Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-06
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agents are doing their duty He has been
out on the ranges and looked at the ami
mails there. and has made frequent visits to
the barns and stockyards of the corn
states.
My first question was as to our meat sup
ply. The Secretary said:
I'VE have more meat and better meat
than any other country. Our animals are
out-of-door animals. They have fresh air
both summer and winter and the percent
age Of disease is small Fresh air is as neces-
sary to the beast as to man. 1t makes pure
blood, and pure blood makes good beef,
pork and mutton. You ask as to our sup
ply. 1 can give you the figures of the stock
ON hand the first of this year. We then had
about forty-seven million cattle, fifty mil
lion sheep and fifty-two million hogs In
additon. there were about twenty million
mllch cows. These are scattered all over
the United States, and they are the source
or the meat we are eating today"
What are these animals worthr'
II you take them as they stand they are
worth many millions. Our mich cows now
approximate $500, 600 600 in value, our other
cattle are worth 1862, 600 600 and the sheen
the hogs $3.50, 100000. AS to the value of
TINS stock when ground up into meat and
other products, that would run into the
billions If they were all turned into the
packing houses and Sold
Our Improved Stock.
How about our cattle, Mr.. Secretary?
from year to year?''
Yes. The long-horned Texas animal has
about disappeared, and the same is true
of scrubs of every kind. We are import
ing the best of the foreign breeds and
are greatly increasing our number of pure
blooded cattle. AT the last census about
one in a hundred of all our cattle was pure
blooded, and this 1 per cent was ac-
cording to some estimates worth 10 per
cent of the value of all the cattle. We
had then about 100000 pure blooded ami
mails"
Where did our cattle originator"
1.-The first that were brought to America
came with Columbus to the West Indies in
1893. They were taken from there to Mex
leo by the Spaniards and thence spread
northward into California. Texas and the
other states along the border Those cat
tie were the ancestors of our Texas cat
tie. The Spaniards also sent some into
Florida, the descendants of which found
their way north and formed the oasis of
the cheap cattle of Florida and the ad-
joining states
How about our blooded stock?"
I'VE imported some from England in
early times, but none of Importance until
the nineteenth century. The Herefords were
first imported into New York and Ken
lucky, and the Shorthorn soon followed.
About 1870 came the Polled Angus, and we
have now Shorthorns, Polled Angus Here
fords and many other breeds of meat cat
tie. We have fine breeds of mich cattle
as WELL"
Better Meat Than Ever.
do we grow better beef from year to
year?
Yes" said Secretary Wilson, 1T used
before he was thought At for the packing
house. Some years later he was marketed
at three years, and Iowa and Illinois are
now sending In stock two years old which
are equal to and better than the FOUR year
olds of some time ago. We are learning
how to raise beef. and how to breed for 1t.
We put the meat now where 1t Is the most
profitable. 1t used to be that the unim-
proved steer and the steer from the dairy
cow, when fattened, piled up tallow in their
abdomens. The well-bred steer of today
puts his meat upon his back, so that you
can cut beefsteaks clear along him from
the horns to the hooks"
Are not the prices CT meats very high.
Mr.. Secretary"
Eyes. but there is reason for it, Our
times are so prosperous now that every one
enters the markets for the best cuts and
the demand is great"
will the time come when the American
laborer cannot afford to eat meat? Will he
be reduced to the condition of the laborer
Of Europe?"
"I think not The American will be able
to eat meat as long as live or you live.
unless we change our public policy in such
a way as to stop the demand for labor and
bring about hard times AS it is now our
chief meat market is the home market. Our
home market is our best market for every
thing. We are the richest people on earth
and the best fed
John Bull Our Best Customer.
Tell me something about our exports Of
meat"
I'VE send more to Great Britain and Ire
land than to any other country. John Bull