The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-22
MEAT ONCE A WEEK.
Laws Which Make Food Very Dear to
German PaaRanta

LAWS w hlch Make Food Very Dear to
German Peasants.
United States Consul Monaghan Of Mann
helm has made an interesting report to the
state department., upon the prices of meat
IN Germany, which shows the relations
borne by American material to the food
market of that country. He says: The
legislation passed to keep out foreign hogs
is said to have been based upon fears of i'm
ported diseased meats. This, however, is
by no means an article of faith in any part
OF the empire, even the most credulous
must have grain of salt with it. The fact
| that Hungary, where Bavaria and parts of
south Germany for a long series of years
bought their supply of meats, was, before the
law went into effect, subjected to the
severest and most conscientiously strict
supervision and inspection, goes to prove
| the political economic rather than sanitary
| protective character of the law. For so
| strict was Hungary's supervision that no
unhealthy meat ever came on to or left the
| market for export Ever since the law
went into effect the press has never ceased
| to complain of its evil effects to large
number of the empires population. None
but the large landholders and agrarian
population have been benefited. The very
considerable duty on cattle, So per capita
for beef and 81 so for hogs, added to
enormous rates of sea, river and land
freights, has practically rendered importa-
| ton impossible, to say nothing of certain
laws the effect of which is to exclude en-
tlrely. At first, owing to causes connected
with the production of fodder, no direct
evil seemed to result from the new laws, but
by degrees the agrarian population, esDe-
clally the large land owners, saw their
chance and made the most of it. Since
that time meat has gone up, and, sad to say,
grain also; and Austria, for generations the
largest source of Germany's supply dropped
in her record of sales from 81. 500, 900 forms
| to IL, ZOO, 900, almost 500 per cent. The
United States, in many respects eminently
| fitted to feed the world with meats and
grain, was shut out eatirely. OF course.
the prices went up naturally and were
in places forced up. The result was
felt all over the empire, in Hamburg
and Berlin, in Mannheim and Munich. A
pair of steers increased It's marks in price
and live beef 10 aud 20 pfennig, or cents
a hundred pounds. OF course the cattle
raisers gained by and praised while they in
| dorsed the new laws; but how about the
millions who find meat too dear and bread
going up because of the same kind of leg
islation? Their only resort will be to the
| field fruits, potatoes and various vegetables
BY all means protect" say city people,
working men. but carefully. wisely
excessive duties and prohibition
meat could be brought IN from
foreign states and sold in competition with
the home products and the cheap fodder of
this and later years should be enough adj
vantage to aid home producers to compete.
| But no safe in the maintenance of the
principle of exclusion, 10 matter how thin
the mask or hollow the covering by which
the real cause is disguised, the large landed
proprietors go on forcing up and keeping up
prices, never thinking of the millions of
toilers eating meat once week now, who,
under other and happier circumstances, that
is, prevalence of cheaper prices, would eat
| it twice or thrice week."