Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-24
THE PRICE OF BEEF
It May Be Lowered by South Ameri-
can Exports.
MR.. MORTON and TEE CATPLEMEN
Why the Secretary Thinks There
is a Ring.
PRICES THAT DIS AGR EE

Steamship people send word from New
York that South American solution Of
the beef boom may be on its way. 1t is
autumn in the southern hemisphere. The
cattle of southern and central South Amer
lea are just going into the winter with a
summers and an autumn's fat on their
ribs. They are ready to slaughter. These
South American ranges are a trifie over
60O0 miles from New York. A swift
steamer cam cover it in less than four
weeks. A line of refrigerator steamers
ply between the cattle fields of South
America and England loaded to the guards
In the dressed beef trade. Nothing would
be commercially easier than to divert one,
two or a dozen of these dressed beef
steamers and instead of sending them TO
England send them to New York. Should
the present high figures in porterhouse
sirloins and dressed beef generally prevail
steamboat folks declare that il will be
done. Indeed, the story is that London and
Boston people are already arranging to do
this. They say, too, that should dressed
beef steamer lack a freight from New York
to South America for a return trip she can
be freighted from New York to England
and from the latter point back to the
dressed beef depots of South America.
There Is no risk of making any part of
the round trip light by following this
triangle of trade.
The Ad vnlorem Duty.
The only barrier now being considered by
these would-be beef importers is The 70 per
cent ad valorem tariff. But as this is as
sessed on the South American value. and
as that value Is dwarfish when compared to
present New York prices for dressed beef.
if anything like the present figures con-
ariH on,t16 ha r,<1Nd
and big profit accrue to the importer.
From signs now clear 1t may be no distant
DAY when the whole northeastern portion
of the United States will be fed by beef
grown south of the equator. Freights by
these refrigerator steamers are not high;
there is no danger of a cargo spelling at
sea for months; ana, as steamship man
remarked today, There would be more
safety and less expense in bringing beef
from South America by steamer than from
Mexico by rail-"
Secretary MOrtOn's Search.
The dressed beef extortion still continues,
and Secretary Morton's effort to locate the
blame and discover just how much Of the
recent beef rise is honest, and how much Is
robbery, still continues. OF late the Sec
letary has suffered at the hands of both
the Kansas City and the East st. Louis
live stock exchanges in the way of resolu-
ticns. These stock yards bodies condemn
retary Mortons inquiries. They say that it
has caused the consumption of beef to fall
off. and has lowered the price of cattle at
the yards and on foot; and so deprived the
live cattle seller of his fair profits. Sec
retary Morton does not yield in any way to
these resolutions. Speaking Of them to a
Star reporter today, Secretary Morton said:
There has been no agitation by the Agri-
cultural Department Of this beef question.
The retail prices of beef, particularly sir
IONS ana porterhouse went up tremen-
dously few weeks ago. They have re-
mafned up. This rise. is what caused the
agitation, as far as there has been any,
And this high price in beef is what has
caused the falling off in beef consumption.
sumption will fall of still more Should
the coterie which has the market in it's
hands put beef at 81 pound, 1 should ex-
pect consumption to stop altogether. It is
lies appetite for beef, not agitation And
the price is very much under the control
Of these men who complain so dismally Of
the agitation by the Agricultural Depart
nent.
Not the Live Cattle Man.
1T is amusing to me-" continued Secre-
tary Morton, ''as he read the dispatch
from the st. Louis stock yards people,
how excessively tender these gentlemen
have become toward the live cattle seller,
and how ardently they long for him to get
a big figure for his cattle. Now listen to
a few facts. Let me say first, distinctly
that nobody believes the live cattle seller
is getting too high a price for his cattls
The rise in the price Of live cattle has been
less than 81 a hundred or less than one
cent per pound, during the last year. That
has been honestly caused by scant pas
lures and short corn crops. But on that
rise of less than one cent per pound for
live cattle dressed beef has gone up from
five cents to- ten cents per pound. On Its
face this looks like extortion. 1t has the
Iotr
ring, or pool or combine. There are many
people who charge that a beef ring exists;
that 1t stands in the center of the cattle
trade in the guise Of big slaughters and
plumbers both ways. 1t puts down prices
for live cattle which 1t buys and SO pill
lagos the cattle raiser. 1t puts up the
price of dressed beef and lightens the
pockets of the consumer to its own unfair
advantage.
A Beef Ring.
"There are sinister facts which go long
way to justify the claim that a beef ring
exists. One is that while. as these stock
yards people complain, beef consumption
has fallen off, it hasn't served to lower the
price of retail beef. 1t would seem to have
skipped clear over the dressed beef-this
falling off in consumption-where it might
naturally be expected to lodge in its effect,
and while dressed beef still stuck at ex-
tortionate figures to have beaten down the
price of live cattle. Now, why? Does it not
look as If combine, buying cattle to
slaughter and sell as dressed beef, held
dressed beef figures at hish-water mark by
sheer ring strength, while buying cattle at
lower figures than usual.
Prices Do Not Agree.
again, there's no consistency in the re-
tail prices of beef. While up above 80
cents per pound in New York city, the same
cuts sell at retail at 10 cents in central
Illinois. No two markets agree. Chicago
does not match New York, nor does either
place compare honestly with any other.
The freight rate on dressed beef to New
York from Chicago is about three-quarters
of a cent, while the difference in dressed
beef prices between the two points is far
in excess of this. The whole thing looks
as if there were an under current of un-
fairness and sharp practice in this muddle
of beef. And it is to determine that fact
and locate the sharpers, If they exist, that
the Agricultural Department is making
these inquiries. And the search for beef
rascals will continue. If honest inquiry is
calculated to hurt an honest man and an
honest market, I have yet to find 1t OUT
Mexican Cattle.