Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1902-05-03

There is mourning in the land these
days from rich and poor alike, because
of the pressure of the Beef Trusts
heavy hand. The butchers all over the
State have run their prices up in leaps,
and they lay it to the live stock deal
ers. These in turn, are crying aloud
that their raise is due to the eXhorbi-
tant price Of feedstuffs, provisions etc.
And in this very cause Of all the
trouble lies Its remedy. If the farmers
in Mississippi had cultivated enough
grain and hay last year to keep up
their own stock in comfort with a good
surplus for emergencies, they would
have the Beef Trust by the throat and
could now be enjoying the nouishing
and palatable diet of home raised
meats at small cost, instead of eating
an occasional steak that is leathery
with age and is so ashamed Of theprice
that is put upon it that it seems anx-
ious TO shriyel out of sight Fifteen
cents a pound for meat (bone and
scraps included), is steep rate for
the average man with a family Of
healthy children, and the chances are
that yegetarianism will become some
what of a fad this season. And it may
be a good thing. Our people eat too
much meat and other heating foods for
this climate. and that which will cause
A change in the custom-fOr it is but
a custom-will, we believe, prove a
blessing instead Of trial. Perhaps
some of our people who have fallen
into the way of living from barrels
instead of from fresh, healthful gar
dens will of necessity take up the
shovel and the hoe" and raise a crop
of excellent green things that the fam
iIy Cincluding It's head, of course,)
need not go hungry. This, we know,
will be a blessing, for there are too
many Of our people who fail to see the
need and comfort Of garden. 1t is
all too common an experience among
those whose duty takes them through
the country (and comparatively the
same thing is to be found in towns
where there is space enough for kitch-
en- gardens) to sit down to meal after
meal of canned things" put up in
some distant State and purchased by
our people "on a credit with half a
dozen profits added to the original
cost of preserving the food. If there is
meat it. too, is canned, or comes from
barrels while condensed milk in the
coffee and even in the tea is frequent
mart of the unappetizlng bill Of fare.
And all around the house lie acres and
acres of ground either In cotton or
weeds with maybe few scraggy peach
trees standing lonesomely about NO
COW in the stall, no hogs In the pen,
no cattle in the pasture, no vegetables
fit to eat. and as the season advances
mn melons or fruits save such as they
can swap" from more thrifty nelsh-
ers. 1t is such places as these that
will feel the grip of the food trusts
most keenly, for they must pay the
nrice or starve. But the man whose
garden is now adding its delicacies to
the family table, whose storehouse con-
tains still a few delicious home-cured
hams. etc; whose cows, in gratitude
for careful attention, yield ample sup
niles of milk from which the table gets
its excellent cream and butter; whose
frnit trees are now proudly display
ing their burdens of young green
globes. whose melons will soon open
their crimson hearts to comfort the
family and friends in sultry summer
days, whose poultry, thanks to care
and attention, are almost worth their
weight in "coin of the realm'-that
man can snap his fingers at the beef
trusts and sugar trusts and butter
trusts and csc trusts and all the other