New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-10-22

fairs i'm this country. but have seen no
stock that can be compared with our own
an YOUR opinion. why is meat so dear In
the United States?"
Well" Mr.. Hopo replied, "1et us con-
slider bread for a moment and see if We
cannot get an answer that will apply 10
almost anything that is necessary and eat
able. Wheat IS exported from this country
through such ports as Galveston, Balti-
more. Philadelphia New York and Boston.
Suppose cargo Of wheat were grown
in iowa and loaded in Boston. Wheat from
The same region let US say, is made into
-four a 4 mill I'm New England. The flour
is baked into bread and sold In Boston
for five cents a loaf. Bread Is five cents
loaf q pound 10 the loaf. all over the coun-
try. Meanwhile, the Iowa wheat exactly
like that out OF which the Boston bread
was made pays freight to England, where
it Is ground into -four. baked into bread
and sold i'm Liverpool or London for three
cents a loaf, a pound TO the loaf the same
as in America.
"A brief answer 10 your question would
be middlemen Another answer would he
the cxtravagant cost of distribution. Mr..
Wilson. your Secretary Of Agriculture, says
the American producer and consumer are
far apart. which means, of course, mat
many profits are between them | have
lived I'm London and in Washington and
have studied retail prices i'm botn cities,
which are representative. I dare say, OF
English and American prices generally.
Food is dear over the water, but not nearly
so dear as in this country. Your government
han
the tariff taken off meats / replied that
Argentine beef and mutton brought thou
sands of miles would sell cheaper on the
docks of New York than would meat
brought only hundreds Of miles from Chi
cago.
Lamb. by the leg, is selling for 20 cents
pound in this country. II is chilled or
frozen meat, and none Of II is strictly fresh.
The quality OF meat shipped across the
ocean from Argentina or received from
Australia in refrigerator ships is selling
in London for 10 cents pound. In the
United States the Meat Trust tells the
farmer what il will pay for his cattle
and sheep and then tells the consumer
what he must pay at retail for the cattle
and sheep cut up into meat. The trust
controls prices at both ends. No such state
Of affairs would he endured in Great
Britain"
where will the future meat supply OF
the world be obtained?"
In the United States; cattle will soon
be raised on foot instead of on horseback
that Is. your cowboys will disappear, and
the small farmer with a dozen or hun
dred steers will take his place. Land here
4 init II
waited fields South Of you is Mexico, with
great stretches OF land suitable for produc-
ing beef. When farming becomes intensive
I'm your country, and every farmer almost
IS raising cattle and sheep, local slaughter
houses will be built and the Meat Trust, as
see it, will by reason of competition, lose
some of its power TO establish prices.
is the American trust doing any bust
ness in the Argentine Republic?'
..The Armour company recently bought
some land in La Plata, ana, | am Informed
from home, is to spend $j,0coOO0 on pack
ing plant. Several American companies are
shipping meat TO Austria, Belgium, Italy,
Spain and Great Britain. They are not
connected however. with the American
trust.
In my opinion, the Arm lrs viii hardly
succeed in getting control of our meat
business. The people take pride In the en-
terprises they start and develop into profit
able undertakings. The Oldest company, or
ganized thirty years ago, is still composed
Of cattle producers and land owners. IL
has been in the frozen meat business from
the very beginning. and will scarcely sur
render TO strangers"
IAN agent OF the United States govern
ment," said, lis now I'm Argentina for the
purpose of learning what II costs to produce
a pound ~ wool"
Yes and he is an able man, but lear
he will md II difficult 10 get al The facts
once managed flock Of 1900 sheep. Al
that time there was no market Tor iresh