The St. Johns herald., 1886-12-02
The Dressed Meat Monopoly.
ST. JOINS. Nov. 2S, ISS6.

ST. JoHNs, Nov. 2S, 1886.
 EDITOR HERALp-There is being great ! lcal Sail, and d great many sugg 1stions offered, It the present time, as to the 1 doings of the foU. big concerns in Chi cagu that virtually control the beef mar ! ket That they are grinding both the 1 producer and consumer of this essential , commodity, there can be no doubt. Al . most all the stock papers of the country | are having their filings at these greedy . ormorants, but what care they as to i what newspapers may say of them, so | long as they can maintain their present | the country. The newspapers may howl, : and cattle associations may snarl and ! show their teeth. but they will pursue ! | the even tenor of their way, and smile with all the complacency imaginable, unless there are some active, tangible steps taken to break their hold on the p~alEa How wonld it. dO tor the next ! International hssaAs,~ 4 Association to take some actihr ih the preniSes" ';,,.i,l o7ec' they, by agreement, divide all the range country into districts. and-that in each district, at the most suitable loca ton, the cattlemen themselves were to start slaughter houses, beef packing es- tahlishments, and other industries to utilize the whole of every aninla! slaugh- Al
 Would It not be cheaper to ship tMe beef; that is, such portions as command the best prices in the market, as dressed meat, than as at present, on foot? Would it not be cheaper, and could they not obtain better prices, for the refuse portions of the beef, in canned form, than they are now getting from the sand -baggers?" Could they not, if such thing were done, control the market of this country, and have a big say on the other side of the Atlantic :? Would not the men at present engaged III this traffic, and who are now knock ing down prices on the producer, with out any corresponding reduction to the consumer, wuke up and find that through their avariciousness they had killed the "gOose that laid the golden egg"
 l think I see some of our cattlemcn Shrug their shoulders, as much as to say "the thing is impracticable. ," Why, MT. Editor, is it impracticable The cattle at present are shipped to Chicago, and from Chicago they are shipped, you may say, all oyer the world in some shape or other Then, why could not the transportation commence in the range country in the shape of dressed and canned meat, as easily as it does now on foOt'
 There is another point. This would do away with the middlemen, who are growing rich off the producers. Those who raise the cattle would, in q meas ure. be their own purchasers. They could erect their own stock yards. In short they could handle their own cattle from the time the calf was dropped until it was hung on the hooks of the retail butchers or was in cans, ready to be shipped to any part Of the civilized world. They have the capital-they have the intelligence-they have the cattle. All that is wanting is concert of action, little energy, and a few enter prising men among them to put their shoulders to the wheel and start the ball rolling.
 throw out these crude suggestions in the hope that others, abler and better posted, may take up the subject and put it before the cattle growers of the country. COWBOY.