Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1891-06-09
BEEF STEADY.

Prices of cattle have undergone bat
little change of late In any direction, and
arr ruling firm all around. In this State
q large proportion of the Cat oxen have
already gone forward to market, though
.ome pairs are still at work on the farms
that will he o.fcr~d q few day. later, az.
ter the springs work l. fully flashed
up. 10 far "a this class of stock IL con-
ccrnci, the question of greatest Interest
now l. whether these better prices Tor
beef arc Ia continue.
There IL no one thing connected With
the agriculture of the state that would
Inspire our farmers with so much cour-
age In their business, and awaken them
10 .o great activity In their operations,
a. sn assurance % ccrtaintv that good
aud paving price. 'for beef cattle may
BE- safely and surely relied upon Tor the
future. This matter of the value ~
h-cf cattle has q far wider range with
%. than the price of oxen aud steers.
There are many cattle outside of oxen
whose HAL end IL beet, aud their value,
q. we'll AZ that of oxen, I. an important,
factor with the stock raiser. The al
most WORTHLESS. value II COW beet which
ha. prevailed during tbc.c year. of low
priced bcci has bccn q serious draw
b ok to the dairymsn, and has largely
Affected the profits of hls business.
lIelfcrs ral.ci to rrpleni.h the dairy In
many ss.es fall To mee, tb. r-gulremens,
and II of little value for meat, give small
returns for the ralslng. Thus dccs ,his
question ~ beef value. affect everything
standing on boof. - permanent re-
turn Ca price. that offer Inducements Ia
effort would give courage tn farmer. all
along the line, aud spur them on Ia an
activity that would give life to all
hranche. of farming.
The all.lmportant question now Ia,
whether thl. advance u Ia prove pcrma-
nent. On thl. point thcrr !. every c,i-
d-nc. that u Will. True, there WAS .
slight settling In the boston market last
week. bat u "a. only slight, aud may
- looked upon az no morr of a fuctus-
tlon than !. likely to occur at any time.
~. too, II u likely to occur, a IL fr~-
quently the case. that the light gras.
beef 81 summer may not sustain full
winter prices. Hut behind all this u the
fact that cannot b. questioned, that the
looked for--wc Nigh, az we'll .ay hoped
fcr-shortagc ~ supply !. upon u., a.
l. proven by the fact that the advance of
,hlrty-,hrcc PER cent In price has failed
% draw out Increased numbers. On the
top ~ these better prices, during the
frat twelve days ~ the present month,
the rrC-ipt. at Chicago fell 5000 short
~ the same time one year ago, aud the
decrease since January l, the time when
thl. shrinksg- 70 supply hrst began to
appear. has reached full I'D, ,eo head.
Beef supply, unlike crop production
cannot ~ up and down with the season.
n take. year Ia brcc,i q calf and thrc-
year. Ca grow q butcher. bc-f from II,
aud available supply cannot be- Affected
to any extent In lcss time at least. In
fact. even q longer time I. Involved In
the circuit. 4 short supply mean. de
crra.e In the brccllng stock. To In
crrss- the numbers 10 stock rsis-,i, there
must frat H. an Increase of cows to brccd
from. Thl. again call. Tor time, and
cannot ln any possible way bc otherwise
met. - the wa,. of supply cannot ebb
ani fow In lea. than d.cade. ~ that
the fact ~ shortage having been estab-
li.he,. the ccrtslnty that IL must con-
,lnue fot q considerable number ~ years
follows ss sequence.
To what extent the.c better prices may
20 on before turn In the tide will be-
r-sch-i u an uncertain problem, of
course. VT herr, "a we'll a In supply,
the indications are quilt. encouraging.
American people are high llyers, and
they eat meats without stint. Mean
while, our population I. rapidly on the
Increase. THIS, with a decreasing snp-
ply 80 bccf rapidly wldens the brccch
b-ts-cn supply and demand, and Ger.
talnly :. an Indication that .tlll higher
prices are ahead, AMI that they may con
tlnue through prolonged period. Ger
talnly the outlook |. most hopeful, and
Maine farmer. should strike out Ia se-
cure the full advantage ~ the Improved
.liaation.-Maine Farmer.