The daily gazette., 1877-11-10
r7sdFtomthe Baitinors sunLl
7 THE. BEEF QUESTION.

Messrs! Editors: How u happens that
whilst the price or ail Other articles Of do
mestic wear and consumption has gradu-
lally 30 declined Of late years as 70 con-
siderably tighten the cxpensse Of living,
there has been no appreciable decline In
| in the retail prices Of fresh meats, has
long been one Of those mysteries that
all classes OF housekeepers would be glad
to find out. It cannot be that the supply
of beef or mutton on the hoof has fallen
of, for the records of the receipts at the
stock yards show that such Is not the
fact. The weekly market reports of live
stock show thar exceptionally choice
beeves have fetched only from five to
five and three-quarier cents per pound
gross; beeves rated as first quality from
four to five cents, down through all
grades to two and a half cents per pound
most of the sales being from three and
| quarter to four and quarter cents per
pound. Stock sheep have been selling at
IL to 24 cents pound gross weight, and
lambs from tour to five cents per poond.
The average range Of prices for weeks
past has not been higher than what is
stated above. If then you take the state
meht usually made that cattle on the
hoof weighing one thousand pounds will
turn out when slaughtered five hundred
pounds of dressed beef, all OF which is
marketable, it follows that when cattle
cost at the stock yard from three and a
quarter to four and a quarter cents per
pound, and the loss in slaughtering is fif-
ty per cent. of the gross weight, the COS. :
to the butcher of the merchantable beef
is from six to eight cents per pound.
The actual cost seems, however, con-
siderably less, for, from the estimate
given above, must be deducted the sum
received from the sale of hides and tai
low, the horns, hoofs, bones and other
refuse, all of which are OF value because
capable of being turned to useful ac-
count. If these fetch but ten dollars
the green hide alone being worth from
seven to eight cents pound, and weigh
ing from seventy up to eighty and hun
dred pounds--the actual cost of the
dressed beef to the butcher is reduced
from this source two cents pound, max
ing it from four to six cents pound for
the entire carcass. If he can sell the in
terior pieces to almshouses and other
public institutions at an average of five
and a half cents a pound, and the better
kind of beef and steak at fourteen and
half cents a pound, and yet make a |
handsome profit on his cOntract-and !
this is what butchers are now doing in |
this city-I submit that to ask private |
customers ten cents pound on the ave- |
rage for the coarse pieces and twenty |
cents for the finer quality, and from six |
to eighteen cents for mutton that was
bought at the stock yard as late as Mon |
day last for two and half cents on the !
hoof, is certainly calculated to give rise |
to deep and well-founded complaint. IfI
the citizens of Baltimore want to get the |
choicest cuts Of American beef at a less
price than they pay for it at home, they
have only to cross the Atlantic and buy
it in the London market at fifteen cents |
pound Of quality equal to that for
which they have to pay at horne twenty
and twenty-five cents a pound. Ii the
trade in this exported beef, after paying
the cost of ocean transportation for two
thousand miles, Of inland carriage abroad
and the commissions of middle men, has
been found remunerative, what must be
the profits Of the butchers who incur
none Of these charges, and yet get for
their beef large increase on the price
at which fresh American beef of equal
quality is put down in the London mar
ket? HoUsEHoLDER.