Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-07
THE TREND OF TRADE.
The Upward Movement of Cattle and
Ice Promises to Bring
GREATER COST TO HOUSEKEEPING.
Butchers Claim They Work Only for
Pleasure at Present.
YANKEE INVENTIONS IN ENGLAND

OFFICE OF PITTsBURG DISPATCH,
TUESDAY, May 6, 1890.
Late advances in prices of cattle, together
with the high price Of ice, have proved very
serious to the butchers calling. Present
prospects are that consumers will have to
pay higher prices for tenderloin steaks and
rib roasts the coming summer, as well as for
the ice with which to preserve them.
Beeves have been steadily moving upward
in price for some weeks past. Said q
prominent East Liberty stockman yester,
day: "There is an unusual scarcity Of good
cattle through this section Of country and
Ohio. Prices received were so low last year
that stock raisers did not care to invest in
cattle, and the result is that prime cattle
are very scarce through the territory
which in former years was a great feeder
to Pittsburg markets. 1t used to be that
farmers of Westmoreland and Lancaster coun-
ties, of this State dealt heavily in prime cat
tie. From all can learn. their stock is very
light at this time. The trade in cattle has been
so much depressed, and prices have been so
low the past year, that farmers have not found
the cattle business profitable in this section.
"The tide, however, has now turned, and
prices are improving until there is almost an
advance of 81 per cwt on good butcherlng beeVes
from prices of this time last year."
One of our leading Diamond Market butchers
said to-day: There is little else than glory in
our. trade at this time.
No Profit In the Business
Though l have advanced wholesale prices Of
beeves from 615c to 7114c per pound since last
fall there is scarcely any profit. The less my
customers buy am the better pleased. The
cattle bought this week at Herr's Island cost
me on an average sl3 a head more than they
would have done a few months ago. My ice bill
has more than trebled. and feel sure that am
selling much of the rough part Of my meat at q
loss. A year ago bought as good cattle for
S3 1904 10 as buy now at IS 00@5 10, and then
my ice bills were less than one-thIrd what they
are now. The prices of choice cuts are not ad-
vanced, and boiling meat is lower"
"It an i'll wind that blows no one any good"
The uribulations of butchers have proved a
great benefit to the Chicago dressed beef trade.
A Herr's Island drover said to-day: This is
generally my best time of the year, but some of
my best customers have quit slaughtering on
account of high priced ice. These customers
are buying Chicago dressed beef Just as they
need it and drovers are on the losing side this
season. Our loss is gain to the dressed beef
industry"
Another braach of industry that shows an
upward drift in the past few days Is the canned
meat trade. The approach of warm weather
and the picnic season always stimulates this in
dustry, but the stimulus is greater than usual
ahead of the usual time One of our wholesale
grOcers day or two ago took time by the fore
lock by laying in heavy supplies of canned
meats. HIS foresight was justified by sharp
advance within "a hours of the zeal. Prospects
are strong for still further advances before the
picnic season comes to its height.
Yankee IuvenIions In England.
letter by William Clark to the Chrfstian
Union contains the following as to revolutions
caused by Yankee machinery in Manc hester
cotton mills:
ALREADY the rapid development of machin-
cry and consequent concentration of capital is
beginning to cause a little trou BILE and there is
much more ahead. Mule spinning will soon
be a thing of the past, said an overlooker in
the mill visited last Tuesday; ring spinning
will take its place. Ring spinning it appears,
is an American invention which has been i'm
ported into Lancashire. The little ring traveller
as it is called, whirls round the ring which en-
circles the bObbin at the rate of one and a
quarter miles per minute-faster than the fast
est express train-grips the yarn in its swift
passage and puts in the twist. The ring
method is cheaper and faster than the mule
process. The mule, as visitors to a cotton mill
know, slides backward and forward, and, when
1t has completed certain length of cotton
yarn, stops The ring is continuous; the
worker sets it on at O'Clock. and it goes till
breakfast. AS a result we find on the one hand
that nearly two-thlrds of the space in
cotton mill can be dispensed with, and
what Is more important, that chill
were employed at the mule. l passed by the
older mule machines which a man. aided by a
boy, was attending, and came in the same room
TO the rings, where were few boys and girls
Consequently children are actually taking work
from their fathers. and in this comparatively
prosperous place men are either UNEMPLOYED
or are emigrating many of them to Fall River
in Massachusetts, where. however, just the
same process will go on with the same results,
leaving exactly the same problem of an unem-
ployed class to be dealt with.