The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-30
CAUSE OF THE ADVANCE
REPRESENTATIVE OF SWIFT COM
PANY EXPLAINS RISE IN
PRICE OF MEAT
DUE TO NATURAL CONDITIONS
General Demand for Choice Meats
in the Mid-SeasOn Period
vitality Affects the
Market

When the St Paul householder finds
that he is compelled to pay 25 cents per
pound for porterhouse steak or Is cents
per pound fer roast b, eff he naturally. be-
comes inter5 stCd in &sceItaining the rea-
son for this increase in his living ex-
penses. He may recall the fact that last
spring, too, meats went up to a rather
high hguIe. bat even so, the explanation
is not to him apparent.
The representative of Swift & Co., who
is in charge of the local distributing de-
pot, was seen yesterday afternoon by
representative of the Glob and set
forth the situation as follows:
The explanation Of the advance in the
price of certain meats is very simple
and there is but little to be said further
than that it is a logical and natural con-
sequence of existing conditions We are
now in the season between feed and
grass, as we term it, and prices always
advance at this time Of the year. Grass
fed cattle have not yet begun to come
In and will not for some weeks to come
and the animals that are coming in are
all granted. A farmer or stock-ra@ser
who has been feeding cattle for six
months on corn at 80 to 60 cents per
bushel, has a great deal of money ted
up in them, ana natura ly he must get
good prices to get it out. The beeves
we are getting now are in the finest of
condition and the meat Is all first class.
We have to pay big prices, but we are
willing and glad to do so because even at
figures .correspondingly increased, we find
our market active. Then in turn the
butcher although he finds it necessary
to charge more for certain meats, also
finds his trade brisk.
This spring the cattle market is I'M
usually high, even for the spring sea-
son, because feed has been scarce and
hoo
in business here, four or five years, we
have never before had to pay as much
for beef cattle in the market as now.
Steers sold at South st. Paul yesterday
for S5.55 which means that beef DIR, ssed
must cost the butcher 80 per hundred, or
9 cents a pound Of course, if that meat
could all be cut up into pOrterhouse and
sirloin, without any waste, the butcher
would make a fine profit selling It at 70
or. % cents a pound but the trouble is
that there Is but per cent of porter
house and per cent sir.oin in carcass,
and the rest is largely waste, and sells
for soup bones, suet and tallOw, portions
of it bringing as little as cents per
pound That is an important fact which
the ordinary person does not take into
consideration in figuring what he should
be required to pay for his meats. At
this time of year everybody wants the
choice cuts of meat. AS the hot wealth
& comes on the householder who has
-equently during the winter been con-
int with a soup bone or something not
much more expensive, will buy nothing
but a steak or a roast. / do not think
that the butchers have advanced prices
as much as they should, considering the
raise in the price of cattle. The in
crease will only be on the choice meats
and there will be practically no change
as far as the rough meats are concerned
The advance in our prices is about 70
to IS per cent and will continue without
further huctuation until probably the lat
ter part of July or early in August. The
increase made by the butchers on ,eaks
and roasts IS about 20 per cent and will
naturally be directly Influenced by the
action of the packers"
Several butchers. who were also seen,
stated that the retail dealers in meat
would only advance prices so far as they