The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-11-03

to it is right now before it gets a start.
WHO PROFITS BY THE ADVANCE.
1t has been asserted time and again
of late that the advanced price in meats
was due entirely to the beef trust and
the consumer was being robbed of all
he would stand, while the producer
was not being benefited but very lit
tie if any by the rise. One has only to
study the markets little and make a
few comparisons with former prices, to
find that this is not entirely SO, but the
casual observer has not the opportunity
for making thorough inquiry and
finding out just where the benefits fall.
1t has been the accepted opinion, how
ever, even of those pretty well inform
ed in stock matters and prices that the
| beef trust secured most of the benefit
| of the advance. In late issue of Har-
per's Weekly is an article by Ray STAN
nard Baker, presenting another view
| of the matter, from which the Duluth
Herald has made a digest, which we
| give below. Mr.. Baker first holds that
the beef trust did not advance arbi
trarily the prices of meat, but that with
the return of prosperity there has been
an increased demand for beef and
meats of various kinds and hence there
there was natural tendency to force
the price upward. And second he as
serts that while the demand has been
greater, the supply has actually de-
creased In support of this he gives
the following statistics:
On Jan. 1, 1890, there were in the
United States. according to the depart
ment of agriculture, sc, 849,02 head of
cattle, or $50 to every 1000 of popula-
ton. By 1895 this number had de-
creased by upward of 100000 head,
the total be 34,364,216. This would
mean about 400 head of cattle for every
1000 of population. From that time
down to the present year the number
fell off by nearly 100000 head annu-
ally, dropping to little more than 3D.
600, 600 in 1896, 30, sos, 4O8 in 1897, 49,
| 264, 900 in 1898, and 1894, 225 in 1899.
At present, therefore, counting the
population of the United States at 75,-
600, 600, there would be Only 373 head of
cattle to every 1000 of population.
Since 1892 the number of cattle has de-
creased by nearly 100000, or nearly
81 per cent. At the same time the
number of swine has decreased from
over 81, 900, 900 in 1890 to 1861, $50 in
the present year. The number of sheep
also fell off between 1890 and 1897, and
then began to increase, being over g.
600, 900 greater in 1899 than in 1897,
show that people were consuming more
mutton"
This enormous decrease he holds was
not noticed during the hard times, but
with the increased demand the shortage
soon made itself felt. And the advance
he holds did not 60 into the pocket of the
trust nor the retail dealer, but directly
to the stock raiser who had cattle to
sell, and is one of the leading factors in
the wave of prosperity through the
west. In proof of this he gives the fol-
lowing:
"On Aug. 10, 1897, the best price paid
by the packers in the open markets of
Chicago and Kansas City for choice
Western cattle on the hoof was 81 80 a
hundred pounds, which would mean a
cost of 7.9 cents pound for prime beef.
A year later, on Aug. 10, 1898, the
packers were forced to pay the stock
growers as high as 1926 hundred
pounds or 5 cents pound for prime
beef. On Aug. 10, of this year. the
price for the best grade of cattle had
gone up to Sc 90 hundred pounds,
making prime beef cost 9.25 cents a
pound. In other words, the ,'beef
barons' were compelled to pay to the
stock raiser $l4o more per hundred
pounds for cattle in the open market in
August, 1899, than they paid in Aug
ust, 1897. In the case of al, 500-pound
steer, the packer would pay $21 more in
1899 than he did in 1907 Naturally tba