Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1889-02-26
DRESSED BEEF.
WHAT THE CHICAGO TRI-
BUNE THINKS
Of the Efforts That Have Been Made
to Exclude IL From Eastern
Markets All Cattle RIgidIy
Inspected The shipment,

stop its shipment TO the Eastern cities,
but thus lar all these efforts have proved |
futile, and there Is more beef OF this |
kind now consumed In the East than ever
before. This is no doubt attributable to |
the fact that It is sold at much cheaper
rates than the old cows that were formerly |
brought to this city were ever iurnl lshed |
at, and at p,esent there are very few
bu chers in w lmi gtoa that do not
handle Western dressed meat. Tho op-
position to this meat has been carried to
such an extent that In Pennsylvania,
ard some other States, legislation has
been asked for to stop It's sale, aud the
Chicago Tribune in speaking of this
matter says:
Pennsylvania, the most selfish of all
the States, desires free trade whenever
she wants TO buy and high prot. ction
when she has anything to produce or sell.
This greedy IDEA carried to extremes Is ut
lac bottom OF the attempt now being
made 10 have the Pennsylvania Legitla
lure prohibit the sale oil W, stern beef un-
less the cattle are slaughtered In that
state, and thus, under pretense OF pre-
,cting the public heal b, bar out West
ern dressed leef products from the
marse cts of Per nsyivania, and give local
cattle gros ere, rs is c aimed, a m ,nopoly
o The home market and higher prices. II
the p oposfd discrimination b II were
adopted, no such results could follow. II
tie law could be adopted and en- 'orced,
the only effect would be TO cause the cat
lie now slaughtered In Cuicago to be
shipped East on tbs hoof and the Penn
sylvania siock-grow, RS would have to
compete in their own market with "a
great flood OF Western ca; ;tle," sold at
hnu f.Qr NnNtp hn af ANaNa In
spectlon laws would not exclude Western
cattle from the Eastern markets, but
would cause them to be taken there al We
aud flsug Uttered. The advantages and
economies growing out Of the conduct of
the butctering hu iness On q great scale
IN Chicago would be lost. The destruc-
tiOn Of the great Western market W uld
lower the price of cattle several dollars a
head, and the Eastern stock gro vera
would have TO face seve,er competition
than at present.
Iu he dressed-btef establishments OF
Chicago every part of the animal 10
utll zed-hide, horns, hoois, bones, blood
and falr. Since they turn ln'o glue,
bone-dust fertilizers, etc., the parts OF
the animal which are a dead loss in the
hands Of an dinary butcher, the great
packers of Chicago can afford to aud do
pay more for cattle than would 'herwise
be possible--an advance est mated by the
best authorities at 50 head. Nor does
this IL creased price which Western stock
growers receive come out of the CO =
sumner OF beef. II is made possible only
by using the portions OF an OK that would
otherwite he sheer waste, and turning
the boofs, horne, hair, blood aud bonts
into products OF value. If this system
of dressing and packing beef should be
destroyed aud the ordinary wSsteful pro-
cess of butchering substituted, cattle
would fall Ia Value In the Western mar
kets, the Western s'ock-grower would
get reduced piices, beeves would be
shipped East on the hoof and so'd there
In competition with ths Eastern grower
at reduced rates, while the beef con-
sumer could get no advan age. The price
of beef to the consumer could not be
lowered simply because the value OF the
animal had been reduced by substituting
a wAsteful for an economical method OF
butcherinY. Such change would injure
cattle growers East and West, and would
be of no benefit TO beef consumers, an
of doubtful advantage even to the local
Eastern butchers.
"But II Pennsylvania could discrl lmi-
nate to her advantage against western
dressed beef tie game would he one that
two could play at. As the New York
Evening Post SUI gests, the W, stern States
might discriminate against the wo )len
cloths, carpets, confectionery and patent
medicines epartd In Pennsylvania 10
such great quantities and shipped to the
west. Illinois and the other western
States respectively might require all such
products to be inspected and man ufac-
tured In the State where sold. In the
case of Pennsylvania patent medicines
there could be no doubt as to the right Of
other States to protection. Pennsylva-
MAS output of such nostrums Is enor-
nous, and judcious inspection law re,
quiring suc., compounds TO De prepared
where sold under the control oi ! cal
boards of health would -enilYe rennsJi.
vania of millions now made al" "uaiiy ~
the expense OF the west. The gre..,
carpet making establishments Of Penn
sylvania might be barred from the west
ern markets on the theory that local Ia
spection would be necessary to make sure
the wool did not come from diseased
sheep. The eame rule could be applied
TO the confectionery produced In T, nnsyl-
vanis. By such laws the western States
could compel the Pehnsy sylyapia manu-
facturers of carpets, wooden goods, con-
fectioDery, patent medicines, ETC., to give
up the western markets or else bring their
establishments here. How would Penn
sylvaniA like the rule of tit for tati
The bill that was presented to the
pep ssylvania Legislative Judiciary Com
mittee was killed before It reached the
Legislature, as II was very plain that its
passage would have been contrary to the
interstate commerce laws of the United
States, con, equently 1t will be impossible
to enforce 4 similar law in any of the
States. The fact is, beef cattle can be
raised cheaper on the low priced grazing
grounds of the West, than they can on
high priced farms In the East, conse-
quentiy the dressed meat can be shipped
and sold as low per pound as eastern
raised cattle can be sold for on the hoof
The consumer gets the benefit Of this
difference, and has good, healthy meat
from young steers, in place Of the in
many Instances, diseased COWS that were
formerly brought to this market, some OF
which were In such condition that the
butchers who bought and slaughtered
them had their droves stopped over the
Brandywine until midnight, and then
J driven In, when no one would see them,
to the slaughter house. The sdvent OF
Western dressed beef has completely
killed this traffic, and many of those who
were engaged in 1t are now handling the
dressed beef exclusively.
Every head of cattle that Is brought to
Chicago is rigidly inspected before 1t is
permitted to be driven into the slaughter
house, and after being killed the meat is
subjected to inspection before 1t is
allowed to leave the place. That In
tended for the eastern market 10 placed
In refrigerator cars 20 ieet long inside, 3