The evening world., 1902-12-19
Now Selling as High as Twenty
four Cents a Pound, and May
Advance Above twenty-five
Before Thursday.
MEAT TRUST FORCES CORNER
~ Local Dealers Charge the Armour
= and Swift Concerns with Buying
Up the Supply and Squeezing the
Public for Increased Rates.

The price OF turkeys. chickens and
other fowl and all kinds of game is
higher to-day than 1t has been in many
weeks. Dealers say that turkeys ave
n o cost In twenty years what they do
now. They are selling ali the way from
% 70 "a cents a pound and poultrymen
generally think that the price will be
ii. II not more. by Christmas Day. The
market Is very short and the visible sup
u ply Is practically One-thlrd of what 1t
has been in the past at this season OF
the year.
A member OF the firm of Heinemann
Bros. q &C.. wholesalers and retailers.
at Nos. 2l7 and 219 Washington street.
told a reporter OF The Evening World
that the scarcity of poultry was due to
the fact that Armour &c Co. and Swift
4 Co. are forcing the market into u
corner and trying to bull things, just as
they have with bee; and other neces-
stiles. Other dealers down through the
commission district and in Washington
Market assign the high price of grain
and the failure Of the corn crop as rea-
sons for the scarcity.
BuyInE Up the supply.
Frwhy." said the member Of the Heine.
mann firm. I'VE know tina Armour Il
Co. and Swift & Co. lave fifteen and
twenty buyers in the street every mora
ing. We offered II cents for a carload
OF turkeys the other day and they went
to Swift at 10 cents. When / say We
offered the price mentioned mean We
could have had them at that. but when
another man comes along right behind
o and Jays two cents more some
thing is wrong
We believe that the corner that Is
5eing forced now was started way bnck
IN tho veal and that the poultry was
bought on foot Just the same az YOU
would buy so much beef. Unless the
West sends on n supply hat cannot be
seen now. turkeys Will go to % cents
West cannot help us out, for the big
Chicago people that have mentioned
have closed a deal with that section.
u"Chickens are also very scarce, and
tTnkeyS mex she p %li, % %il be so so lI htE" less ss
that there will be. very little saved In
using them as a substitute. Game ~
almost beyond reach
A canvass among the stall men. the
old timers in the business In Washing
ton Market. confirmed the feeling ms to
prices and the supply OF poultry.
Price Sure to Go Up.
Turkeys and chickens are about a.
scare as coal" was the report at Pear
sail g. Co.'S. I'VE are selling Phlladel-
phia turkeys at "a cents now, Some very
BY Christmas Day we think that the
price will be Is cents, and there Is no
help for II. Game Y up .94he skies; or,
ss.S for partridge. + had an order for
eight hundred turkeys for Christmas,
hut i didn't dare take II. The commits
sion people won't promise anything
Last year turkeys were worth only SIX.
teen cents. 50 there IL n big difference
IN the quotations when you compare
them with his seasons"
sin all my experience In the poultry
business said George Alexander, II
never knew of such a scarcity OF fowl
of all kinds as now. II Is almost out oi
the question to talk about turkeys and
chickens. Turkeys will surely so as high
as Is cents The Light crop OF grain Is
the reason for the scarcity. The farmers
could get a good price for grain and
they killed off their poultry. ! offered
q cents for a car OF turkeys. delivery to
be made next Monday. but the com
mission merchant dare not sell, His
farmer client wants 2."
"a short grain crop Is the cause OF
the existing condition OF the market .
AL was reported Mt McMaster q Co. s;
ssThe daily receipts are only one-thirl
Of h they usually are at this time
of the year, and there Is no indication
OF a supply that will help us out at
all" ~,
POETRY. dealers in commodities h a
might likely be used as substitutes are
looking forward to doing a big business
ION Market Acknowledged THAI the peo-
Pile In his line had been watching the
''chIcken men, and were expecting Il
big demand for their goods;
But you can never tell, ne SAID
what Is going to happen. some one
MAY be holding up a lot Of fowl. Then
where will all u plans gog