The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-22

packers say there will DO no chang
in the price Of meats. no matter HOY
many stop eating 1t. They attempt I,
cry down the movement by saying thai
tho persona In the strike" would hay'
stopped eating meat shortly anyhow
because OF Lent, and that they are
playing 70 the galleries
Many arc deserving the meat stands
In Pittsburg. although there has been
nc organized movement as yet. Those
who have marked meat from the bill
of faro do It through sympathy with
the boycott in other places or because
Of lean pocket-books.
Cincinnati club women have given
up butter. while In Cleveland $4,000
consumers have given up everything
except what they must have, to live.
In ST.. Louis the doctors are encour-
aging the striking laborers by telling
them they can get along without meat
without the slightest danger TO health.
Mass meetings of citizens are beng
held in moat of the large Wisconsin
cities. and countless meat boycott petit
lions are being circulated. In Iowa
there are many hourishing anti-meat
clubs,
Among the meat strikers of Indiana
arc zoo Jewish families who have boy.
sotted the Kosher butchers.
tCcbuE Is high.
The feeling in Michigan is intensi-
hed by the knowledge that across tho
line in Canada everything is 20 per
cent. cheaper. This is particularly true
of Detroit, where high and low prices
are separated mainly by a river.
An effort Is being made in New York
State to deprive dealers of ono of their
most efficient weapons against boycott
tho cold storage. Assemblyman
Lachman, OF Kings, has introduced u
bill making 1t misdemcanor to sell
any FISH, game, poultry, butter. cheese
OF other articles of produce that have
been kept in cold storage for more
than sixty days.
To Harry Dowie, president of tho
Wholesale Poultry Dealers Associa-
ton. there Is no mystery about the
high prices that New York consumers
are paying for their chickens, ducks
and other domestic fowls. Unjust and
unwise competition on the part Of the
shippers is at the bottom of IT., accord
Ing to President Dowie. This reckless
competition is attributed, in turn, to
the practice prevalent among big re-
(rigerating plants of making liberal
advances OF money to the shippers to
get the business of holding the stock.
The farmer is the man who is coming
out on top. as Mr.. Dowie reviews the
conditions.
The amounts which the 'frcezers"
advance to the shippers vary accord
ing to the credit OF the shipper but
buyers with good financial standing can
obtain from the freezer" practically
the entire amount that he invests in
his stock. lie places this stock in the
refrigerating plant. where 1t is held
practically as collateral against the
n ha 90 or', r,t,p
good big interest rate on the money
advanced, and the shipper pays besides
his storage charges. Often the "frcez-
ers borrow the money from the
banks, say at per cent, and let it
out to the shippers at per cent
Unreasonable Competitions.
My point Isl" said President Dowie
to-day that this system has lei 20
unreasonaLia competition on the part
OF the shippers. They arc trading with
somebody elses money, and they arc
willing 10 pay higher prices ana take
longer chances on n profit shan They
would If their own funds We're invested
The profits of the commission busl-
ness" said he, ARE not so per cent. OF
what they were twelve years ago"
Wholesale meat dealers in this city
weren't taking the talk about posi-
Bile boycott here very seriously. They
said that Ne WORKERS had to eat, and
that they wouldn't go long without
meat. Representatives of the retail
butchers declared, however, that many
Of the retailers could make lust az
much money by shutting up shop and
taking vacation Of month or two
as they are making now.
While the disposition among whole-
salers was to laugh at the antimeat-
eating movement the retailers took it
more seriously. Down at Washington
market, for instance, there was no dis
position to laugh The retailers there
said that their business had been drop
ping away too perceptlbly in the last
Tow weeks ~ make It the subject of
J. Odgen Armour the head OF Ar
mour & Company, was asked to-day
Just before he left for Chicago what
he thought about the high cost OF iiv-
Ing.
There is only one thing ! can say"
MIR. Armour replied, "and that is that
the price of fresh beef to-day is only
half a cent a pound higher to the re-
taller than II was a year ago
With pork tho case is diffcrcn,.
That Is considerably higher. The price
of live hogs is high, and the price Of
eorn is high. 1t all comes back 70 tho
farmer whom you consider it. If lie
does not raise his own corn, it costs
him lot more TO feed his hogs than it
used to. The high price of corn is re-
sponsible for the high price of meat.
There is very little profit in tnef it.
self for the packer, for II Is sold to tho
retailer at a price that Is but a very
small advance over what it costs. Bust