Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-26
PROPOSED STOCK COMPANY
Shares to Be Owned Only in Small
Lots.
TO CUT UNDER THE BIG TRUST
Some Facts to Be Considered in
Analysing the High Price of Meat
Number Of Cattle Decreasing.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

pA tUhIlS.
special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald
NEW YORK, February 10. 1906.
"'iilam Z. Wellman. president of the
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers
Association of America, is now trying to
work up scheme OF cooperation between
the Farmers Alliance and the American
Federation of Labor to secure cheap beef.
II is proposed to have the farmer establish
siaughter-houses In the west, where the
raw material is produced, and the fedora
tlon establish 1900 or more butcher shops
IN New York city for the sale Of the fin
ished product, because, according to his
caicuiatlons, the consumer can be furnished
with MS beef and other meats at an aver
age Oh cents a pound less than he is COM
peiied to pay to the beef trust. Mr. Well
man has secured promises of 100000 In
subscriptions to the stock of the proposed
company from men who will actually en-
gage in the business and it is not proposed
to allow any others to obtain shares. No
man Will be allowed to hold more than a
certain amount of the stock the object he
ing TO scatter it In small lots as much as
possible, FIRST, SO that the trust cannot buy
up a control of the company and Sec
ondly, so that every stockholder will feel
personal incentive to promote the interest
or the new scheme Mr.. Wellman has not
We, secured any contracts with the railway
companies for the transportation of beef
put is confident that public opinion con-
gressional pressure and the sense of JUS
uce on the part of the interstate commerce
commission will protect the proposed COM
BIZ alton from discrimination
1t is not proposed to deal with the big
wholesale or retail dealers In the east: nor
10 cater to the high-class trade but the
900 shops Will be established in the res
tdence districts of the working classes and
the nucleus of the trade will be the labor
unions. After the business has been worked
up and well established in New York, it
Will be extended to Philadelphia Chicago,
Boston and other great cities.
Some Facts to Consider.
Before entering upon this scheme it
might be we'll for Mr. Wellman and his as
sociates to analyze the statistics of the
census office and the Agricultural Depart
ment which show that, while the members
of the beef trust may be sinful and selfish
lot of monopolists, they are not entirely to
blame for the high prices of beef and other
meats any more than they are for the in
creased cost of vegetables and other foods.
There are certain inexorable facts which
must be taken into consideration in the
study of this question, and the beef trust
has no control over them. The present
price of beef and other meats is due to GER
tain natural causes, for example:
1. The enormous Increase in population,
with a million immigrants q year. which
has been much more rapid during the last
ten years than ever before.
2. The increase In the purchasing power
or the population of the country caused by
nigh wages, permanent employment and
other forms of prosperity, and this natur-
ally has caused an increased consumption
of beef and other meats. The great ma
jority of the families of the United States
now eat meat three times a day, and the
consequence Is corresponding increase in
the demand.
3. The exports OF beef and other meats,
although perhaps now at a stationary fig
ure, have rapidly advanced for several
years to an enormous total. The war be-
tween Russia and Japan created an enor-
nous demand
4. The production of cattle has not kept
pace with the growth OF population Inc
per capita production has been declining
for several years.
8. Under present market conditions the
farmer finds that the profits In best are
not sufficient TO encourage him IN raising
more cattle than he does which largely ac-
counts for the scarcity of cattle at Chicago
and other stock yards.
q. The cost of growing and fattening beef
cattle has been advancing gradually for
years because of the high prices of stable
food and ranch land
z. A recent extensive investigation by the
Department of Agriculture establishes the
conclusion that general farming during the
last five years has been much more profit
y
farming is more profitable than raising
beef; that tobacco farming is still more so;
that raising hay and grain Is more profit
able still, and that there is more money IN
vegetables, fruits and sugar beets than in
any other kind of farming.
). The raising and fattening of beef re-
quires a great deal of land. 1t belongs TO
what is called extensive agriculture, While
the tendency Of all farming Is to the IN
tensive cultivation OF small tracts OF lard.
Price of Beef and Cattle.
The costly system of retail meat distribu-
ton and the high profits demanded by the
retailers and wholesalers have kept up
prices to the consumer. Every time the
price of beef Is advanced it remains at the
maximum figure. If the conditions change
It is not reduced. This rule, however has
not been applied to farm prices of cattle On
the boot which are usually governed by
the demand. Between 1900 and 1905, ac-
cordng to the statistics Of the Agricultural
Department, the average price Of cattle
other than mich cows declined more than
~ per cent; the mean annual price Of beef
cattle at the Chicago stock yards declined
about S1a per cent; while the mean annual
wholesale price Of fresh beef In New York
advanced 8 per cent Since 1903 the aver
age farm price OF cattle other than n:1Ich
cows has declined 10 per cent; the mean
annual price of beef per 100 pounds at the
Chicago stock yards has declined per
cent; while the mean annual wholesale
price OF 1reSH Deer IN New YORK has In
creased per cent.
This shows that the prof1ts have gone TO
the wholesaler and the retailer and not to
the farmer or the beef trust and the con-
clusion justified by these facts Is that In
the sequence of conditions under which beef
has been produced and distributed Is that
either the farmer has not been treated
fairly or the consumers, and perhaps both.
The fault lies somwhere between the stock
yards and the retail dealers. The econo-
mics Of slaughtering and distribution. the
utilizing of wastes and the profits from by
products have all been increased. SO that
the cost OF placing dressed beef I'm the hands
of the wholesale dealer has been growing
less and less, but, at the same time both
the farmer and the consumer have suffered,
the one because of low and the other be-
cause of high prices.
Number Of Cattle Diminishing.
The census indicates that the number Of
cattle Is diminishing The ratio of cattle
per capita or population In 1850 was IT per
cent of an animal per individual. This ra-
ito to 81 In 1850. fell to IL by 1880, rose
again to 80 per cent in 1880. and has since
been falling until, in 1900, there was only
80 OF a steer In the United States to every
ax,a r. .I,o ~