Telegram-herald., 1891-04-19

Poor Crop Conditions and CnasrssPpl
Of Feed sssas Prices Up.

Poor Crop Conditions and CndsrssPpiy
Of Feed sssas Prices Up.
Owing % the recent advance in the
price Of meats. the TELEGRAM HERALD
called 81 the several packing houses ia
TIA city Friday, and CLEANED few facts
in regard 10 that business. w. Z.
Granger, secretary and treasurer of the
Grand Rapids Packing and Pr0yiaon
Company, gave some interesting facts
ana dguses concerning the production
Of meats. He said; 1--WE get our sup
ply from Chicago AZ the rate OF three
car loads each of pork and beef. and
Two each OF lard aud smoked meats
weekly. A car contains "A 900 pounds,
so vs. handle on an average now 40
tons OF meat . week. We ship some or
this % dealers IN the northern part OF
the state, but the most OF 1t IS con-
sumed here IN the city. The market
mas been gradually rising, and the pres
Indications are that II Will continue 10
advance, for the Western supply Will he
very limited TINS summer. We were
selling pork IONS last summer Tor 7 and
5 cents pound, while now We are sell
ing the same kind of meat at 10 cents.
Fresh beef will be- higher this summer;
good steers are now worth To :
cents . pound. We have no slaughter
house here, because 1t IL too expensive
10 keep one IN running order it can be
done so much cheaper IN Chicago that
II pays US better 10 have 1t shipped 70 US
from that point. The western beef IS
superior ~ our native production; II IS
heavy and well fart@ned, while our
native beef Is thin and not OF SO good
quality. All of the thin beef IN Chicst-
go IS canned and worked up in other
ways, and nothing but the best kind Is
sent TO the Eastern market. One rea-
son why our local meat is not "a good
as that from the Western slaughter
houses is that il IS killed while the
animal Is warm from being driven, and
the meat put on the market, while in
Chicago the cattle remain IN the stock
yards for several days. and are thor
oughly inspected before killing"
Fifty tent Corn aud Four Cent Meat.
William Hawkes., of the l.. F. Swift
Packing Company, said: "The head
quarters of this establishment IS at
Chicago, with about two hundred
branch houses in the principal cities OF
the United States. The output at Chi
| cago Is $4,000 head of cattle week.
We handle here on an average of fifty
head . week sent direct from our
slaughter house. We pack no meat
here, but sell it fresh TO wholesalers
| and retailers. We handle between FIVE
and ten tons Of smoked meats week.
| Prices will be higher this season be-
| cause farmers have sold their stock
early on account of \ scarcity Of feed
and the high price. Farmers can not
| afford to feed 30 cent corn TO make
4 and cent pork. Corn at 80 cents q
bushel will bring pork at cents a
pound"
E. C. Bearce, of the Western
Beef Company, said that they re-
ceive two cars of beef a week
sent from the Chicago slaughter houses.
"The pork of this locality is of rs fine
quality as that of the Western States.
The best beeves here are shipped to the
larger cities, SO that we get the poorest
quality in our local markets, but we
can't compete with the Western States
in raising beef. The market will be
higher this season on account of a
scarcity of feed, but think when cattle
are turned out to green feed the price
will drop. We are handling q car load
of smoked meat week. Smoked
meats have been advanced 20 per cent.
| within the last four weeks"