The Florida agriculturist., 1907-10-09
Beef Prices to Go Up.

Importance to farmers and all who
raise or eat meat We believe that
there is a chance for Florida farmers
to go into the business of raising beef
cattle with the assurance that it will
be very profitable, and increasingly
so as the years go by.
One the other hand we agree with
the writer of the article that people
will have to learn to use less meat
We are not a vegetarian, but feel
today use too much meat. That they
cally and financially if they used more
fruit and vegetables and less meat
The article from the Cultivator is as
follows:
We are confronted by the prospect
Of another rise in the beef market
Local dealers say there is no cause
for it; that is another cinch Of the
beef trust which is only felt in trust
controlled markets and has not been
uniform throughout the country.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson de-
clares that there is a shortage of cat
tie, that the meat packers are paying
on an average Of IS cents more per
head on cattle and that this is the
reason why the public is being COM
PEELED to pay an average Of 3 cents
pound more than formerly for the va
ricus table cuts.
A representative of the stock-raisers
of Texas declares that the stockmen
are not getting the IS cents, and that
Mr.. Wilson's entire argument is false
1v promised, since the increase in
meats has been felt only in trust-con-
trolled markets and has not been uni
form throughout the country.
Secretary Wilson further declares
that "the American people are eating
more meat today than ever before in
their lives. That French King who
boasted that his country was so pros
porous that his humblest subject had
a fowl in the pot every Sunday would
cut a small figure in America today.
The American workingnan has meat
every day and, as a matter of fact,
most of them have meat for break
fast and dinner.
Nov, with all this constantly in
creased demand for meat, the price
is going up because there is not an
increase in the supply of cattle in
proportion to the increased demand.
There is an enormous export trade,
which cuts a great hole in the supply
Last year we sent abroad more than
$323, worth of animals, meats
and animal products. The farms and
the ranges are not increasing their
supply of cattle propOrtionately
"It costs more to raise cattle now.
The price of farm labor has risen
enormously The great commercial
prosperit- Of this country has drawn
every available farmer boy and farm
hand to the cities to work in our
factories, in Our shops and in all the
many forms of industrial activity. A
farmer is now compelled to pay wages
to his farm hands, that proport1onate-
1v, are Just as high as are the wages
that builders and other employers pay
in the cities.
"The price of grain has gone up,
and the farmer can make more mon
ey raising grain or hay or other
crops that he can harvest with labor
saving machinery than he can in rails
ing and fattening cattle for the mar
ket Possibly, too, not SO many cattle
reach the market now because the rig
id inspection of cattle, under the meat
inspection law, makes it useless to
send to the market cattle that might
formerly, perhaps, have passed. At
all events, the supply has not increas-
ed as much as it ought"
All which Secretary Wilson says
may be true, but it is going to be
hard on the working man. He will
have tO learn to eat VEGETABLES in