New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-22
DRESSED BEEF FOR EUROPE
MFN WHO THINK NETWORK WILL AGAIN
BE A GREAT CATTLE MARKET.
EXTENSIVE PREPARATIONS TO SLAUGHTER
BEEvEs AT THIS PORT AND SHIP THE
PRODUCT TO EURoPE-oCEAN STEAM


Extensive and costly improvements are being
made across the Hudson River, at the central
Stock Yards and Transit Company's big system
of cattle pens and slaughter houses. better Known
perhaps. as the Jersey City Abattoir. Not less
than Slj0000 in solid cash is being expended
in the work, and army of workmen have been
busy for several months tearing down old weather
beaten buildings and erecting handsome. Clearly
structures in their stead ard putting in new boilers
and ammonia machines, and the thud OF the pile
drivers and the sound of the hammer and saw Will
probably be heard there for some time to come.
To the farmers of the Eastern States these signs
| of industrial progress in the cattle trade nave
much Of interest for il IS the carrying ont, on
largo scale Of n proicct of wealthy interested
in the livestock business of this port to restore
the old-time reputation Of Ncw-Yorll City as q
cattle marliet-a reputation that was rapldiy
being snatched from her by the Western vim ana
enterprise which. in recent years, has built up
the enormous livestock and slaushter'house ousi-
ness of Chicago. In n word it is intended u
seek to transfer the great and profitable dressed
beef trade from CHICAGO TO this port The men
who are putting their thousands into the improve
mcnts at the Central Stock Yards have spent
their lives in the business. and their observations
| and experience have taught them that the bcSt
place to prepare beef for the European market
| is on the Atlantic seaboard and as close 70 the
| ocean carriers they can get.
EFFECT OF CHICAGO RIVALRY on THIS CITY.
The story of the decay Of New-York as live
| stock market is a familiar to farmers in the
East Statistics Of receipts and exports here
showed this dcplorablc condition Of things, looked
| at from the standpoint of 4 Pennsylvania farmer,
| for instance. TO be growing yearly worse. The
star in the East began 10 when the BIG
| Four" of Chicaco-NIcssrs. Armour, Swift, Morris
| and Hammond-tooll up the business of slaughter
ing their cattle in that ctyutili2ng the 0hal on the
ground and sending the dressed product in rcfrlg'
| orator cars not only throughout all the United
| States and Canada. but also across the Atlantic
| TO the butcher shops Of England Scotland and
| Ireland This combine of dressed.bcef kings has
carried on a campaign of determination against
butchers biz aud little who refuse TO handle their
meat which, for audacty and success, has prob
| ably never been paralclcd in the wonderful COM
| mcrcial history of the United States. State Leg
| islaturcs everywhere throughout the Union have
| tried TO defeat item and passed laws placing q
| bar upon their product. Congress has appointed
| committees 10 investigate and report way 10
break up thiSmonopolistc combination. and courts
| have been appealed to 10 aid in resisting their
| oppressive and tyrannous methods All in vain.
body that stood in their way. Butchers in remote
| country villages who incurred their enmty have
| been driven into other methods Of making living
by these four Western men, while railroad tariffs
have been manipulated to suit their pleasure. To-
| day the country il is generally supposed. stands
helpless before them. These four men decreed that
Chicago should re the cattle market Of the world,
and their stoclyards and slaughtcr-hOuses there
| cover hundreds of acres of ground and give en-
| ploymcnt to thousands of workmcn. They have
| made Chicago the standard cattle market and
buyers and sellers alike seek that city.
OF course every city in the Union has
suffered from this Western monopoly Of
the cattle traffic, and none much
as Ncw-York The farmers of Ncw-iork
| State. Pennsylvania and Maryland, on the slopes
Of the AllcghanicS and in the Shenandoah Valley
| of Virginia. who formerly devoted much attention
| to raising and fattcnng cattle for the New-lork
market have found themselves forced to go to rails
| ing sheep instead since the Western dressed beef
| booan to come on the market in such prodgiOus
quantities from the slaughtcr-houscs of Chicago
| As for the slauchtcr-houscs of the East, they
| began 10 close their doors. and the cattle pens
| rarely held any cattle except enough 70 supply
| the trade Of wcll-to-do CONSUMERS. who demanded
| fre,Lcr beef than the Western dressed product.
| I'm n city like Ncw-Yori and its vicinity this
first class trade was great one, but even in this
| market the inroads made by the Western product
| can be seen in the fact that fully 40 per cent Of
| the beef consumed here is Chicago dressed. Some
| figure, will give the reader in II nutshell an idea
Of the effect of the dressing OF cattle in Chicago for
! ruropc had on the exports from this port During
! | 500 only four firms shipped dressed beef from
| this port 10 Eurouc. About G00.0o0 quarters of
beef were exported to Europe. OF which Eastmans
Company shipped 4GG,ii3 quarters; Nelson Nor
| ris Skinned 6 .227. the G. II. Hammond Company
! shipped 1913 quarters and Swift * Co. shipped
| 1888 quarters The meat exported by Morris,
| Hammond and Swift all killed In Chicago,
and came East in refrigerator ears. and while help
| ing 70 swell the figures of Ncw-iork's exports,
added little or nothing to the business here, and
| did not help the livestock market at this point
n cents worth.
| NETWORK CITY'S ADVANTAGES
| But n change is coming and shrwd business
| men confidently predict that it will not be long
before the livestock sccptrc will be transferred to
Ncw-York again, and il will be found that the
only profitable way 10 exchange American sur
plus cattle for British gold is to slaughter on the
scaboard The conspicuous success of 7. c. East
man. who has steadily. for years, slaughtered his
cattle at Sixticth-st and North River. and shipped
them to Europe in refrigerator boxes on FAST
steamers shows that this port is point OF vantage
for killing cattle for export that Chicago can
never hope 10 rival. TO be sure, Mr. Eastman has
strong family and business tics which gave him
peculiar advantages in placing his meat In the
United Kingdom, his son-in-law being Henry Bell,
son Of James Bell, of Glasgow, who owns severai
hundred retail butcher shops in the chief cities
of England and Scotland. But there were other
reasons for Mr.. Easimans success. Inc chief
one was. it was found. that beef killed in this
city, nut in rclrgcmt0rs, cooled ana then loaded
on fast steamers, which carried it TO England
within \ week. arrived there in much better
shane than beef killed in Chicago. and which was
necessarily considerably longer on the way to
market The men who handled the Western