New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-06-01
CITY'S BEEF SUPPLY.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
WESTERN AND THE CITY
DRESSED MEAT.
WHERE CATTLE BOUGHT ON THE HOOP
ARE kILLED-THE KOSHER MEAT
FOR HEBREWS

FOR HEBREWS
Public attention has recently been attracted TO
the problem OF the meat supply of this city be-
Of the popular agitation TO break the yoke
of the so-caled Beef Trust In times of peace
when the prices of beef do arouse the con-
suner's wrath any more than those for sugar or
oil or coal which are products governed to even a
greater eatent by combinations Of capital than beef
is alleged TO he, the New-Yorker does not concern
himself to how his is brought his table
But such IS not the case at the present time.
Il had never seen such popular interest in my
business until this Beef Trust outcry raised. -
said z prominent butcher and packer of First-aVe..
the other day, TO a Tribune reporter For the last
four or five weeks hundreds of visitors have come
slaughter houses and asked all kinds of
questions about where the cattle for New-York City
raised. how brought here. where killed and
how disposed Of Our firm is just about the
edge of appointing special guide for the conven-
Hence Of such persons and for security
There is small wonder that the great stockyards.
abattoirs and packing houses of the vicinity have
become objects of such widespread interest. The
business is of wide qualifications. and yet con-
Quoted with such nicely that hardly rib a hoof
does not find useful end 1t is estimated
than one thousand head of cattle killed
daily in the slaughter houses of Manhattan Island
alone.
In considering the meat supply Of this city, 1t
must understood that all beef is divided two
great classes-Western beef and city dressed beef.
great Western meat centres. packed in refrigera-
tor cars, shipped to this city, and then repacked
here great storage houses. The latter is shipped
TO this city -on the hoof.' and killed and dressed
by local butchers. Figures to the percentage of
Western beef as compared with city dressed beef
which is consumed by the residents of the greater
city OF New-York hard TO obtain, but by
average OF the estimates of the leading members Of
trade ii is safe TO say that nearly two-thirds
is killed in the West
i T.
dustry Of supplying butcher shops with West
ern beef 1t is simply brought in by the tranload
carefully packed in refrigerator cars. and reach
ing the big storage houses Of Jersey City the
is repacked awaiting sale. Thousands of tons of
Western beef also delivered Immediately to
city butchers being ferried the North River
from Weehawken and Jersey City. vast amount
OF this beef is also brought in by the New-York
Central and unloaded stations its freight
branch along the Manhattan shore of the North
River
The process of preparing city dressed beef for
the market. the other hand. furnishes end
Of opportunity for portraiture and description II
is life distinct from the ordinary lines of city
business IS is the grassy. wide spreading prairie
from the brick walled town The atmosphere that
surrounds it. while altogether pleasant TO the
Of representative person, is, nevertheless,
The rough rider, outdoor air Of the cowboys life,
and il IS at any rate heathful If attractive,
vocation. as is attested by the remarkably small
mortality among butchers.
Cattle for city dressed beef bought either in
the open market in the stockyards Of Chicago, and
shipped 10 local slaughter houses here, or in the
stockyards of the Central Stockyards and Transit
Company, of Jersey City The greater proportion
is purchased in the West and shipped ION the
hoof" over the West Shore, the Central, the Lee
high Valley. the Pennsylvania and the Erie rail-
road. To revive the cattle before being slaugh-
tered. they fed and watered and have rest Of
twenty-four hours. The journey from Chicago
takes between two and three days and, although
n,---a Eal. 1faa,
they are. nevertheless nervous and feverish
rival here The flesh has also become trife I
fabby from the long ride.
Thus it is that when a trainoad OF cattle arrives
AT Weehawken the West Shore Railroad, for
example, they are turned into yards. where they
permitted 10 rest until the following
ing. Then they driven board cattle lighters.
especially built fox the purpose, and what are in
tended for the Manhattan market carried TO /
the slaughter houses on the Manhattan shore. The /
cattle TO furnish meat for the Brooklyn market
ferried TO the slaughter houses in the Williams
burg part OF the borough.
The chief Manhattan abattoirs in Frst-ave.,
between Forty-third and Forty-sixth SITS, and ex-
tend back TO the East River. The two principal
establishments here the houses of Schwartz
sehild & Suzberser and the United Dressed Beef
company. The latter is consolidation of six
smaller concerns which united eleven years ago. |
swift & Co. also erecting building between |
forty-fourth and Forty-ffth SITS, but the repre-
sehtatves Of the firm say that there will be no
siaughteflng these premises, for the reason |
mat the Board Of Health, believing that there ars
enough abattoirs present in this borough. has
refused 10 grant the necessary permit
On the North River Shore is the slaughter and
packing house Of Joseph Stern & Sons at Thirty
hlnth-st and the North River. The extensive estab-
.Ishfnent Of the Eastmans Company at the foot of
west rlity-nnth-st-, is being abandoned to I
make way Tor the great 20 plant of the rapid
Transit subway At Gxtieth-st and the North !
1iEef are the stoczyards OF the New-York Central
'Nairoad which are used a great extent for
est,e TO be exported to England. The chief lines
.lat are used for the export trade are the White
sur 10 Liverpool: the Atlantic Transport Lon
ION and the Wilson. 10 Hull The great bulk OF
on g eAlofled cattle shipped England with
70 scattering consignment the Continent and
caaha IL est Indies. II is estimated that of the
III ieau exported weekly $3.50 are from this mort
maj .stockSards OF Jersey City are chiefly for
fbereNs purposes Practically no beef IS killed
NrIsSo III INC New-York market. The cattle are
svl1ssssu from The trains of the Erie and Penn
FL .,, a railroads, fed and watered and then sold
81. fSs tioh- The New-York buyers 20 into the
ebf, =" examine the cattle. bid for them and then
Tt to- sih 10 some Manhattan slaughter house.
h,,lSp uytis represent, for the most part smaller
&C. LIS VINO kin their beef. The Backwards /
era,n 'el,Sned either by long walk around the
foa,t S,SFator OF the Erie Railroad or by a row. |
- "i'.-o MAKES trips from the Jersey City land