St. Paul daily globe., 1895-04-30
THE SHOWING is VERY POOR.
Reasons Given for the BE-
cent Advance in -,
Prices. eiq
POSITION OF WHOLESALERS
Talk That They Control Live
Stock Market Pronounced
Silly. 'is

Martin, of Armour & Co., Chicago,
today submitted to the secretary of
agriculture a sworn statement of the
prohts and losses of Armour & Co.'S
beef slaughtering business for the
past sixteen months. 1t consists of
four exhibits. The first shows the
results on AL, ,72O cattle slaughtered
and marketed during the year end
ing Nov. 3, 1894. The live weight was
479 81, 800; dressed, 264, ,440; of the
average cost, 1851; total cost, 1926
Ol6. TO this is added cost of labor,
salaries, ETC., $738, ,01O The receipts
from the offal, fat and hides are de-
Quoted, and after taking out 10 per
cent for depreciation and $5S, 900 for
bad debts, the loss is given for the
year as S73,230, or an average loss
per head of 17410 cents. The second
exhibit shows the results on 54344
cattle during November and Deem
Der, 1894. The weight of these alive
was SO, IT'S, 400 pounds; dressed, 3d.
769, ,432; average cost, $3.66; total cost,
$2,1S7,SS9 Labor, salaries, ETC., are
placed at 1851 Against this is
credited S462,201 for offal, fat, hides,
etc. The total loss is placed at s9,11S,
or loss per head of 1877 cents.
THE THIRD ABSTRACT
gives the result on 56,94S cattle slaugh-
tered and marketed during January
and February of the present year
Their live weight was 62,S13,644
pounds; dressed, 34,396,592 pounds,
and the average cost, 1898; total cost,
with labor salaries, ETC., $2,56S, ,235.
, The receipts from cheek meats, hearts,
ETC., tallow and hides are deducted,
and the net gain was $25, ,726, or 451S
cents per head. The depreciation and
bad debts were estimated on the basis
of those for 1894
The last abstract shows the results
on 44,352 cattle slaughtered and mar
keted during the period from Febru-
ary 25 to April 20 last. Their live
weight was 4S,S31 .552 pounds; dressed.
27,O99,072 pounds; average cost, s4.65,
and total cost, including labor. etc,
50, 2,43S,2 ,2S3. Deductions are made on
account Of the sale of cheek meats,
hearts, livers, etc., tallow and hides
and the beef was sold at net gain
of SO, $780, or 81 cents per head. u
Speaking of this statement, Mr.. Mar
tin said: ti@a -
THE SHOWING IS. POOR, -
but all parties who are posted know
that the dressed beef business has
had to stand more than its share of
commercial hardships the past TIVE
years. During 1894 cattle We're fair
ly plentiful and the beef slaughterers
; pushed the business to the utmost,
each trying to outdo the other in the
manufacture Of dressed beef and the
opening of branch houses. At the
Eastern markets, which are the prin-
cipal outlets, the public were short OF
both money and work, and dragged
the prices of dressed beef down to the
lowest possible point, and, as dressed
beef cannot be held any more than
fresh fish, they got it very cheap. At
the first of the year it became ap-
parent that cattle were short, and
beef slaughterers were obliged to put
lI1tlI uGIlfSly lOQoCo Oil oIOI lCi SOiii-
! missions. Cattle and beef began to
advance slowly, eliminating in April,
when live cattle were, on the average,
$3.50 per hundred higher than in
January. Retailers became excited
and
PUSHED PRICES UP,
fearful that the advance would con-
tinue, and their next supply cost them
more money. This caused conSump-
ton to fall off, and Immediately cat
tie and dressed beef broke sharply
during the second week in April.
One thing people could not under
stand was why dressed beef should
advance more rapidly than live cattle.
The reason for this is the value of the
hides, horns and offal from the steer
costing three cents per hundred, is
applied to reduce the price of the
dressed. If cattle advance a cent or
two per hundred the offal does not
catch the advance The horns, CUTS,
blood, tallow, hides and fertilizer
sympathize only after long advance,
and the credit applied to produce the
cost of a five-cent steer is no more
than in the case of a three-cent steer.
The same holds true with the retail
butcher who buys a carcass of dressed
beef. He can get no more for his
bones and scrap and coarse meats,
which are largely in excess of the loin
! and ribs, than he could when dressed
beef was a cent or two cheaper, con-
sequently he advances the price of the
| % per cent of fine meat in the car
cass, and which the people who dan
afford will have, enough to save him
from loss, while the less fortunate,.
whose purses do not permit them to
indulge their taste, pass by without
buying if the price of coarser meats is
relatively advanced. The talk that
the
WHOLESALE SLAUGHTERERS
have or do manipulate or control
prices of live cattle or dressed beef is
silly, and will not be credited by and
person who studies the question Az
fnour & Co. own no cattle on the
plains, and gain nothing by the ad-
vance in cattle. They buy in competi-
ton with over a hundred others who
slaughter locally or in the different,
cities, or export their purchases, and
Armour & Co. sell in competition
with other large slaughterers at To-
ledo, Cleveland, Pittsburg. Detroit,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York,
Buffalo, ETC., and also in competition
with nearly dozen dressed beef ship
pers. The true reason for this ad-
vance in cattle is contained in the
market report of Clay. Robinson G.
Co., of the 27th."