Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-30
MEAT DROPS IN new YORK
Packers Deny Report that Shipments
Are to Be Cut in Half.
BIG PROFITS OF RETAILERS
Independent Investigator Figures
that in Better Glass Trade They
Are More Than Hundred
Per Cent.

NEW YORK, Jan. 29.-There wa a wide
spread understanding among retail butchers
here yesterday that western packers have
decided to cut in half their shipments Of
cattle to this city in an effort to uphold
the price Of beef. The packers denied it.
$50 far as 1 know said a representative
of swift and Company, mo orders to dis
continue have been received. AS for a re-
ductlon in shipments that might be-"
On the other hand, the small dealers were
equally positive that the packers are "only
talking big and that If only the boycott
continues, concessions in wholesale prices
must come. The family trade in meats
throughout the city continues to dwindle
and prices continue to fall In consequence,
but as beef goes down, fish go up. The
following declines and appropriations were
recorded in the retail markets here today:
Porterhouse steak from Fl to 20 cents a
pound; sirloin steak, % to Is cents; prime
ribs of beef, % to 16 cents; pork loins, is
to 16 cents; pork chops, 20 to Is CENTS leg
mutton, % to Is cents; mutton, IA to IL
cents. Fish: Salmon steaks, 20 to % cents;
Goldfish, IL to 16 cents; halibut, Is to Y
cents; bluefish, 70 to is and 20 cents; smelts,
15 to % and "a cents. The price OF poultry
remained unchanged, but there was a sharp
decline in the quotations on eggs.
Resentment against the cost Of living
has thus far mainly conferred upon the
pa ckers, but an independent Investigator
came out with figures today which tend
to show that in the better class trade
at least. the retailer absorbs the larger
shares of TIE profits. leaving to the packer
only what ne can make on the sale OF BY
products.
It is said a New York packer buys a
steer on the hoof in the Chicago stock
wards. The steers weighs 1882 pounds In
Chicago, for which IN cents Is paid, MAX
ing the cost TO the New York packer
se6. 81. Owing to loss of weight by trans
portation the steer when slaughtered here
weighs only 200 pounds. When dressed
It made 500 pounds OF saleable meat, OF
which 1874 pounds would bring top notch
prices. In snort, the packer reserves for
his own uses 400 pounds and sells to the
butcher 800 pounds.
For this 800 pounds the butcher pays the
packer So and the packer must make up
the difference between his selling price
mere and the price he paid for the steer
on the hoof in Chicago, by his sales OF
b~y-products. He is supposed to admit &
profit on these of IL per cent.
Now comes the profits of the retailers
A table is submitted %purporting to show
that the 500 pounds Is sold to the house
holder at retail for a total Of s16S.
In explanation the butchers statement Il
given.
I'VE nave to get very large profits" h,
says, FOR nearly every steward or chez
who deals with us expects his bit of tn,
check his employer sends u.s."
Aside from the quarrel among the packer
the wholesaler and the retailer, it 1,
pointed out by shrewd buyers that neither
the government nor a boycott can adjust
the situation until the men in control OF
the cattle are brought to book.
Where does the public get off?' is the
question asked by the skeptics.1
The statement continues:
Ninety per. cent OF the fish on the
market is frozen and eggs are mainly cold
storage. This does not provide good am.
munition for a boycott.
The packers win not lose. The situation
must be looked at without self-deceptlon
The packers will Kill less beef, they will
discharge many employees and the cattle
they do not XIII can be held for a revived
demand. Prices will drop but little and
when the nation gets hungry again the
packers will be Just where they were be-
~fore-in control OF the situation"
CHICAGO. a 2s.-The federal grand
jury today devoted only a short time "a