Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1909-12-02

Louis, Mo-, 64 per cent in Mobile, Ala,
80 per cent in San Francisco, "a per
cent in Seattle, and 81 per cent In
Denver, Colo.
The lower the grade of beef the
greater the percentage of gross profit.
In Boston, for illustration, the rate of
gross profit Is nearly twice as great
for beef costing s cents at wholesale
as the beef costing II and liz cents.
Low-priced beef is marked UP nearly
twice as much relatively as high-priced
beef. In other words, perhaps it is
a safe inference that the poor peo-
pie pay nearly twice as much profit as
the well-to-do people pay.
Features of Retail Business.
The retailers delivery service is
costly however, and the retail bust
ness is overdone. The multiplication
of small shops is burden to con-
sumers and no source Of riches to the
small shopkeepers When twenty or
more small shops divide the retail
business within an area that could be
served by one large shop, the ex-
penses of the many shops for labor,
in excess Of what would be sufficient
lDT lu5 OuS SlOp, must 81 illo tiiO ~
tail prices of the meat sold
Furthermore, customers choose the
higher priced cuts of meats. Steaks
and roasts are the preferences, and
these must have names that are re-
garded as respectable. Consequently,
one-tifth of the carcass is bought at
the highest -porterhouse steaks
at prices as high as % and 80 cents a
pound, sirloin at 20 to 25 cents, and
rib roasts at 20 cents.
Prices and Supply Of Meats.
The ascending prices of meat sug-
gests inquiry as to whether the prices
Of the farmers beef cattle and hogs
have increased at the farm in the
same degree that meat has to the con-
sumer. For the purpose Of making
comparisons, the mean price level OF
1S96-1900, period of comparatively
low prices, is adopted as base line,
represented by 100, and for each ami
NAL and commodity this price level is
computed.
No Gain in Unfed Beef Cattle.
The farmer has failed to receive a
share of higher beef prices with le-
gard to the raw animal. The price
level of two-year-old steers at the farm
being regarded as 100 for 1S96-1900.
the price Of such steers rose to 1853
in 1900, declined to 85.5 in 1905, and
rose to 1908 in 1909, all for the date
of January and for prices at the
farm, substantially before corn feed
ing had begun.
Beef Prices Due to Corn Prices.
The price of corn in 1909 at the
farm is represented by 21S.6 compared
with 100 for the price level of 1896
1900, and the price of the best native
steers at the Chicago stock yards in
the same year is 1899, which is much
above the 'index-number" for the
price of the animal at the farm and
much below the price of corn at the
farm. The inference is that the farm
er gets some return for the high
priced corn that he feeds to his steers,
but not return equal to 60 cents a
bushel for his corn, which is the
price for the last two years. AS for
the unfed steer, it does not participate
in the upward movement of prices in
it's farm value.
The wholesale prices of fresh beef
carcasses have increased in about the
same degree that the prices of steers
have at the stock yards, and the retail
prices of fresh beef have kept pace
with the wholesale prices.
The increasing prices of fresh beef, |
therefore, are due to increasing prices
of animals at the stock yards, and this
is explained by the abnormal circum-
stances to which the raising Of beef
animals has been subject in recent
years.
Abnormal Beef Supplies.
There has been a breaking up of
range herds consequent upon the en-
forcement of the "no-fence" law by the
national government and by encroach-
ments of the settlers upon the
ranges, made possible by the practice
Of dry farming" Not all of the cat
tie have gone directly from the ranges
to the slaughterhouses; a great por-
tion of them has gone to farms for
maturing and finishing, largely upon
corn. This extra demand on the corn
crop is reflected in corn prices, which
are now higher than they have been
since the records of the department of
agriculture began, in 1866, except for
1881.
Half dozen years of this abnormal
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