The Portland daily press., 1891-04-14
THE QUESTION: OF BEEF.
Farmers OF Maine May Relieve the
Present strIngency.

There has been much talk of late concern
ing the unexpected rise in the price of beef
and Its causes, and probable duration. Ii
has been laid at the door of combination of
wicked cattle barons In the West, aud to the
terrible Mckinley bill that was expected to
greatly increase the cost Of living along the
whole line. but that did not in any other de-
partment Of the necessaries of life. A re-
porter Of the PRESS, who did not believe
that either the wicked barons or the wicked
tariff was responsible for the rise, went on
tour OF Investigation yesterday amongst the
stalls In the city market seeking after truth.
Mr.. A. 4. Smith, the wholesale beef dealer,
was seen and he had something to say on the
subject. The recent rise Is due to a variety
OF causes, he said. In the first place, 1t is
the swinging OF the pendulum the other way
from that in which 1t has been going for the
past two years. The price of beef has been
altogether too lew lately, and the ranchmen
have been losing heavily. A few years ago a
good many of them were paying from $50 to
$40 apiece for animals to stock their ranches.
They have been obliged within the past two
years to sell these animals for from $40 to
$lS. Only the other day Mrs. Dallas, the
Texas woman rancher, sold 1900 two-year-
old steers for $85. 900, which is $4,000 less than
Sc apiece. Even wealthy men and women
like these. who do business on an immense
scale, cannot meet losses like these right
straight along for any length of time, and
dozens of the big cattle ranches have been
cut up into homestead farms, so that now
when there Is demand for beef the facili-
ties for raising IL cheaply in large herds are
gone, and the cattle buyer must pick up his
cattle by the dozen FROM farmers, where he
formerly bought them by the hundred frow
the ranchmen.
Then of late the improved condition of the
wool business has induced many ranchers
| who still have large ranges to turn out their
| cattle and put In sheep.
| But is 1t not fact that small farmers raise
cattle in sufficient numbers in the aggregate
to supply the demand, even though the
big ranchmen have gone out of business?
Perhaps so; but it costs good deal more to
raise few animals than 1t does to raise them
by wholesale. Small lots of cattle are most
ly Stalled, housed in barns over night, and
more closely watched over than range cattle
are. Grain is high now and is likely to con-
tlnue so, and OF course granted cattle will
rule higher in consequence for some time to
come.
Suppose the supply Of Western cattle is
shut off; will not the farmers In this section
raise beef enough to make up the deficiency?
They may in time, but it will take time to
get the beef business back where it was
twenty years ago in this part of the country.
Mr.. Smith then named over several old.
time butchers, himself and his brother, f.
Kenney. Merrill Brothers, Haggett Brothers,
John L. Best and others, who were in active
business, each killing from 20 to 80 animals
each week, several of them having extensive
slaughteriug establishments, ice-houses,
dressing rooms, etc. This business is all
gone now. All the men named, together, not
killing as many animals now as any one Of
them did alone some years ago. This bust
ness has gone to Chicago and Kansas City,
where, II the supply of beet is kept up,
the work can be done more cheaply than we
could do 1t. II the supply of Western beef
is shut off. and the price of Chicago killed
beef continues to advance. we may start up
slaughter houses again in the East, If the
farmers will raise the cattle.
Unfortunately. fondness for veal has
been developed In this part Of the country,
and people are willing to pay as much for
six-weeks-old calf as they are for two-year-
old steer. 1t is not likely that farmer will
go to the trouble of raising his veal calves
into two-year-olds unless he can get more for
his time and trouble than he could II he
slaughtered the animal when it was six
weeks old.
II the price of beef continues high as it
has during the past few weeks, as it seems
likely to continue, 1t will result in a year or
two in the re-establishment of the cattle rais-
ing and Strengthening business in this part Of
the country. and then there may be relief
Considering the facts, however, that the
ranches are being cut up for settlement. and
that cattle are giving way to sheep on many
of them, together with the fact that grain is
advancing. there can be no prospect of relief
from the West for several years at least.
This problem Of the beef supply may afford
solution for another vexed land vexipg
question Of farming In Maine, the re-settle-
ment of the abandoned farms. 1t may be
that some of them, perhaps not fertile
enough or accessible enough to admit of cul-
tivation. can be turned into cattle ranges, to
the profit alike of the farmer and the man
who buys beef in the cities.
E~AIhf<I~.