The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-14
Will CONTINUE
THE MEAT War.
THE WESTERN MEAT COMPANY
WILL Nor ABANDON THE
STRUGGLE.
CHEAP CHOPS AND STEAKS.
THE BUTCHERS LOSE MONEY. BUT
THE CITIZEN PROFITS
THEREBY.

G. F. Swift and Nelson Morris, the big
pork and beef packers of Chicago and Kan
sas City, arrived from the East yesterday,
and spent busy day at the offices of the
Western Meat Company, in which cor
poration they, together with Phil Armour,
are largely interested, and of which Mr..
Swift is president.
For some time past it has been whis-
pered on the street that the representatives
of the great Eastern slaughter-hous men,
who erected the million-dollar plant at
Baden, had become heartily sick of the
venture, and the arrival here of two of the
principals was sufficient to set the tongues
of gossip to wagging harder than ever.
Rumor had it that their mission here was
to arrange for closing out the business and
winding up the affairs of the corporation
at the annual meeting of the stockholders
next Monday afternoon, and much specu-
lation was INDUCED in as to what was to
be done with the immense plant down
the bay.
The attempt of Armour and his asso-
ciates to secure share of the fresh meat
trade of this coast has not been profitable
one. On coming here he announced that
he did not aim to control the trade, but
only to receive a fair share of it, but word
went forth that the ultimate object was to
freeze out the smaller men, and at once a
Butchers Board of Trade, colloquially
known as the Butchers Union, sprang into
existence to fight the new corners. The
war has lasted two years now, and the re-
suit has been that while both sides lost
money the citizen of San Francisco paid
from five to ten cents pound less for his
porterhouse than the same cut could be
purchased for in the East. In the struggle
hR Into ctnn Nv In
wholesalers, and their insinuations about
frozen meat had a disastrous effect upon
the sales of the new concern.
The Eastern men deny, however, that
they intend to abandon the fight Mr.
Swift, when questioned concerning the
matter, was disposed to ridicuie it. "If
we are going out of business here" he
said, ''this is the first l have known of it. ;"
Manager L. r. Hough of the Western
Meat Company said:
You may quote me as positively denying the
truth Of that rumor. We are il business here
to stay, and though our trade is not Just what
we might wish, it is better than it has been.
The increase is due to the superior quality of
our goods, and it would have been larger ex-
cept that we do business on a cash basis while
any amount of credit is obtainable in Butcher
town. 1t is known that none of our meats are
"froZen," and we care for them so that in our
establishment the rats do not run to and fro
over them as they do in Butchertown.
A similar inclination to continue the
fight was noted among the stockholders of
the corporation. James Mccullough, the
manager of the San Francisco agency for
Armour's supplies, said:
There is no disposition among the stock
holders TO abandon the fight This city is at
least fifty years behind the age in the matter
of handling its fresh meats, and the enterprise
viii succeed. The fight against us made by the
! local wholesale butchers is directly in line
with the unfortunate disposition manifested