The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-05-04

pletion of.the right OF way. Also
Res0lrei, That tho people OF Ohio county
be requested ut once TO raise at least $50,
900 for the purpose OF completing the right
OF way and other necessary expenses con.
nected with the same, and the people Of
Marshall, $1,000; and Of We.zel, 5000,
for the like purpose.
BEEF AND WHAT TO Do WITH 1T.
Some IIints for the iionsekseps In Her
.. Marketing Tour.
! Cincinnati Gazette. ..
Bread, Dean Swift declares 10 be the staff
Of lie, but meat, in the understanding OF
the modern menu, is lie itself. Every
body buys it, everybody eats It, and the
price is matter OF universal concern.
dousekecpers have watched for some time
with dismay the gradually lessening
quantity OF pork they could get for shil.
ling, and have recalled the stories Of con.
federate days, when people took their
money to market ina basket, and brought
home their marketing in their purses.
Never since the worst days OF the great re-
bellion have prices been so high for meat.
Fortunately the rise has been gradual,
but the housekeeper sees her
daily bills always larger, and is in
a dilemma whether to buy less or
cheaper cuts. How TO make both ends
meet (ifa little levisy may be permi ,ed},
or even how TO compass the Irishman's
view OF the case and make one end meat
and the other end bread. is n puzzle alike
to the private housekeeper and the public
caterer. With view Of finding out the
cause of this alarming increase in the cost
OF living, and to learn what the outlook for
the future is. Il Gazette representative, on
Saturday, visited several Of the prea,
butchers and leading daily markets Of the
city. The retail butchers make the excuse
Tor raising the tariff that they themselves
are charged constantly increasing prices
for meat by the carcass.
To this statement the butcher said:
"ies. that is true; the retailers are justi.
fed in charging higher prices than for years
past, and il they don't do it, they can't
make expenses. There has been an advance
OF So per head on ull desirable beef cattle.
! pay to-day $3.50 per hundred pounds for
live weight, against S5a5 50 last year. That
means pound Tor pound at the cattle stand
including waste and ai. This is the price
for the b''st grade OF cattle, weighing, on an
average, 1000 pounds. The lighter grades
can be bought for something less"
What grade is generally in demand in
this MARKET"
The lighter grades mostly, though a
good many sixteen hundred Founders are
slaughtered. There is not the demand here
that there is in the New York markets for
the finest beef, for the genera! BUYERS will
not pay the price. So i, goes by It's to the
Eastern markets."
What is the proportion Of waste in
carcass?'
"About eighty.five pounds out OF the
hundred are fit to sell for fresh beef; the
rest is hides, tallow, horn and refuse. Now
the price OF hides, tailow, and so on has not
advanced at all, so that, as we can yet no
higher price for the waste, the whole nd.
vance must be put upon the meat. We
pay, for example, six and Il hall cents per
pound for the tallow, when We buv the
beast, and we sell it for four and a half,
and have, OF course, to make up this loss
on the other parts
"What are the causes OF the advance in
prices"
Scarcity OF supply is the main cause.
We are feeling now the effects Of the aw-
iul winter OF Isl, when hundreds OF thou
sands OF cattle persisted in the SHOWS or
starved to death in the frozen pastures Of
the West Then came the bad summer
when the pastures were burned up and the
streams were dry, and the cattle died OF
thirstand hunger. People killed thousands
OF cattle then for their hides and horns
that would have been prime beef to-day,
and no calves were rllsed because there
was neither milk nor pasturase. This has
made the scarcity, and then, too, the crops
were bad, and corn became very high, and
hish-priced fodder always makes high.
priced beef" ...-. -
docs the export OF American cattle to
England affect the marke,?'
1T helps, OF course, and affects the New
York market more than tdoes ours. Ten
thousand head OF the very finest live cattle
are shipped from New York on IN average
each week; they mist be the very best 10
stand the sea voyage. and these are
choice cattle that New York wants, and it
makes competition sharp. But the main
cause OF the advance is scarcity OF supply
Tor the reasons | have stated. The talk
about capitalists holding back cattle ship
ments from the West, to bull the market,
is nonsense. The operation OF supply and
demand is what is knocking the prices Of
beef higher than kite, aud it will keep it
up"
Another butcher took . more cheer
full view OF the situation:
II look he said, "ior lower prices Soon.
In two or three weeks there should be right
good grass, and good fat cattle should be
fifty cents or may be 81 hundred cheaper.
But il the Eastern market Keeps good,
prices will keep mp. have been butcher
for forty years and never knew the East
ern market so steady rs it has been this
spring. 1t used to 90 up or down fifty
cents per 100 most every day, changing all
the time, SO that i shipper never knew
what was coming to him, but now it is
mighty ssiddy' and rising slow like the
tide"
"What are people OF settled incomes,
men living on salaries, and mighty small
ones ut that, to do?"
"They must take the cheaper cuts.
Everybody wants prime rib roasts and
porter house and s!rlorn steaks. Now u
chuck roast is inst as good eating, il cut
out OF prime beef, and is six or eight cents
4 pound cheaper. The tender side OF the
round is:ss choice a steak as grows in n