Smyrna times., 1910-09-28
PRICE OF MEAT TO INCREASE
Worst Drought in Twenty Years and
Cutting Up of Ranges the Cause

to the nlgn prices OF meat anu i've
stock comes from the st. Paul, Mimi,
Rural Weekly, of September 7, and
we believe it will be of interest to
many of our readers and farmers es-
pecially. The people of the United
States are face to face with another
big increase in the cost of living.
The meat harvest is a failure this
fall-the lone failure among all the
1910 American crops. There is
genuine shortage in live stock, not
one made by the Chicago packers
for price purposes, but shortage
on the ranges and the farms. The
live stock marketing season is now
more than half over and the situation
wrrants a prediction that 20 to 40 |
per cent less meat is available than |
for the same period during the past |
five years. This means that the |
American housewife can expect her
| butcher to increase his prices this
winter from 25 to 80 per cent and
even more if the beef trust takes its
usual advantage of condition. The
scarcity of live stock on the market
and reports of poor quality have be-
come so serious that the Editor Of
the Rural Weekly asked T. j. Tan
ner, the Kansas City livestock ex
pert, for a statement of conditions.
| The latter says:
Scarcity of Live Stock and Why
Reports of the United States
Agriculture Department show that
the receipts of livestock during July
at the seven largest stockyards in
the Middle West were nearly 400, 600
head less than July 1909, and about
600, 900 head less than in the same
month of 1908. Though hogs on the
hoof are high, the receipts during
July Is per cent less than the last
FIVE year average. The shortage at
these markets for the first seven
months of 1910 exceeds 25 per cent,
as compared with the average of
former years. There has been a
great decline in the storing and
shipping of dressed and cured meats
also. The packers have sent out of
Chicago l8 per cent less fresh beef,
cured meats and lard than in the
corresponding seven months period
of any year since 1900. The packers
shipments of canned meats were
only 40 per cent of the same period
in 1906. Nor are they storing a
quantity of meat. The stock of meat
on the last day of July, 1910, at the
five principal packing centres, had
decreased about 10, 900, 600 pound:
since the end of June and was about
one-third less than the average foi
the same date in the FIVE proceeding
years. And of course the Trust will
not bear the burden.
Several Good and Sufficient Reason
There are several reasons for tn
scarcity of livestock and the sma lie
quantity of meat as meaursed b,
pounds. First and greatest of al
the big drought The Western rang
States, where the nations beef i
raised in immense herds, have suffer
ed the worst dry spell in 20 years
Grass withered away and spring
dried up-taking from the herds bot
their food and water. Thousand
upon thousands of cattle have bee
i, forced to the stockyard markets be
! cause of this condition. They hav
been coming to the market thin an
: bony. Packers have not been abl
to obtain much meat from then
: Stockmen who at this time ever
; year buy up the thinner range cattle
hogs and sheep to feed up and Sc
to the stockyards bought sparingl
because of the uncertainty of the
5 feed crop. Especially is this true {
Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska ar
Missouri. Another reason for Il
8 scarcity of live stock, and, mayb
2 the most important, is the fact thi
the ranges are being cut down al
Z turne1 into farms. This is decrea
? ing the herds and f1ocks and maxim
s it necessary to feed stock with far
2 products if the nations meat supp
2 is to pc kept up. The grain crol
s this year are good but not near
z big enough to take the place of L
8 old range grass. The Americ;
g taste for veal and the high prices
Y has attained have helped to redu
s. the cattle supply, as produce
,,S could not resist selling their calv
y instead of growing them into be
s. animals.
z Scarcity of Hogs Due to High Pric
IS The scarcity of hogs is mostly d
AZ to other high prices of the last t.
90 years. The boom led the farm,
to sell off too closely their bro