Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-08

LONDON, February IS 1908.
- MITHFIELD market. the great
headquarters of Londons meat
trade is declared to have been
captured by firms in the United
States \ careful investigation es-
pecially conducted by the writer lends
confirmation to his report. 1t proves.
moreover. that the conquest by Amerl-
cans OF this biggest and most famous OF
the worlds markets is the outcome oil "a
long series, of events which have reached
a climax within the past few months.
London has just awakened TO the fact
that the center of its vast meat trade Is
virtually in the hands of Cousin Jonathan
The indignant cutlery which this discovery
has called forth doubtless has been re-
ported in the cable dispatches. but the
inside facts are practica ly unknown. NOE
has anything been said as to the remark
able character of the market itself. which.
apart from it's vast extent. possesses his
torical associations which entitie 1t To
more than passing notice. The Americans
the place fairly teens with human inter
est. II was at Smithfield. Cor example
that William Wallace. the Scottish patriot.
was executed: and on this site also per-
ished no less than "a religious martyrs
who gave up, their lives in the early days
Of English intolerance.
=
story" Before 1arrating some of the
supremely interesting historical facts con-
corning Smithtield il may be we'll to tell
the tale-equally interesting in some re-
spects. of how this great market and mine
If historical association has fallen into
the hands of American meat packers.
For many years now the United States
literally has been feeding England. The
and
live stock which the United Kingdom gets.
from America alone amounts yearly to the
colossal sum of over S144 ,OO0O0O. which
represents more than so per cent of the
total meat which this country imports
from all parts of the world. Up to a
comparatively short time ago. Americans
tontented themselves with simply sup
plying the meat TO the English market.
and letting the local meat dealer do the
rest. About four years back, however.
one or two of the large American pack
ing houses thought it good move to
break into the English market as local
sellers.
At that time Smthfield market was run
wholly by English butchers. Their bust
ness methods were extremely antiquated:
their meat stalls were anything but
cleanly or attractive. and nearly all of
them were on the verge of bankruptcy
from the English system of long credit
and bad debts When the first American
DdChlIS house dcQuiTcu a stdlI III
field market. they wrought a revolution in
these matters. Everything about the stall
was "spick and span.'' the butchers were
clean to spotlessness. and they adopted
various enterprising methods for getting
customers. They put a lot of individual
"snap into their transactions. and went
in for high sanitation and quick sales.
Before long they had captured a large
amount of the big hotel trade, and they
managed to obtain spot cash for their
goods This was something which the
local butchers had never been able to do.
Accustomed as they were TO dealing with
lot of high and mighty so-called noble
families '-who obtained endless credit on
the strength OF their name-many of
these butchers piled up vast outstand-
inSs. but were unable to obtain their
money.
Characteristic story is told of how
one of the American meat concerns which
controls n large stall in Smithfield dealt
with noble duke who always ran up
big accounts. and usually forgot TO pay
them until he was threatened with a law
suit 1t seems that the American house