Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-27
STORING FOOD FOR WINTER
Big Packers Putting Away All Sorts Of
Perishable Provisions,
IMMENSE PROFITS IN COLD STORAGE
Eggs, Butter, Meats, Vegetable and
Fruits Kept from Season to sea-
son and sold when signs
Are PropitiOus.

the whole range OF farm products. Every
corner Of the western states is being
searched for eggs by agents for Swift &
Co., Armour & Co. and a few smaller deal
ers who have capital enough to enable
them to compete with these leaders of the
provision world. The price which these
firms are willing to pay is being pushed
up day by day and the prospects Of I'M
heard of high prices for cold storage eggs
next fall and winter become stronger with
every advance in the price paid to the
farmers today, says the Chicago Record
Herald.
One Chicago dealer who has been gladly
paying 15k to 15% cents to farmers for
eggs received word from two country rep
resentstives yesterday that Swift 4 Co.
were bidding half a cent a dozen better
and that this advance would have to be
met II more eggs we're wanted.
Swift & Co. stole a march on Armour
& Co. at the beginning Of the egg storage
season five weeks ago, according to the
story among commission merchants and got
a good start. Sixteen-cent eggs now
means eggs at more than 20 cents next
winter. The carrying changes in the cold
storage warehouses range from a cent to a
cent anu q JnlTu q dozen IOT ordinary care
until January 1. Special care to the eggs
may bring the cost as high as 8 cents a
dozen. To this must be added the profit
to the Spectator and the profit to the
wholesale distributor and Wholesale
dealer.
Despite every effort it is not believed
that over 500 900 cases of eggs will be OBJ
tanned for storage in Chicago this year.
The amount already put AVA is estimated
at from $50, 900 to 175, 900, and the best
weeks Of the season are already over.
There we're stored 900, 900 cases last year.
Each case has thirty dozen eggs, making a
total Of 1 $1,000 900 dozen. They cost IL or II
cents a dozen, and sold at 10 and 20 cents
and even more. The estimated average
profit OF 33h per cent would amount to close
to 81, 900, 000-and that leaves warehouses
outside Of Chicago entirely out Of considera-
tion.
Season of Activity.
This particular season of the year ID one
at which eggs are going into cold storage
and chicken are coming out. And for both
eggs and chickens the prices that the con-
sumner has to pay have been on the average
higher this month than in any April in the
I past that commission merchants can re-
member. The huge cold storage ware
houses stand as the most important factors
in the provision market, conditions which
are responsible for the present excessive
prices.
There is hardly any article of perishable
food used on dinner tables in Chicago,
which does not have its special corner in a
cold storage warehouse. Hundreds Of
thousands of beef, sheep and pig carcasses
are stored away in the freezers. Butter
nA,tp 20 dNSooA oil Tho hraad IN cha
| country for day after day can be found
frozen solid in the great warehouses. Pota-
toes by thousands Of car loads, celery, on
ions, cabbage and beans, apples and Cali
tornia fruits of all kinds are to be found
there.
One OF the most recent novelties in the
way Of egg storage is the method Of I'LL
ing pals full of the whites and yolks and
freezing the mass solid. At the Armour
and Swift storage plants at the stockyards
hundreds Of men are busy breaking eggs
into pals. AS fast as the pals are filled
they are carried into the freezing rooms,
where they are kept until taken out in
the fall and winter for the use of the Ma
tional Biscuit company, the independent
bakeries and the restaurants which need
them in cooking on a large scale.
Anybody who cares to estimate what i'm
| Wbns6 pIO0JS the three uTmG OF Armour,
Swift and Priebe & Simeter have made on
chickens this past year can get some idea
of it from the estimate Of the size OF their
holdings made by independent South Water
street merchants. These we'll informed
men put the amount that the three firms
now hold at 500, 900 cases of about 100
pounds each. or 80. 1000, 900 pounds. This Is
saying nothing at all Of the stock already
sold OF.
Broilers went into storage last spring at
8 and 9 cents a pound and found a ready
sale all winter at IS to 20 cents. RoasteIs,
which are chickens from three and one-hali
to FIVE pounds, were bought up at the holi-
day time at 6 and Z cents a pound and were
sold at 10 cents. II the average profit was
5 cents a pound after paying storage ex-
penses the profit on even the amount OF
chickens still in storage would run into
the millions. And the housewife and the
father Of the family pay It all.
Potatoes Are FavOrItes.
The Armour cold storage plant at the
stockyards alone is capable Of handling
thirty-hve carloads OF potatoes. Potatoes
are a favorite speculation for the big man
ipulators OF produce and the latest market
reports show them to have climbed above
81 a bushel. an unheard Of price.
When 1t comes to apples, the Armour ex-
perts are in their element and do their
best work. from an Individual commercial
point OF view. They make a descent upon
a big Missouri orchard. for example, buy
the crop Just as 1t is on the trees from the
owner. send in their own laborers to pick
1t, barrel It and ship It to the nearest
available storage plant and then they
await the profit that is sure to come. Last
year the profits were especially large.
In California fruits the cold storage bust
ness has been worked out with almost
mathematical precision. The experts know
exactly how long it is safe to leave each
kind Of fruit In storage, considering the
condition at the time It was picked. Rec
ords OF each consignment are kept and the
fruit is put on the market at the best pos
sible moment considering this limitation OF
the time It will keep.
The Western Cold Storage company in
Chicago is said to be the largest in the
country. 1t has a capacity of 5000, 900 cub
feet. and, according to Rockwell King, pres
tdent OF the company, this space is almost
hlled the year around. I'VE do a big bust
ness he said. land II is really a great
boon TO the general public. It is one OF the
best things for the laboring man that he
has ever had. 1t has changed the market
so that instead Of paying so and 20 cents for