The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-05-10
CHEW BETTER BEEF
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE KIND OF
CATTLE WE ARE EATING.

Why DO Eastern People Eat All the Good
Beefand Leave the Tough Old Cows and
Bulls for Western People to Chew--A
Man of Experience in the Meat Trade
Gives Few Reasons why Better Beef
Ought 90 be Sold in Wichita--But Lit
tie Difference in the Price of Old Cam
ners and Export steers to the Consumer
The question has often been asked
why are all of our fine corn feed steers
shipped to eastern markets and why
do western people eat all the old can
ner COWS. bulls and stays while east
ern dudes and dudesses are permitted
to eat all Of our fine beef cattle.
That is a question that has never
been satisfactorily answered 1t is
sometimes claimed that these better
grades of cattle are shipped because
there is more pounds of meat 10 gross
weight than in the commoner grades
of cattle but the fact that the lower
grades usually sell at shipping prices
is sufficient answer to this attempted
explanation
"A better answer would be that west
ern people DO not know what good
beef is and hence they will buy the
cheaper grades. Farmers in this sec
ton often remark that Wichita is q
good market for anything of superior
quality.
a superior grade of butter always
finds ready sale and the finest grades
Of fruits never have to leave Wichita
TO find ready buyers.
Speaking Of this very question yes
terday Mr.. Wallace, manager Of the
Whitaker packing house, said: Il
never could tell why the best grades of
beef could not be sold in Wichita, and
we propose TO find out whether the
finest quality Of beef can be sold here.
We now have in our cooler some
beeves that sold in Kansas City as ex-
ports That is they are of the same
lot and just like the ones fed by my
self and sold in Kansas City as export
cattle.
There are a good many things
about the beef business that consumers
do not understand. Now for instance,
suppose medium COW sells for
cents pound and an export steer sells
Tor cents. there are a good many peo-
pie who suppose that meet of the ex-
port steer would sell on the block for
three times as much as the 2-cent cow.
This Is a mistake. We sell COM
mon grade beef at 512 to 61a cents al
VIII olesale while good medium brings
Z cents to ~ cents. Now we could
just as well afford to sell the sides of
these fine export steers for S1a to 915
cents pound.
THE reason of that this is the case is
because medium cow viii dress about
46 pounds to the leo gross weight while
we now have the carcasses of five
steers in our cooler that dressed 50
pounds.
That, You see. is only about cents
difference in fine and common beef
When you go to your butcher and buy
boil or roast of common beef. say
for quarter. 5 cents more would get
the finest beef
There is just as much difference in
the meat of these export steers and
common cows meat as there is be
tween spring chicken and an old
rooster, and when people have once
become accustomed to fine quality of
| beef you could no more palm off on
them common beef for a fine quality
than you could sell them 5-year-old
rooster for a spring chicken.
I'VE are going to try the experiment
of putting first-class beef on the Wich-
ita market and find out whether there
Is demand for il. If we find there is
we viii make market here for the
best grade of corn fed steers"