The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1899-08-26

The high price of meats divides the
.honors with the Dreyfus trial as mat
ter of. public interest in Duluth. There Is
q curious a4omoly in the matter Of high
prices for meats at the. retail butcher
shop; beef is high and 1t Is not high. At
least that is the way the retail dealers
figure It. out and as they appear to be
quite unanimous ;on the subject it must
be so,s Retail dealers are now charging 20
cents for porterhouse steak and IS cents
Tor sirloin and they say they ought to
get Is and 20 cents respectively. Accord
ing to their view there is apparently no
escape from the conviction that while
meat is high it is really low.
/, The retailers say that: the prices for
orterhouse. and vsirloin steaks have adj
vante6: two cents a pound during the past
year. The former cuts sold at IS and the
slatters for s16s cents last summer at sthta
time. Round steak q year ago was m
cents . pound and now, the price Is Ia.
gents. There has 2beensvAn advances of: 8
cents a. pound for: RIB roasts.s Some o.
the retail dealers say that under the presa,
ent prices for beef carcasses they have
difficulty In getting out Whole,. to say
nothing Of making any profit. They say
that there has been an: advance IN the
price Of carcasses almost 60 per cent In
the past year while the advance at retail
has been only about 10 or u per cent.
One retailer says that they ought to
get as much for their cheapest meats as
they pay for carcasses, as fully two
thirds Of a carcass has to- go for 5 to
cents q pound, whereas the retail dealer
has. to pay 81 to Scents for the; meat
straight through. i'-$t,f
) There has been considerable said about
people eating eggs and poultry as they
find these good substitute for meat and
that in consequence the prices for these
commodities have advanced sharply.
This report, which emanated from Min
neaDOlis may be true there but it is not
true in Duluth. Poultry, spring chicken
for example, have declined, several cents
during the past week ana the egg market
is normal. While people are buying sir
loin where the formerly bought ;porter-
house and are satisfied with round steak
where they once ordered sirloin,s they have
not turned to the poultry; and eggs strong
enough to affect the market, perceptibly.
:! 1t was expected that when the Montana
year that the price of beef would ease
of as this has been the result in former
years, but, the retailers say the effect
has not been noticeable. They explain the
situation as due to the Increased demand
and do not blame the packers. =
The meat trust is a matter of consider
able comment. The local retail dealers
say that the. so-called :, trust merely
amounts to this: The packers meet every
week and fix the prices for meats for the
coming week. Many people will agree
that there is no necessity for trust when:
they can agree to this arrangement with
out having falling out, In the mean
time there is any amount OF fish in Lake
Superior and If the aprice of meat gets too
high people may buy hook and line
and line and try their luck. Some Of the
Duluth retail meat dealers say that If
meat advances much more they will have
to quit the business for they will lose
their customers.