The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1910-04-22

SHALL PROFIT N the PACK
ING BUSINESS.
euxply And Demand Alone Fix The
Price-some Interesting Facts as
To Packing House Policies And
Methods.

Bos4on-Presiaens Taft told the chi
.aee Newspaper cfssb on St. Patrick $
Bay sAat a newxpaper should serve the
facts to the pubic As they are, no mat
Ter waen the facts may help or hurt
WHAT are tho facts about the packers
ana their business? The Boston New
Bureau recently sent staff represfsn ba-
tive ts Chieago, the hone OF the PACK
srs - ascertain the extent 30 vsaseh
the pab*e prejudice against them is
x.ztiessa hy the facts, and summarizes
sss results eff his Investigation as tel
iew~:
sapply ANA demand fix the prices
that the packers pay fer livestock and
sharge fer fresh and cured meat and
sAs hy-prodacts. A western congress
u,s- summarized the situation very
ably ;a a recent speech IN the House
wA~a he stated that in the last %
years population had increased 81 per
cent. whale the number of cattle and
.sher livestock Of the country faad IN
creased rs per cent, or just half as
xnarA.
47aere - no packers trust, cempetI-
tian is very sharp and there Is personal
rivalry among the big packers, who are
very isxious of one another. Ihsy
ceusinaally e'bs.4l livestock and
sfhear'' provisions to gain Some small
ssSsvaaaeaa< from cue another
Fs,as are successful because they do
a great vslss,na Of bssiness with small
znaxa5n OF proGt-&bout per cent. OF
sAesr gross sales and because they turn
ever their capital 50 often,-thEee 10
five fSszas a year.
II is silly TO blame thena for high
r1ieas of meats, Cor they can 40 more
business with the same money when
prices are how. Administrative AMI
selling expenses Of packing remain
substantially the same on 4 smaller
amount OF business
During the past week the price of
hogs at the Chicago steek yards cross
ed s1i p@s ewt., the highest figure
reached In 10 years. This extraardi-
nary cost of E'raw MATERIAL has fore
ed the paeker-ef hog psoduets-to do
Business at a loss, bat the great pack
ing establishments cannot shut down;
kasey must continue irrespective Of the
ppoat and ksss account.
Fhspe is no end of statistics to show
THE Eea&4iens between prices of grain
and meat or the adjustment between
rx&ees of livestock aad provisions. For
Illustration: In January, 1909, con
tract cerA sold In Chicago as low as
IS ia cents, mess pork at $Is.25; lard,
~ % 20. Some recent Aigh prices
sAssaae: Corn 81 to ss cents, mess pork
sS& hard, sI4.37 IL.
In each case the cash article is CON
ssasea, rather tAaa any of the OPP
items. The advance in corn explains
The advance IA pork OF lard only to a
certain Peint- Beyond that point the
hog fama ne is the paramount inlueace
The congressional investigation should
sared some new light en- all phases of
tse high eest of living
The following shows the receipts of
hogs at IS markets the past two years
the number eff hogs slaughtered at Chi
sago each year an / the average prices
pf AanS "a Chtenoo.
Receipts at I3 markets, 1909, 80, 3e2,-
60; 1908, s1,sss,716; decrease, $3.50
8A2.
Rashsag at Chicago, 1909, 5,36s, 900;
1ees, s,ysa 900; decrease, l.41s,oeo.
Pssoe at Chicago, 1909, $735; 1908,
g. 10, inerease s165.
Thas is not the kind of exhibit a
packer likes TO gee. Do miIlers want
. vAess faiIare, 50 that they can ad
~anse the price of fiour7 Packers do
not rasAs aags. They buy them in an
spsa market. Neisher 10 they fix re-
endi p~ssss- They sell their coode at
wAslness ~ the trade in an open mar
kse--as sfssn IS any IN the world.
WAss< - No business which shows so
@sd prcAt per dollar Of sales as
- paAu6ng industry
- packing concesns handled last
vs~ . cembsned gross business of about