The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-10-29

they don't want any curbstone competi
ton behind their backs as 1t were. Well
wehaye been attic trouble to count al
the butcher stalls inside the Second Ware
Market house, and there are Just thirty
nine Of them, with possibly availabl,
space for q couple more yet unoccu
pied. We have not counted the
stalls in the Fifth Ward Market
House, but as that building Is
not more than half the size Of the
Second Ward market it Is not likely
to contain any greater number of stalls,
Besides, in passing through the latter the
same familiar names over the stalls, with
few. exceptions, greet the eye, as in the
Second Ward market.
1t will be said by some, perhaps, that
the butchers pay ahigh rent for their stalls.
and, therefore, they ought 10 have some
advantages. To this We object, on the
ground that no man or association OF men
are entitled to special protection at the ex-
pense OF the people. But 1t is well to cx-
anime this matter Of stall rent, and see
how 1t pans out, According to the records
in the City Clerks office, the highest rent
paid for any butchers stall is fifty.seven
dollars per annun, and the lowest, fifty
four dollars, or an average, say, Of fifty-fye
dollars and a half. AS there are two mar
ketdays in every week, or one hundred
and four in the year, it makes the rent.
al Of market stall inside the market
house little over fifty cents per market
day. The man who sells from a wagon
backed against the curb-stone pays tax
of 25 cents, or, as the butcher would say,
only half as much as he does. The COM
penSating advantage, however, is that the
proprietor OF q stall has fixed locality; his
customer always knows where to find
him, while the scurbstone man is in one
place one day and perhaps half the length
OF the square distant on another day. So
that he can never Secure the advantage Of
a regular custom. There is just as much
choice in outside localities as there is in
the inside, and there are plenty Of people
who attend market who would be willing
to pay double their wagon tax for the
privilege Of occupying special place all
the time. There is an essential difference
in the mere matter Of fixed location, to say
nothing Of the difference OF comfort in all
kinds OF weather between the outs and the
ins.s =. ~; !.,.l. iiafp 30 o.,l'.
So little have the true interests OF the
people been considered in the matter Of
the sale Of meats, that it is not long since
It was even mooted in the City Council to
prohibit the sale Of meat entirely except
from the stalls inside the market house, q |
scheme which happily fell through for
want OF sufficient support, AS matters
stand now the farmer is entitled to bring |
his meat to market and sell iii any guam
tity that suits his customers, and no man
dare make him afraid. There is that much
least accruing from the Kaminski
suit. What the farmers want is to learn
to cut up their meat in good style and
make it attractive in appearance, just as
the butchers do. Come along then and
give US the benefit Of honorable competi.
ton. Those who read the market reports
know that the price OF cattle is low. Why
should we not have cheap beef s-y ri