The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-09-17

Are you getting the worth of your
money when you buy beef?
This Is question the householders of
Minneapolis may well ask. They can only
answer by comparing the prices they pay
with the quality of the meat when it
comes In on the platter.
Meat Is high, and when the consumer
pays the top price he is entitled to the
best the market affords If you want the
best you will have to pay the following
prices in the retail shops of Minneapolis:
porterhouse steak-2a cents.
S sirIon Steak ISew York eutl.2o cents.
Clubhouse Steak--22 cents
Round Steak top cutie cents
Rib Roast-2o cents
Pot RoastA-1o cents.
Cheaper Grades.
II you are satisfied to take somewhat
inferior quality of meat In order to get
1t for less money you can get cuts from
western gra ss-fed or corn-fed cows at
these prices:
Porterhouse steak--1s to 20 cents.
Sirlon Steak--12 to Is cents.
Round Steak---10 to IL cents.
Rib Roast--14 to 10 cents
Pot Roast---6 to cents.
Boiling Beef to 5 cents
Few people know how to buy meat, and
as a rule they put their trust In the
dealer If their confidence is not mis-
placed. he will give them what they pay
for, and tell them what it is. When ne
charges top prices, he will give them cuts
from the best corn fed steers He Will
sell them poor beef at low price and tell
them so. If the butcher Is frank with the
customer he will not charge him high
prices for an inferior quality Of meat;
neither will he sell cheap meat and de-
clare that 1t Is 1.-The best in the market.
One Is substitution, the fraud OF the
day." the other is just plain m1srepre-
sentation. 2M-
Substitution Not Uncommon.
An investigation conducted by h e
journal leads to the conclusion that
there Is some substitution carried on in
Minneapolis, both In retail shops and IN
restaurants, but that 1t is not the rule.
A customer may be a victim once, put II
he Is caught second time he has himself
to blame. If he pays good price and
gets a tough piece Of meat it is pretty
conclusive proof that the dealer of the
restaurateur has worked a substitution on
him. That ought to be a lesson to him
to stay away, and, II there We're not so
many people who do not know what good
meat Is, substitution would soon stop.
Likewise, if people knew beef they
would not deceive themselves into think
ing that 1914 cents will buy sirloin steak
from a fine corn fed beef.
Every butcher knows the difference be-
tween a corn fed beef and a grass fed
animal. lie can tell by the look ana ISel
of a quarter whether 1t Is from an old
or young animal. and what it has been
fed on. He can get the corn fed beef IT
he pays for 1t, and he will If his GUS
toners want it and are willing to pay
for it. .-
Minneapolis "Cow Town."
There Is no means of determining how
many Minneapolis people are paying for
the best beef, or think they are. How
ever. 1t Is generally understood among
meat men that Minneapolis is a 'cow
town." Hardly % per cent of the beef
consumed in the city is fine corn fed
beef. The other Is per cent Is from COWS
and grass fed steers, commonly called
western" stock. 1855.
The corn-fed beef is killed at Kansas
City, st. Joseph, Omaha or Sioux City.
near the feeding point, and shipped
dressed to Minneapolis, as the freight is
less on dressed beef In the refrigerator
cars than on the live weights. There
Is some corn-fed beef killed at the
Swift plant in South st. Paul, but nearly
all of that product Is Minnesota and
Montana grass-fed stock. They kill that
at South st. Paul because it is the best
they can get. They cannot get enough
of that to supply the demand of the
northwest. There Is not enough corn
raised in Minnesota to fatten cattle to
any extent but corn acreage Is growing
and In few years there will be great