The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-28
DEFENDS THE BEEF TRUST


The new converts zeal in any cause
is a proverb the world over and the
: proverb never had a more complete
demonstration than is afforded by the
local organ OF the Hannaized Repub-
liean party Less than a twelvemonth
ago il had spasns of horror seven days
in the week over the inieuity of the
men who were-and still are-the real
dictators of the present administra-
TONS policy. To suggest the POSSIBLE
itv of a gold standard for this nation
was to throw the organ into fits: and
to praise anything a trust might do
was TO invite columns of super-heated
abuse.
Now it IS different. Mark Hanna, in
its eyes, needs only wings and halo
TO be ready for translation to a celes-
tiaS sphere of activity. Otis is another
Alexander, Alger a much-abused war
genius, and the little coterie of pap-fed
politicians that represent the admins
Rraticn in Utah are statesmen whose
4biity is only excelled by their self
sacrificing patriotism. Silver is a dead
issue. Bryan a cheap back-number and
all the devotees Of bimetallism are
cranks whose opinion counts for
naught-as long as a federal Office is
in sight for distribution among the
faithful
In its newborn zeal the apostle of
Hannaism in Utah has again taken TO
the manufacture of facts in support of
a poor cause. Defending an eastern
attack on the beef trust, in which the
trust was charged with advancing the
price of beef to the consumer without
giving the stockman any proportionate
share of the advance, the Tribune says
editorially:
We do not believe that is quite fair.
The stock of cattle in the United States
has been reduced 80 per cent, while the
people have increased 10 per cent Then
the fact thai THE people arc prosperous
and earning more money than before is
another way to say that thousands of
people who were eating meat once in
three days three years ago are eating ii
twice q Gay now. Beef cattle have adj
yancec cents q pound on foot, and we
do not see how meats can help being high
for two or three years. because so many
thousand stock cattle were killed, as men
one after another went out OF the stock
business, t1at under the present con-
sumption it viii take some time TO in
crease the herds again Ard then there
were thousands of acres of ranges so
thoroughly eaten off that il will require
a long time to restore them. and indeed,
there never again can be any indiscrim-
mate massing OF stock in the mountains
and tie arid regions of this republic. The
outlook for stockmen who have a start
and who have good pasture. good water
and good winter shelter for stock was
never better than just now.
Not fair. eh? Beef cattle have adj
vanced three cents a pound on foot"
have they? Well, well. That viii be
news to every stockman in the coun-
Try. The Chicago Post, the Chicago
Drover's Journal, Clay Robinson's Live
Stock Report and the Chicago Inter
ocean viii all have to revise their mar
ket quotations. According to those au-
thorities which are generally accurate.
the prices for cattle this week in the
chief markets of the country are al
most exactly the same as ruled for the
same week of last year. The very top
figure for fancy beef in Chicago on
Tuesday was $3.50 and not one carload
in a thousand of receipts would grade
up to that price. Such cattle as are
fed to the plain people brought s4.75 to
s5.25,
Statistics show that today there is
one head of cattle in this country to
every 1000 consumers. In 1852, seven
teen years ago. the ratio was one head
to less than 400 consumers and aver
age beef rattle brought $s.20 per hun
dred. That is to say, with a supply of al
snost one-third less cattle per LOCO of
population than there was in 1882, the
price today is little more than half
what the livestock man got for his pro-
duct seventeen years ago.
Every. cattleman knows that this con-
6ition of affairs is due 10 the monopoly
that controls the beef industry of this
country from its Chicago headquarters.
Armour. Swift, Nelson Morris. Cudahy
and one or two other butchers or a
large scale dictate almost absolutely
the price of cattle on the hoof and Of
dressed beef in the consumers cup
board. They have conceded a sop OF an
advance in the price of cattle Of less
than SO cents per 100 pounds, while they
have csnched the consumer for an adj
vance OF 5 cents per pound
Nice rhilanthropists are they not?
And it is not quite fair" to charge
them with extortionate monopoly, is it?
Because they have control OF the mar
ket, they have made the very blood in
the poor mans body pay tribute to
their monopoly; they have made the
chief sustenance of labor a lever of
oppression for the man of moderate
means as well as for the poor devil who
can afford meat only once a week when
it sells at fair price. They compel
thts cattle raiser to sell at their own
figure and they find it an easy matter,
through the Republican press, to find
defenders among the very newspapers
whose sympathies should be with the
producer Of meat-the cattle raiser OF
the west.
In this service the trust finds news
napers Ike the Salt Lake Tribune that
;.re ready to manufacture figures. ig-
more market quo .ations and defend ex-