The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-06
WHY MEATS ARE 50 HIGH
Beef, Pork and Mutton Have Gone
Up With an Alarming
Jump.
Every Indication That the Top
Notch Has Not Yet Been
Reached.
Serious Problems for tho Poor Heads Of
Large Families-The Great Rise
Fully Explained.

Meats Of all kinds have advanced in
pricc at such an alarming rate the last two
months as 10 challenge the comment of con-
sumers all over the country. A like az
vance the next month or two n thousands
of people will be forced to suspend eating
fresh meats, as there is limit beyond which
the poorer classes CANINE possibly go, says
the Chicago Times, of Saturday, May :.
Steaks which we're selling March l for IL
to IA cents now bring 16 to Is. Pork and
mutton have advanced in about the same
proportion, and tho indications are that
prices will go still higher, as there is no
promise Of the existing conditions chang
ing for the better. This is a question every
man, woman and child in the country ia
interested in, mi if the prices are marked
up a few notohes higher, as everything in
dicates they will be, fresh meat will have to
be given up by thousands of poor families
all over the country. Nothing will be left
them but q return to corned beef, vast
quantities of which were consumed about
ten years ago, when fresh meat was even a
trifle higher than at present.
AAAo u a AAou6 PAOAbOAl " AOdOS u
families everywhere, and the worst of it is
relief can scarcely come inside of a year
and a half, and perhaps not even then.
Two causes are responsible for the advance.
One is the undersupply, and the other the
high price of corn. Last year stockraissrs
NIL over the west rushed their cattle to mar.
ket regardless of the prevailing prices. Vast
quantities of immature stock were disposed
of, n when the supply was so great it was
but natural for values to become depressed.
This was just what happened, and people
imagined they were enjoying a great boon.
And 80 they were, but now they nave got to
pay for it or go without their accustomed
choice cuts.
The low prices which prevailed at that
time was an inducement for many to select
the better grades, and a %fondness for them
once cultivated the difficulty now is in re-
turning to the common, especially when
former did one year ago. With the great
o%versupply spoken of there was a natural
diminution in the stock on the ranges. The
surplus, or more particularly the immature
stock, was rushed to market, leaving only
the breeding grades. In addition to this
were put on the market, the breeders ap-
parently reaching the conclusion sponta-
neously to confine their efforts to the higher
grades. ,.'
This alone would have q tendency to ad-
vance prices, but there ia compensation in
meat bringing the better price. On that
score there would be little complaint, but
when it gets to be.a question of paying four
and five cents a pound more for the inferior
qualities, everybody feels the grind. Then
the price of corn has just about doubled the
lnnt Hanr HNvun rn ~ vrA n~~ - ~~,,I1 -
bought On the market at a trife
over 10 cents a bushel, but yesterday the
same grade was bringing GO cents
per bushel. Corn-fed cattle are the
best, and if the raisers are paying
double to feed their stock, it is Lut reasona-
BILE to expect them to raise their prices.
Water appears to be about the only article
that has not advanced in price, but unfor-
t~unately for the consumer it does not enter
into the calculation. The farmer will get
more satisfaction out of the existing con-
ditions than any one else, and if he fails to
high prices he might as we'll quit the bust
ness. He is getting more money for all his
products. 1t is true he is paying more for
everything he buys, but the increase in the
value of his own products is vastly greater
than in the manufactured ones which he
uses.
A visit was made to Armour g. Co.'s off,
Yesterday afternoon to ascertain now the
big wholesale houses regarded the situation,
and what the prospects were for a change.
J: W. Quinn did the talking for the firm,
md the first proposition he advanced was
that a comparison in the present price of
corn with what it was one year ago would
practically explain the advance in the price
of meats of all kinds. He went on to ex-
plain that a year ago the daily receipts of
cattle at the stock-yards ran all the way
from 10000 to $4,000 head per day, while at
the present tim they had dropped to about
one-half. One year ago the supply was
greater than the demand, while at the pres
ent time the conditions are just reversed.
This was true, proportiOpately, with refer
ence to hogs and sheep, and, as it would
take something over a year for the raisers
to stock up again, he was of the opinion
that prices would range even higher during
the next year. He was confident they
would not decline, as there WAS no stock
anywhere in the country that could be
put on the market. His idea Of the
big shipments of a year ago was that they
resulted from a determination on the part
OF raisers to market their inferior and i'm
mature stock, and, by holding and in the
future raising nothing but better grades,
command better prices for the future. He
old not think the move was predetermined,
but that it was largely the outRrowth OF
past experience. The wholesale houses, he |
said, were all paying an advance of about
NSopAo IA pAS hopls L uc |
finest grades were bringing about 5000 per
hundred. and the lowest close to So. The
advance the last sixty days was more
marked in the better grades.
Several of the downtown retailers were
visited with an idea of getting their side
OF their story. Not one OF them varied the
They were all paying from 25 to 35 per
cent. more for dressed meats than they paid
two or three months ago, and to meet the
advance had been compelled to mark up
the price to consumers. Average porter
house steaks brought 20 to % cents, and the
choice ones %. Good sirloins commanded
IL and 20 cents, and the other grades a pro-
portionate increase. Buying their meat in
carload lots, said the retailers, it cost them
three cents n pound more than it did a cou-
pie OF months ago, and that was about the
amount they had advanced the price to the
consumer. Their explanation for the ad
vance correspondent with that furnished by
the wholesalers.
The Bully sided with tho Minister,