Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-07

provender.
Leaving the Farm.
1t Is an old story that the boys are leav-
ing the farm" You have read IL a thou
sand times without any idea that It affected
you personally. But It does, for II Is an
other cause. When q disconnected lad quits
the farm for the town, you pay more for
your meat; for with the Increase in the
number OF abandoned farms the care OF
cattle by the farmers, who are fast super
seding the big ranges as a source Of supply,
is decreased.
The packer, whom you curse over your
expensive dinner table, does not get really
his full share out OF the increase. He does
not make nearly as much as the farmer
and the retailer; but he Is c~omplacent, for
the great by-product industry is rising to q
point where It supplies more Of his profit
than the direct sale Of meat. 1t is coming
TO a point where the meat business IL be-
coming a by-product industry, with meat as
a side issue. Fifty years from now We
may hear OF the by-product trust, which
sells meat on the side.
The eye, not the stomach or the mind,
is causing the downfall of king meat, ac-
cording to the opinion Of some we'll in
formed observers. The old oatmeal was
Just as nutritious as the new breakfast
food" but il was sold unattractlvely now
adays your eye is pleased with a neat and
tasty box that looks clean and makes you
hungry, and because you like the looks OF
1t you buy It. So they say. IL IL were a
real motive OF economy, they argue, you
would not buy 1t In the w~asteful manner
you do now-that IL. by the box-you would
buy 1t in bulk and get 1t cheaper.
Consumer C~Ornered.
Whatever the cause, at present the con-
sumner Is cornered. In former times. when
the price of beef rose, he could fly to other
meats for refuge. Today there is a general
decrease all along the line. II you turn
to pork, you are confronted with the price
OF hogs, and robbing a hen Toost Is the only
way to get a cheap chicken.
Now, as to Mr.. Hilrs prediction OF a
time, relatively near at hand, when the
American wage-earner will have to sub
sist on vegetables, most Of the food pro-
viders OF the country will tell you hat
Mr.. Hill is merely following his usual
policy OF making some startling utter
ance so as to focus attention on a situa-
ton and a need which would get no stten-
ton unless he did fire some Of his verbal
dynamite off. He is following the Inn
memorial Hill plan of soaring everybody
81 70 " dllIdCl dlleHNlOH " bOihSNhhAS
that ought to be done, so they say.
And yet when you talk with them fur
ther you get an admission. II they are
frank. that this very thing may come
about, though usually they will give diff
ferent reasons than Hilrs.
More People Than Meat.
There has been no falling off in the
sale Of meat for several years past
$780, -. 800 Aa.. -. $1,000. 49, w.l4In
meat has increased considerably. In other
words, though more meat Is sold than was
formerly the case, a smaller percentage
OF the population is buying meat. The
sale of meat has not kept pace with the
growth of the population.
People in the wholesale trade will tell
you that a retail butcher is the hardest
sort of customer to deal with. That fact
and its consequence, however, hit the con-
sumner harder than they do the wholesaler.
The wholesalers will tell you that they
nave less difficulty in disposing of their
goods when prices are high than they do
when they are low. For instance, lamb in
the last six months has touched it's high
est point-from 10 to 16 cents-and yet the
wholesalers have been doing more business
In lamb than ever. On the other hand,
there was a slump in the meat market
the other day, owing to unexpected and
enormously heavy receipts all arriving on
one day, and creating a glut. There was a
difference of three and four cents, whole
sale, on sheep and lambs.
AS a result OF this slump, in spite Of the
opportunity presented to the retailers OF
getting meat cheap, they all sheered off
and the cheap meat could not be gotten
i'd OF, A rise in the price will bring them
all back.
OF all this the ultimate consumer knows
nothing, for prices remain the same to him
except when the butcher puts them up. He
pays the same whether the butcher Is max
ing much or little. The wholesalers profits
fluctuate wildly according to conditions,
and the retailer, whose margin OF profit is
not very large, covers himself against loss
by maintaining steady rates, always on The
increase so far as they change at all.
Increase In Population.
Tit human population OF this country
Increases yearly to a tremendous extent.
The live stock population remains virtually
stationary. The present, indications give
no prospect OF a change. The sale OF thu
public lands, the cutting up of ranges into
farms, the Roosevelt policy of protectio.
against land depredators and monopollsts
al ~ NuNNAhB uONh IL bib CdlllC Supptlcf
to the vanishing point and leaving the mea.
consumer at the mercy Of the farmer. ANT
the farmer, having many possibilities o
profit where the cattleman had one. natur
ally devotes himself to cattle raising cnly
SO far as 1t is pofitable to him-relatively
profitable, relatively to the other lines il
which he can make money.
Here is where the breakfast food crazI
comes in. The farmer used TO feed hi
cattle on corn, so as to be able TO sell then
in the spring, Today he can sell the corr
directly-make his profit on it now. instea,
OF waiting until next spring to make
hazardous profit, affected by the health o
the cattle during the winter and by othe.
causes. A bird In the hand is worth two In
the bush; a dollar received today-or
rather, 80 cents-and easily made, is worth
two which he may make next spring il tn.
cattle do not die.
Breakfast Food Fad.
The breakfast food fad reached its
height two or three years ago, and the
meat industry suffered from 1t in more
direct ways than the one Just outlined
II cut down tremendously the demand foI
meat in the homes of the rich and well-to.
do, and even II the breakfast food fac
goes the way of all fads, the effect will
remain. For the intelligent man whc
thinks about his stomach discovered thai