The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-04-20

blood-stained floors of the butchering
department. There is not a speck of
dirt noticeable in the big chilling-rooms,
the floors of which are covered with
fresh, clean sawdust. In addition to the
lot number attached to the carcass of
each animal is certificate of inspection
placed there by one of Uncle jerry Rusk's
inspectors, who is stationed at the lift
ting door, through which the bullock is
admitted to the slaughtering-room, and
who is a recent adjunct to the packing
houses, where National a swell as State
inspection is enforced.
The carcasses remain hanging in the
chilling-rooms from thirty.six to forty
eight hours, after which they are run
out to the loading platforms, cut into
quarters and put in the refrigerator cars
ready for transmission to Eastern points.
The cars are kept at the same tempera-
ture as the cooling.rooms and are iced
twenty-four hours prior to using, the
process being repeated next morning.
A gang of expert cutters, under the charge
of competent foreman CON load eight
cars in an hour, an average of one car
every seven and one-hslf minutes. Con-
sidering that thirty.eight carcasses are
hung in each car, divided into
quarters, the fore and hind
quarters being placed at separate ends OF
the compartment, this is pretty rapid
work. Between Chicago and New York
the refrigerator cars are iced three times,
a corps of experts being stationed at the
supply-houses along the various lines Of
road for this purpsse. A train load of
dressed beef starting from the Chicago
yards on Monday will arrive in New York
the following Friday, and the Brooklyn
or New Jersey householder may have for
his piece de resistance at 6 o'clock dinner
Friday night tender, Juicy roast of beef
that six days previous was part of lively
steer cavorting around in the pens
adjacent to the Chicago slaughter-houses.
The system is to great extent an en-
larged butchers business, as it is supplied
by host of retailers, who, instead of
being butchers on the old style, have
become merely meat cutters. In San
Francisco there are no butchers, the city
drawing its retail supplies Of animal food
from the hosts of meat cutters, who buy
their goods from day to day from the
wholesale slaughtcrers. So it is with the
dressed beef interests in this city. So
much meat is forwarded daily north,
south, east and west, to be distributed at
the different points where the beef, veal,
pork or mutton is in demand. The work
is thoroughly systematized, for those
engaged in it must be prepared to meet
the demands of their customers. Tho
"big three" have wholesale distributing
supply-houses in every city of any size in
the country, and it is said that within
the past six-months one of the trio has
established upward of one hundred of
these depots in the principal cities OF
the United Kingdom, where the dressed
beef interests are rapidly growing.
This industry has naturalsy created a
revolution among the retail butchers
trade. The old-time butcher, with his
great big chops, rosy face and comfort
able paunch, is rapidly fading from sight.
Othello's occupations gone. All he has
to do now is to repair to the slaughter
house, select his beef from the rcfrigera-
tors, or contract for daily or weekly
supply to be sent him. At outside points
he calls at the refrigerator where the
meats are unloaded from the cars and
there makes his purchases. Formerly
the retail butcher who did his own kill