The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-10
WHERE MERCURY IS Low.
How the Inside of Cold Storsg,
Room Looks,

How the Inside of a Cold Storage
Room Looks.
do you want to cool off" asked Man
ager G. H. Drayton of a MORNING NEWS
reporter who stopped in front Of the
Armour Packing Company's cold storage
warehouse about the hottest part of yester
day. "If you do, just come in and win
show you something"
Mr.. Dray ton was followed into q small
room, where the temperature appeared to be
about 800 colder than outside.
just wait till you get in here" said Mr..
DraytOn as he pulled open a heavy door.
The door was carefully shut after enter
ing, and the temperature appeared to drop
to zero all at once. An oyercoat would
not have been uncomfortable.
This is,where we keep our meats, you
ses" said Mr. Drayton. There we're rows
OF quarters of heavy western beef suspended
from books. The beef appeared as hard
almost as If it we're frozen, which was not
the case. The thermometer which Is kept
in the room stood at 4lo.
A feature Of the cold storage system is perfect
ventilation, notwithstanding the appear
being fresh and pure all the time. Instead
of being damp, as some might suppose a
cold storage house would be, the walls are
perfectly dry.
1--WE have currents of dry air passing
through all the time" said Mr.. Drayton.
II see there is some talk about the quail
ty of cold storage meats )" he added, land l
just want to give you an idea of the differ
ence between the meats supplied this mar
ket now and those supplied about three
years ago. l have been in the butcher
business here for years and l know some-
thing about it, Until within the last
three years this market depended upon
native cattle about six months In the year.
and upon cattle shipped here from North
Carolina the other SIX. Some of the native
meat was very good, but there was great
deal OF dissatisfaction among both butchers
and consumers. The supply could never be
depended upon and frequently one man
controlled the whole market. l have paid
more per pound for cattle in foot than
would now have to pay for the
best western beef ready dressed for the
market. The great trouble with the native
beef was that 1t was put on the market
right after being killed. A butcher would
kill a beef at night and put the meat on the
market the next morning before the heat
had died out of the body. Such meat is not
fit to eat. Beef requires to be kept several
days TO be in proper con 1stion for the mar
ket. The North Carolina cattle business,
though, was simply horrible Half
of the cattle that were shipped here
from North Carolina were killed to keep
them from dying and we're put GU them
ket. 1t was fact, and every butcher who
was in business here a few years ago can
tell you so. They reached here weak, ex-
hausted and almost dead and frequently
with dead cattle in the cars, and the butchers
| who bought them picked out those likely to
die and slaughtered them first. It was part
of the business then. l was interested in a
shipment here of about sixty cattle from
North Carolina some years ago. They ar
rived here in the usual bad condition, and
we killed about twenty OF the worst looking
| Immediately. When we went to look at the
! lot the morning after, half of the rest of
them had died. We killed the rest of the lot
to keep them from dying. That's the kind of
meat Savannah put up with a few years
ago. Now the business has changed en-
tirely and they get the best western
beef, stall fattened, killed by
the most approved processes,
shipped here in refrigerator cars and kept
In cold storage room until placed upon
the market. Savannah now gets good beef,
aud l will stake my reputation upon it. The
| butchers have no reason to complain of the
change, because they are getting cheaper
beef now than ever BEFORE"