tl I'D cent?, then cut for Is ceuts. then one
for u cents, and the balance at from to u
eont-.
This IL the portion where choice roasting
pieces are taken from u7ualiy. The lower half
If the lore-quartor il the heaviest Of the sub di-
Visions, beng about $50 pounds. The rib p 10.
or 'iAttleraud. weighs 32 pounds, and i- used
Tor roasting, cie. The -hIn weighs ahlat four
teen pounds, and is worth only lcent- per pound.
The halance, which ine.nde- thc beckett. h.
raled "chuck probably hecau-e it it, 'cAurAod'
INTO briues and cOned. This - worth from to-
10 cents per pound These are iobbing or
Wholesale prices.
Here are the weights Of the different parts Of
one side Of ] 201 pound OK, which cost Il
cents dressed, together with the iabbng price
per pound of cach portion. Any one can take
pencil and sec how much is realized on the
whole. Butchers say their profit il only half a
cent a pound on meat sold. Ills would seem
Incredible we've it not that each dealer handles
MANY thousands of pounds per das which w0mld
aggregate even at that rate quite "a respectable
sum of money. When cut small however. one
cent per pound is the profit eyacted.