The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1902-04-25
FARMERS LIKE HIGH BEEF.
An Interesting an instructive sketch on
the so. called beef trust.
By John Q. johnson in Pittsburg Post

Tue SO.Caileu 'peet tFuSl.
By John G. johnson in Pittsburg Post
Mr.. Editor :-lf there lis any com
modify the price OF which, in the last
40 years, has been governed by supply
and demand, that commodity is beei
and other meat products. In the first
two and one.half years of the Civil
war, 81 to '85, beef scarcely rose above
the normal price OF several previous
years. Cattle were sold to the Gov.
eminent In 1868, weighed in Baltimore
at AGENTS. per pound, live weight, to
average 1880 pounds which at that
time was a heavy lot OF cattle. In
July, 1854, with gold worth $3.50 to
$2.s5, live cattle, good ones, were as
highas cents per pound. live weight.
The high-water mark was reached
in the price of cattle in February,
1865. Cattle sold In New York at IS
cents, 81 pounds to the hundred, max.
ing 1886 gross. There was great
decline at the close Of the war, good
cattle going down to &c. per pound.
But prices advanced again, and in the
months OF August and September,
when the cattle In this section are
ready for market, the farmers receiv.
ed $3.50 per cwt. gross at home for
good cattle, with gold vacillating
around $1.5O.
In 1876, no change In the admins.
tration, cattle were very low, and good
cattle sold In this section at 1915
gross. In June. 1882, prime cattle sold
in Chicago for $3.50 per cwt. gross. We
In West Virginia hadno cattle ready
for market, but in August, September
and October did sell at home for $500
per cwt. gross, and the prime steer in
1882 Is not a prime steer in 1902.
There has been vast improvement
in weight and quality in the last 20
years, have read your paper for
years, and been pleased with your
articles on the "steel trust, the ''oil
trust and all the other trusts whose
products we have to buy, but 'clrcum.
stances being altered, alters the case,
and the farmer is pleased with the
"beef trust" because he believes 1t
makes him money, that he gets bet
ter price for his cattle than he would
without it.
The American workingman must be
protected against the pauper labor OF
other lands. The American farmer is
nottingham, and has to do more
work TO get a dollar than has to be
done In any other occupation. The
raw material of the "beef trust" is
the finished product Of the farmer,
and the beef trust is paying the farm
er the highest price be has received
for his finished product in the last 20
years, and on account Of the high price
of cornit is costing the farmer more
to finish his product than it has for
some years past.
Now, as the farmer has to pay 3 l-2
centsper pound for barbed wire, that
he had to pay "a cents per pound
for few years ago, he is pleased to
sell his beef cattle at $3.50 instead of
$3.50 (yonr figures), as he did when he
bought barbed wire at "a cents. AS
a ''cheap coat makes a cheap man"
Mckinley SO we believe high-priced
beef will make high-prced men, and
we have now high.priced labor and
money is abundant.
Butas to the tariff, which you call
one OF the causes OF high priced meat.
does not look reasonable to us, as ac-
cording to the World almanac we
exported 1s7,0O0,OOO worth and i'm
ported less than s7.0OO00O worth In
1901. What has the "beef trust" done?
1t has made it possible to find the fine
juicy steak of the corn fed Short Horn,
Heresiord and Polled Angus cattle on
the table, in New Orleans, Galveston,
Texas, Charleston and even in the
City Of Mexico every day in the year,
do wei dS III bOuoOu3 AiNSA POOt oaS
Glasgow, In fact in all cities OF few
thousand people in Euorope and
America.
While the canned goods in various
forms can be bought in every village
in the civilized world, every steamer
and sailing ship can now have fresh
meat, and the loathsome disease Of
scuryy has disappeared.
The "beef trust" has created de-
mand for meat products greater than
the supply, and that is the cause OF
the advance in price, and we. the
farmers are getting the benefit OF 1t.
"Long may itlive."