The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-04
WEATHER FoRECAsT. waahlngten, March s.--For Alabama -Fair. Saturday and sunday, variable winds.

or Smau 1iauButerlnS seeLdDllSnmoutS. Taking the principal siaughtering aad distributing centers. the proportion
 controlled by the six companies men. lioned Is much greater. For instance. the six principal con- cerns slaughter nearly ss per cent. of all the cattle killed in the eight leading Western packing centers. namely, Chi cago, Kansas City, South Omaha, East St. Louis, South St. Joseph. Fort Worth, sioux City and South St. Paul. In the aams way they control very large percentage of the trade of beef in many cities, particularly in the East In New York they furnish about 75 per cent in Boston more than S5 per cent: m Pittsburg more than 60 per cent; In Providence more than s5 per cent; In 1 Baltimore about 50 per cent. and In . number of other important cities their proportion ranges from 50 to 90 per cent. of the total beef supplied. In smaller cities and towns in most sec- tions of the country on the other hand and in even large cities in some sec tions the operations are relatively less important. l For instance. such cities as Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Indianapolis obtain only from 10 to S3 Ia per cent of | SheH euPPS oi oSof A'o" s"SSo es~ companies. l In the Southern States the large packers mentioned generally supply | less than half of the total beef consum- | ed in the larger cities and the smaller ! cities and towns of this section the proportion is generally less than one | fourth. Local Strengthening.
 The six companies mentioned are all among the concerns conducting opera tions over an extended area. slaughter kets and transporting the product east ward for consumption, Except for the | beef supplied by them. nearly all Is | slaughtered by local concerns.
 In order to make certain of the &C., | curacy of the results. the bureau adopts ed double method of ascertaining the profits. It first compiled from the de- tailed records of packing companies, | exact figures of the quantities, costs and sales of cattle and all products derived from them and from these ele- ments computed the profit of each of the packers separately and of all to- gether. This computation was con- fined to the Armour. Swift and Scwarz- child and Sulzberger companies. Then the figures thus independently reached were compared directly with the book of profits shown by the financial state- | ment of the companies Following is the result of the computation made by the agents of the Bureau from the de- | tailed statistics mentioned:
 During the year from July, 1902. to June. 1903. these packers slaughtered at the selected plants 2.017,se4 cattle, the average live weight of these cattle was | 1.092 pounds and the actual average cost s4.5o per 100 weight. the cost per head being s4S.5s. The cost of opera tion and administration at the packing plants averagd $1.90 per head, making the total cost s50.4S. The weight of the beef derived from these-cattle was equal to 65.6S per cent of the live weight, or eos peun2s Der head. The average net selling price of the beef was $647 per 100 weight, or S39.32 per head. The net value of by products from the cattle was $11.9e per head. making the total. proceeds s51.2s per head. This showed an average profit of l 80 cents per head. or 13.1 cents per 100 weight of dressed beef.
 1 Net PrOft of sz Cents.
 For the year from July, 1903, to June, 1904. the computation covered 2,01S, $50 cattle. The average live weight was 1,115 pounds and the average cost at S4l5 per 100 weight was 346.23 per
 
 | ing $48 19. The average selling price of the beef was $6.25 or $39.2 per head, the average dressed weight being 623 pounds. The net value of by-products was $9.75 per head or more than $2 per head less than in the preceding year. The total proceeds of the beef and by-products were $49.01, leaving a profit of S2 cents per head, equal to i13.5 per hundred weight of dressed beef.
 On account of certain imperfections in the detailed records from which the above computations were made 1t was not to be expected that they would show precisely the same results as the book keeping accounts of the compa- nies for the departments concerned. It was found that for the year from July, 1903, to June, 1904, the book keeping profit of the three companies named. for the same plants as were covered by the detailed computations in each case somewhat exceeded the computed profits. The greatest difference was 30 cents per head. The true weighted av- craze of the bookkeeping profits of the three companies for the twelve months named was 99 cents per head. or 1T cents higher than the computed profit. In addition to the average profits thus indicated are the further profits arising from elaboration of by-products be- yond the first marketable stage, and from car mileage which as already stated, may together add not more than 50 cents per head to the average profit of 99 cents just given. The additional profit derived from elaborating minor by-products is over and above their value as raw material which is already Included in the profits of the beef bus mess.
 Numerous Side Lines.
 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 pri- vate refrigerator cars Is that derived from the mileage paid by the railroads which roughly speaking averages 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 is transported from the packing house before consumption does not exceed 800 miles. The gross mileage received by the owner of the refrigerator car would therefoer be roughly 12 per round trip.
 Estimating that a car of dressed beef
 weighs not less than 10000 pounds. the
 gross mileage receipts would not ex- ceed cents per hundred pounds of | heef Of course gross receipts fully | one-third is absorbed in the cost of l maintaining equipment. including al- | lowance for depreciation, thus leaving not more than { cents C. hundred | ,~ouods oF beef as the net return de-