The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-08
FROM THE BUTCHERS, SIDE.
The Trouble and Talk the Advance
i'm Meat Brings Them.

Inc trouble ana talk the Advance
i'm Meat Brings Them.
The advance in the price of meat has
been keeping the butchers busy-in more
ways than one. It neccessitated a lot
of talk in the way of explanation to
their customers. President NJ. S. Gard
ner of the Butchers Association hand
ed the Morning News yesterday a
statement printed in The Butchers Ad-
vocate which he said explains the sit
uation in an intelligent manner. The
Advocate article is as follows:
Every time there is any advance
in beef, some newspapers that are al
ways looking for a sensation come
out with scare heads denouncing the
beef trust. These people either will
fully misstate the facts, or are gross
| ly ignorant of existing conditions. In
the first place, it is an impossibility
to form any trust in a perishable ar
ticle. A perishable article must be
sold fresh, as it loses in value the
longer it is kept, and never sells bet
ter than when first received. The
shipper certainly can regulate his
own individual shipments to branch
houses, but ii is natural TO suppose
that he would ship freely If there was
any profit to be made by doing so. 1t
of dressed beef very often markets
his beef at a loss. He Is compelled
to kill cattle in order to keep the de-
partments going that manufacture the
by products, such as lard compound
butterine, glue, extract of beef. etc.
Shutting off the killing of cattle
would mean the entire closing down
of their business. Killing cattle means
to these other industries what raw
material means to the cotton or WOOL
en- mill 1t is the source OF all their
supplies, and without that they could
not exist.
There seems to be a general i'm
preston that there is an enormous
profit in the packing business. If such
were the case, would not capital seek
investment there? Would not the stock
be quoted at high figure? 1t is a
fact that the highest price that any
beef company's stock has sold at has
been at 107. If profits were high, would
this stock not be worth more money?
Any one with money can go in the
open market at any time and buy this
stock. 1t is not a close corporation.
There was a time, in the early years
of the Western dressed beef business,
when profits were large. One COM
pany paid a so per cent. dividend one
year; they are now satisfied to get 5
per cent on their investment. The
profit in the dressed beef business is
to-day made from what in former
years was thrown away.
I'm. the utilization of every part of the
animal lies the secret of the packer
success. The present high price of beef
is owing entirely to the scarcity of beef
cattle. and by beef cattle is meant
cattle that have been fed on corn and
other fattening grains until fit to be cut
~, he hr,4 re hl0clx This
ity has been caused by the high price
of all kinds of cereals for the past six
months. When the cattle raiser has
put a certain amount of money
in his cattle in the shape of
feed, it is only natural to
suppose that he looks to
have this money returned to him
when he sells his cattle.
In former years when corn was
plenty and not so high priced, large
proportion of what are called range
cattle, were bought up by spectators
who made it a business to buy these
cattle when in poor condition, and af-
| ter feeding them until they were ripe
enough to be called beef cattle, place
them on the market and realize their
profit from the advanced prices that
these cattle sold at. This year on ac-
count of the high prices of all kinds OF
fodder very few people went into this
business of feeding cattle, and the con-
sequence is that there Is now a great
scarcity of cattle in the country that
are ripe enough TO slaughter for COM
mercial purposes. This scarcity is the
cause of the present high prices, and
we have not as yet reached the hlgn
water mark Anyone knowing any,
thing about the meat business, and the
cost of live cattle, knows very well
that at the present selling prices of
dressed beef there is no profit made il
placing dressed beef on the market.
There can be no question but that
the retailer is losing money at the
prices that he is now selling at, and
that it is only a question of short
time when he will be compelled to adj
vance his prices from 2 to cents per
pound on all steaks and roasts.
"A cent pound advance paid by
him to the wholesaler means an addi-
tional cost to him of two cents per
pound in the meats that he sells. AS
he realizes no more at the present
time from his bones, suet and what
are called coarse meats, the advance
in price must come. out of his more
desirable cuts, such as steaks and
roasts. A most peculiar feature in
connection with the retail butcher bus
mess is his apparent willingness to sell
his meats at a loss as long as ne poSSl-
bly, can stand it before making any adj
vance in his prices. In this respect he
differs from all other business men. We
will take. for instance, the grocer.
Whenever eggs, sugar, butter, coffee,
tea, or any other commodity that he
deals in advances in price, he imme-
diately advances his prices according
ly, but the poor retail butcher seems
to think that if he should advance his
prices in the same proportion that he
must pay the wholesaler, some other
fellow will get his trade. He forgets
that the other fellow can't stand a
losing game any more than he can, and
the sooner that he gets in line the bet
ter off he will be.
I'VE have already heard it stated
that the packer wanted to put the re-
taller out of business. This is too pre-
posterousl to be considered for an in
slant 1t would be a good deal like
killing the goose that laid the golden
egg, because the packer must rely upon
the retailer to distribute his produce,
and when the retailer is out of bust
ness, the packer no longer has any
outlay for his product. The fact is,
that their interests are mutual and
neither can exist without the other.'