Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-03
Average Profits Per Head.

In order to make certain of the accuracy
| of the results, the bureau adopted double
| method of ascertaining the profits. 1t first
| compiled, from the detailed records of
| packing companies, exact figures of the
| quantities, costs and sales of cattle and all
products derived from them, and from
| these elements computed the profit of each
| of the packers separately and of all to-
| gether. This computation was confined to
| the Armour, Swift and SchwarZchild &
| Sulzberger Companies. Then the figures
| thus Independently reached were com
pared directly with the bookkeeping profits
shown by the financial statements of the
companies. Following is the result of the
computation made by the agents of the
bureau from the detailed statistics men
toned:
During the year from July, 1902, to June,
1903, these packers Slaughtered at the Sc
lected plants 2,017, S64 cattle. The average
live weight of these cattle was 1,O92 pounds
and the actual average cost s4.45 per hun
dredWeight the cost per head being $4SoS
The cost of operation and administration
at the packing plants averaged s190 per
head making the total cost $5O.4S. The
weight of the beef derived from these cat
tie was equal to 55.6S per cent of the live
| weight, or COS pounds per head. me
average net selling price of the beer was
So. At per hundredweight, or 1892 per head
The net value of byproducts from the cat
tie was S11.96 per head. making the total
proceeds sol % per head. This showed an
average DrOnt OF ~ GENUS per HSdu VI 1o.1
cents per hundredweight of dressed beef.
For the year from July, 1903 to June,
| 1904, the computation covered 2,O13,65S cat
tie. The average live weight was 1,115
| hundredweight was $46.23 per head, the
| total cost including killing, ETC., being
| S4S19. The average selling price OF the
| beef was 1925, or $50 26 per head, the aver
| age dressed weight being 500 pounds. The
ret value of by-products was 1915 per head,
| or more than 81 per head less than in the
| preceding years The total proceeds of the
beef and by-products were Sf9oi, leaving a
| profit of SO cents per head, equal to 1875
| cents per hundredweight of dressed beef
| ON account Of certain imperfections in
| the detailed records from which the above
| combinations were made, 1t was not to
! he expected that they would show precisely
| the same results as the bookkeeping &C
| counts of the companies for the depart
ments concerned. It vas found that that FOR FOR
| bookkeeping profit of the three companies
named, for the same plants as were COW
| cred by the detailed computations, In each
some S derence Was 20
| cents per head n, The true weighted aver
| age of the bookkeeping profits of the three
companies for the twelve. months NTH, named named
was 90 cents per head, or II cents hlgher
| than the computed proht
| Profits of By-Products.
In addition t.. the average profits just in
QlCateu are Inc IdItHCh iSiii6 IL
( elaboration of by-products beyond the first
marketable stage,c and from car mileage.
which, as already stated, may together add
not more than 80 cents per head to the
average profit of 80 cents just given. The
additional profit derived from celebrating
minor by-products is over and above their
value as raw material which is already in
| cluded in the profits Of the beef business.
The great packing establishments have
numerous auxiliary departments, some of
which are virtually distinct Industries not
| strictly belonging to the packing business.
| The profit on private refrigerator cars is
| that derived from the mileage paid by the
railroads, which. roughly speaking, aver
| ages slightly more than three-fourths of a
| cent per mile for every mile travelled by
| refrigerator cars, whether loaded or empty.
| The average distance to which beef Is trans
| ported from the packing house before con-
| sumption does not exceed 800 miles, The
| gross mileage received by the owner of the
| refrigerator car would therefore be roughly
| $40 per round trip.
| Estimating that a car of dressed beef
| weighs not less than 10000 pounds the gross
| mileage receipts would not exceed 6 cents
| per 100 pounds of beef. OF these gross
| mileage receipts fully one-third is absorbed
| in the cost of maintaining equipment. in
| Guiding allowance for depreciation, thus
/ leaving not more than cents per 100
pounds Of dressed beef as the net return