Semi-weekly herald., 1910-01-13
He is making further inquiry isto

He is making further inquiry into
prices Of butter. eggs, groceries ard
all other scrts of food products, the
results of which win be ready for
publication soon
Secretary Wilson asserts that two
fifths of the expenditures of the fam
ilfes of medium incomes are devoted
to food. and that one-third Of the
national dietery is composed of meat.
a fact which is keenly appreciated BY
everybody.
The investigation into the increase
of retail prices for meat has been
made through employees OF the agri-
cultural department In fifty different
cities and towns, large medium and
small. In different parts of the country
they were selected at random and rep
resent commercial and manufacturing
centers and agricultural communities.
| A schedule was prepared to record the
actual experiences OF retailers In buy.
| ing and selling carcass or half
carcass OF beef the weight and whole
sale cost In bulk and the weight and
retail price for every cut for which .
uniform price is charged. Thus Is be-
came possible not only to compare
high priced and low-prced cuts, but
also to compute accurately the total
retail price per pound and the consum-
ers' share of the price charged by the
wholesalers.
| For the fifty places throughout the
| United states from which the reports
were received the mean gross profit
In selling beef. that is, the retail price
| charged consumers above the whole
sale price paid by the retailers. aver
ages 3S per cent In FIVE cities II Ia
20 per cent or under; In ten cities he
| tween 81 and 30 per cent; In twelve
cities between 81 and 40 per cent; In
| twelve cities between Al and so per
cent, and In eleven cities more than
| so per cent profit is enjoyed by the
retailer.
II seems very queer that there
should be such a striking difference In
the profits of neighboring cities. For
example. in Springfield. Mass, the
| difference between the retail and
wholesale prices is 10 per cent: in
Holyoke. which Is only few miles
away, 1t is AZ per cent. In Baltimore
II Is II per cent and in Washington
AZ. In Cincinnati 1t is 25 per cent and
In Louisville 1t is So; In Minneapolis
Harrisburg 1t is A and In Philadelphia
only 20. In Kansas city. Mo-. 1t is
2S. while across the river at Kansas
City. Kan. the profit Is so per cent.
But | suppose that these differences
| are due TO an understanding between
the retailers In the respective towns,
because, as rule, whether thcre are
organized associations or not tho
prices viii be about the same for the
same cuts OF meat, and II is asserted
that the wholesalers insist upon uni
formity of prices In meat, az they do
In other commodities.
Everywhere appears the general
fact that the lower grade OF beef the
greater the percentage OF prof1t. In
deed the rule is quite general that
low-priced beef Is marked up twice
as high relatively MS high-priced beef.
In other words. II Is a safe inference
that the poorer classes OF people pay
twice as much profit to their market
men on meat that they buy as tho
richer classes. II is also true that
the percentage of profit is lower on all
the good cuts than 1t is upon the least
desirable.
1t will be noticed also that al a rule
the prices are lower In large than In
the small towns. which is probably
due to competition.
Secretary Wilson says a word In de-
fense OF the retailer. and reminds us
/ that city customers Insist upon the
prompt delivery of their purchases
and this requires man. a horse and
; wagon. They often want the market
man to send one OF his clerks to their
dwellings to take their orders. This
delivery service Is costly and the re-
tail business is overdone.