El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-02-03

TT IS claimed that the worlds high
watermark in the cost of living has
l. been reached. The price Of every
thing, from the flannels in which the
newborn babe is wrapped, TO the coffin
in which the aged man is laid to rest,
has climbed to an unprecedented height
The whole world is trying TO ascertain
the cause, but every man denies respon-
sibility There are so many twists and
turns in the path that leads from pro-
duction to consumption that 1t is diff
cult to fix responsibility, but every
American consumer has turned detec-
tive and the search for the guilty ones
is on
Average Income 5000.
Fortunately there are a NUMBER OF
clues which suggest where to look Tor
the trouble First of all. it is found
that the income of the average Amer
lean family is $500 a year, of which
about s24O goes for food and drink
AS there are some 100000 families in
the United States, this means that the
nations food bill IS about $4,000, OOO,OOO
a year. OF this one-third goes for the
purchase of meats.
The American people are now eating
something like 20 billion pounds or
meat year. and for every cent that Is
added to the pound-cOst or that meat
the consumer has to bear an additional
burden Of 100000. 600. y similar raise
in the price OF other foodstuffs would
mean a total increase of about $780,
100000 a year in the burdens OF the
consumer for food alone. Therefore II
is plain that the increase in prices IS
a case of grand larceny and not of petit
larceny.
Prices of Beef.
In following out clues the price OF
beef claims first attention. 1t is not
new subject. More than 90 years ago
people pere asking why there was such
a great margain between live cattle
and a steak OF roast
To settle the matter the American
agriculturist of New York followed an
average sized bullock through the
shambles and on to the man who
bought the steak and the roast. 1t was
found that the dressed beef cost up
ward Of 10 cents a pound-which is at
least 20 percent more than the average
retailer pays today. Yet when the man
with the market basket came in he got
his cut Of porterhouse for II cents
pound and his round steak for less
than u cents. Many retailers who pay
cents a pound for a carcass today
sell the porterhouse at 25 cents and
the round steak at IS cents
Conditions Today.
In this year of grace 1910 another
bullock was followed through the
shambles to the price-fiXing of the re-
tail cutter. Cattle quotations show that
in the Chicago market for the week
ending January Is. the average price
on the hoof was 6.55 cents a pound A
St Louis butcher bought the carcass
Of an average steer for eight cents a
pound, and in order to disprove the
conclusions of secretary Wilson, pub
lished a detailed account Of how he
cut 1t up and sold it. 1t weighed 500
pounds and cost him $40. He sold the
porterhouse steaks at % cents, sirloin
and prime rib at Ii IL cents, round
steak at 1912 cents. and other cuts
proportionateIy. He received s51-S5 for
it at retail
The only trouble seems to be that
he placed his prices at retail too low.
Most people pay % cents for porter
house, 20 cents for sirloin and rib. and
IS cents for round. with the other cuts
in proportion. On this basis he would
sell s6224 worth Of beef from the car
CASA gross profit of over SIS percent
Mark you. this with no change in his
figures other than to increase his retail
quotations to what the average Ameri-
can is now paying at the butcher shop.
One is not entirely dependent on sec
rotary Wilson's figures or upon those
of the St Louis butcher to show the
gross profits of the retailer. The butch
ers have text books and they offer fur
Their coroboration- One of these is
1.-The Modern Butcher and the author,
a meat cutter of so years experience.
shows how a carcass must be cut up
and priced at retail in order to yield
a profit of 20 percent
In an s cent carcass, to yield this
profit, the porterhouse and sirloin
must be retailed at II cents. and the
round steak at Is cents. In n cent
carcass the former must be sold at IS
cents and the latter at Is. with the
other cuts in proportion. Let the read
er compare these prices with those he
pays and figure out his percentages.
Eggs and Vegetables.
What obtains in beef prices is true
Of other meats. Chickens that sell for
II cents pound. $50 miles from Wash
ington, bring % cents when they reach
there. A young man. residing in Wash
ington, is part owner of a farm in Vir-
ginia, within $50 miles of the national
capital. He relates that when the cor
ner grocer sells Indifferent eggs at 30
cents a dozen, those on his farm are
bringing 80 cents. When apples sell at
81 a bushel on the farm the reigning
price at the corner grocery is $3.50 a