The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-12
PACKERS NOT
TO BLAME
Jacob DoId Tells Why Cattle
are Cheap.
MERGER Is LARGELY WIND
Mrs. DoId Has Some Ideas
About Cuba.
MERGER is LARGELY WIND

Those men who are talking about a
scornh.nation of packers keeping down
the price of cattle do not know what
they are talking about. Cattle are cheap
because the markets are all crowded with
cattle, and not because OF any fault Of
Ithe packers.
The above was the expression of Jacob
ssDold of Buffalo LAST night a represent
fetjxe of the Eagle asked the big packer
" he had noticed that the cattle men of
Ehe west were arranging to form a COM
fbination to fight the packers merger by
siaughtering their own cattle, and it
was that question that brought out the
above remark. Mir. Dold is head of the
bold packing houses in Buffalo, \. Y,
and in this city. He has made a success
sof his business and it is generally I'M
'derstood that he does not favor the pro-
posed packing house merger.
Il know what 1 am talking about when
i say that the packers are not to blame
for the present low prices of beef" he
continued. Down there at BNuffalo we
can get all the good cattle we want for
81 70 $3.50 per 100 pounds and we are pay
ing s. per 100 pounds for hogs, and can
not get as many as we want.
Now, that is peculiar situation. II
takes two TO three years to raise a beef
eight months, and / think most of the
farmers viii agree with me that it costs
more TO make a pound of beef than it
does TO make a pound of pork. Here we
see pound of pork bringing double that
of a pound of beef live weight. That is
because there are too many cattle and
not enough Of hogs.
These big beef packers VINO are blam-
ed with keeping down the price of cat
tie are also packing hogs. If they can
control prices. why do they not even
things up q little by putting cattle high
er and hogs lower? Hogs are very high
and there is very little money in them
for the packer. All sof the packers know
that hogs are too nigh. but they DO not
go down. They know that beef cattle are
comparatively cheap. but they DO not go
UP. The causes and combination of
causes that TX prices are beyond the
reach Of the packers or any packers
merger. That packers merger consists
Very largely of wind, and it does not con-
trol anything let alone fix the price
for the Larmer's cattle
{ Mr.. I6bid was resting on sofa at the
+ residence of his son, Fred Dold, I44
Nort'A Market street, last evening when
he talked to a reporter for the Eagle
alb SUIT the packing business. He has a
shght attack of the govt and he says his
feet are no good; otherwise he appears
himself and that same old business snap
As present in his eyes. Mrs. Dold is here
with him and they recently returned
from a two months visit in the new re-
public Of Cuba.
They spent most of their time in Ha-
vana, but Mr. Dold said he could not
get around fast enough to study the sit
nation in Cuba. Mrs. Dold is Il very
bright woman and while Mr.. Dold Elk
pressed his impression of the people by
saying that a white man in Havana was
as good as a negro provided he behaved
himself, she talked entertainingly of the
people.
81 think" said Mrs Dold that all
the better class of people feel kindly to-
ward the Americans, but some of our
people claim that the Spaniards are
treacherous and at heart are not our
friends There is no color line in Cuba
and that seemed very strange TO me-
The whites and blacks all associate to-
gether, and it is very different from this
country. People here who have never
visited the island will hardly be able tc
form a correct idea of it. Even Havana
I should say. is 100 years behind the
United states. The American occupation
helped matters considerably, but Cuba
needs more help