San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-06-28

young butcher who keeps shop out
! on East Commerce street. says ne
/ to the writer: Things are bad enough
now as they are, but if the city
builds a general slaughter pen, they
will be worse. 1t will charge an eX-
orbitant price fox the room
in them and the city won't
keep it clean anyway. Why are
most Of the butchers leaving our large
main market, simply because they
must pay too much rent. If private
enterprise builds one, say the Union
Stock Yards, then the stockmen will
have the bulge on us. l think that
it would be very good thing II the
sanitary inspectors were to come out
oftener than once every four or nVe
months. They ought to inspect all OF
the pens regularly and often. Here
is an instance Of how they work:
Some time ago a butcher had toler-
ably dirty pen and he was arrested.
Although q great number of the pens
were by tar dirtier than his, he alone
was arrested and fined. l tell you,
within three blocks of the arrested
mans pen the railroad had dumped
two decomposing mules and three
hogs in about the same condition, and
those sanitary inspectors that found
the dirty pen couldn't smell that
stencil. That is the way things are
done.n
A number of butchers whom the re-
porter has seen upon this subject
spoke plainly and unhesitatingly to
the point, Eyes, we are decidedly in
favor OF the city building and con-
trolling general slaughter pen,"
were the expressions of most of them.
DR.. Amos Graves, who has taken
great interest in the proposed build
ing of general slaughter pens, said to
the LIGHT mans question as to wheth-
or we will have general slaughter
house, eyes, the Union Stock
Yards are going to build gen.
eral slaughter pen. All of the
butchers whom l have seen are In
favor of it. 1t will be a private enter.
prise, gotten up by the butchers
themselves, and not one built by the
city. There are great many butch
ers who have taken stock in it, and
the general slaughter pen is assured.
1t will be erected as soon as the
Union Stock Pens are put up, and
will be- within short distance of the
yards"
In gathering the data for this arti-
Gle. the writer became acquainted
with some facts concerning the butch
or trade that cannot be but interest
ing to these whose daily toll lies in
other directions than butchering
beeves.
At present we have eighty butchers
who cater their carnal wares to sixty
} thousand people. These persons all
have good appetite, as the market
masters figures show. From them
we learn that the good people of San
Antonio devour ON an average twenty
sheep, twelve hogs, eleven calves and
forty-eight beeves, a total of ninety
one animals per day, or 269l animals
J every month. During the year they
} dispose of 1859 calves, 1929 hogs, 694l
} sheep and 1905 beeves, or another
} neat little total of 1924 animals
The men that cut and serve this
meat are nearly all the owners of
butcher shops, only very few good
butchers are working for other men.
1t does not pay. A new hand gets
wages from S. to SO month; a fairly
good butcher earns $40 to $50 month;
a very good butcher from $40 to $50
and even the very best butcher in the
city does not get more than $50 and
his meat. The hours that they work
are from l or o'clock in the morning
till 10, II or even dinner time.
The pay of the butcher who runs a
shop of his own, is, according to some
members of the profession, in a de-
cidedly better fix. According to others
his earnings are not much more than
that of good hired mans. One
butcher who was highly elated of
the profession says that when he
started, he didn't know the hind from
the fore quarters, and besides that he
scarcely had bit of capital to start
| with. Now, he has undou bteciy one
of the largest markets and trade in
the city. San Antonio has q few
butchers whose trade has brought
them a wealth of 100000, quite a
number of over $50, 900 and still more
who rank all the way from $40, 900 to
$4,000.
On the other hand, it is true the
tax on the butcher trade is redicu-
lousy high. A gaming house if it's
owner pays frequent fine, a bawdy
house mistress il she pays ten fines
Of a hundred dollars each, a saloon
with its tobacco, beer and whiskey
tax, does not nearly pays the amount
which the honest butcher shop of
fairly large trade, pay into the tax
collectors pockets. Here are the
butchers taxes: a quarterly city
license, SlS.75. For the inspection of
every animal killed 10 cents; extra fee
for every animal killed, beeves 80
cents, calves Is cents, hogs Is cents,
300. n