The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-06-21
Predictions Of Lake County
Times on Cost of Com
modify, Verified.
WHAT TRIBUNE STATES
Article From Washington Published
in Chicago Papers Confirms
Times Line of Reasoning.

A short while ago THE LAKE COUNTY
TINES printed an article inspired by
talk with a practical farmer here
abouts to the effect that the price of
meat will go higher before it viii be
lower
The reasons set forth for this as
sumption were based on the increased
| cost of raising cattle owing to natural
conditions-the passing Of the wild
west ranch and the increased price
Of grain. etc. These conditions coupled
with the fact that the packers trust
controls the purchasing price Of beef
as we'll as its sale price. have com
bined to make the cost of raising
steers greater than what the farmers
realized on them after two years or
more of care and feeding Then. too
there was set forth the increased de-
mand for beef
The correctness of the reasoning as
exploited in the articles in THE LAKE
COUNTY TINES is confirmed by a dis
patch from Washington, printed this
morning in the Chicago Tribune Had
the speaker quoted in the Tribunes
article received his inspiration from
that in the TINES he could not have
followed the latter's line Of reason
ing more closely.
The Tribune dispatch follows:
/ Washington. D. c. June 20-In
4 the opinion of Secretary Of Agriculture
Wilson the recent increase in the price
of meats is entirely natural, and even
further advance in prices may be
| expected. That the cost of meats
/ is greater today that ever before is
conceded, but Secretary Wilson be-
lieves that American prosperity is at
the bottom of the situation. The peo-
pie are eating more meat and the
! farmers are not raising as many cattle
as formerly.
Naturally. then" said the secretary
"the prices of meats have gone up
/ just as the prices of everything else
have gone UP, and will go higher.
Then, too" the secretary contin-
ued there were last year more than
a million immigrants This year there
Will be hundreds of thousands more.
These people soon find work Meat
was luxury to them at home, but In
America, making more money than
they ever dreamed Of they want to
live well. and they eat meat.
Export Trade Is Enormous
There is also an enormous export
trade. which cuts great hole in the
supply Last year we sent more than
S323.000,0o0 worth of animals, meats
and animal products.
New with all this constantly in
creasing demand for meat. the price is
going up because there is not an in
crease in the supply of cattle in pro-
portion to the increased demand. THE
farms and ranges are not increasing
their supply of cattle proportionately
1T costs more to raise cattle now
The price Of farm labor has riser
enormously The price of grain ha.
gone up and the farmer can max,
more money raising grain or hay o1
other crops that he can harvest witt
labor saving machinery than he can il
raising and fattening cattle for tn,
market Possibly too. not so many
cattle reach the markets now becaus,
right inspection under the meat in
spection law makes il useless 10 sen,
to market cattle that formerly Nigh
perhaps have passed"
The figures Of the bureau of statistic
70 the treasury department fully bea
out this statement of Secretary vii
son. Summing up for four weeks. tn
receipts Of cattle al Chicago durin.
May 1906, We're nearly 10000 hea,
more than for May of this year
Competition Fixes the Price.
1t was suggested to Mr.. Wilson tha
the price OF meats was due chiefly I
the determination of the meat packer
OF Chicago to so far increase prices a
to make the public pay for the losse
suffered by the packers as result Q
) the meat inspection law.
} i don't think there is anything i
} that said the secretary. 'As mat
} ter Of fact Chicago does not fix I'll
, price OF cattle. New York and tn
, east have their buyers at Chicago. an
, they compete too sharply for Chicag
, alone TO fix the prices