The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-27
NEW REASON GIVEN FOR DROP IN PRICES Chicago Man Lays It All Upon
 the Farmer SELLS ALL HIS BUTTER Farmer of Today Is Selling His Good Fresh Butter for High Prices md
 Buys Oleomargarine to
 Eat at Home
SELLS ALL HIS BUTTER

Chicago, January 26.-( Special l-The
 sudden slump of wholesale prices for
 butter and eggs in Chicago. which the
 retailers finally allowed to cut the con-
 sumers' cost of living, twas laid to the
 cold storage houses by some commis-
 sion men. But responsibility now for
 reduction of the cost of living or for
 an advance a year ago are not borne
 out by government statistics. Only a
 year ago commission houses, then
 pointing to cold storage houses as the
 cause of conditions quite the reverse,
 were confronted by government figures
 which show that the annual crop of
 eggs is almost 60,oo0,0OO cases of which
 less than per cent is stored and the
 balance, over 92 per cent, goes direct to
 the consumer. In the city of Chicago.
 in 1909. there were stored approx
 imately 1,00O0,OO cases of eggs, and a
 careful canvass of the leading houses
 showed that these eggs were owned by
 619 persons or firms. Another South
 Water street merchant offered ah anus ing explanation of the present butter and egg situation. Ut is all due to the farmers eating oleomargarine," he de-
 clared. The farmers nowadays, and mean S5 per cent of them, take their
 milk and butter to the market and
 carry home oleomargarine for their own
 tables. It is cheaper and by doing this
 they decrease the consumption of but ter and throw so great an amount into the city market that the cold storage people have to fill their houses with it.
 Then at a time like this it is suddenly
 unloaded and you see the result How | ever, the cold storage is not entitled to | credit now for the glut and low prices
 of butter nor to blame for high prices
 of year ago. The government reports
 show that of all the butter produced in | the country, not over per cent is put
 away into cold storage, while 94 per | cent goes into immediate use, and | small proportion of the crop could not | control the market. The top price for
 storage butter this season was 321a
 cents per pound, while finest fresh but
 ter during the period of storms and
 unusually cold weather, did not go | above 36 cents, yet, in 1882, before
 modern cold storage was known, the | price of butter at Elgin for the week
 of February 20. was 4S to 50 cents, and | the average price for the month was
 45s4 cents Of fresh meats less than
 3 per cent is placed in storage
 The problem of efficiency and con- servation which efficiency implies rais- | ed by Louis Brandies with regard to | the railroads, has given the packing | business of Chicago new interest, whatever tile merit of the case in the | federal courts. The economies of meat ! packing in which by-products produce | the profits, have been given standing as | real conservation. There is no indus try In which the selling price follows
 the cost more closely Louis F. Swift | said in his report as president of Swift l & Company at the recent annual meet | ing of that company Swift & Coni- pany's result sheets show less than 8 per cent profit on sales during 1910. A profit is made on by-products, which were wasted before we had learned how
 to utilize them by the aid of modern machinery and scientific handling" 1 That high prices penalized the packers was the aspect put upon the cost of liv- ing by his explanation for the increase of capital from s6o.0oo.00O to s75,0O0, 900 | by Mir Swift. who said: We are obliged
 to pay higher prices for raw material | than formerly, and 1t takes more money to do business now than in times past. 1t also takes more capital for
 construction of plants and buildings | and the operation of facilities neces- sary to handle and keep our various |
 manded by our customers and govern ment requirements. During periods of plentious supply and lower prices for
 live stock and finished products, the
 producer may be dissatisfied. and criti- | else the packer During periods of short supply and consequently higher prices for live stock and finished pro-
 ducts. the consumer may be dissatis- fled and crticise the packer. Thus it | iS seen that the packed is indeed a | middleman. but the fact is lost sight of
 that with varying costs and varying
 selling prices the D Neker receives a uni
 formly small margin of profit of sales"
 In the controversy over efficiency of railroad operations the rule was con- ceded that of all possible causes of high prices waste is the most potent; that
 scientific management has disclosed
 wastes reaching an enormous aggre- gate, even now little realized; and that scientific management has presented
 the only workable means yet devised
 for avoiding the greater part of this
 waste.
 | The need of automatically stopping | trains wh en stop signals are disregard | ed or not seen by engineers has been given renewed attention by. Chicago | railway officials as reslt of two dis | asters recently on Eastern railroads equipped with automatic block signals. In the wreck at Batavia, New York, on 1 the New York Central system, due to a | fog which obscured the cautionary sig | nal 4000 feet from the station, the en- | gineer saw no warning until the tail lights of the wrecked train were only few hundred feet away. Six dead and
 score seriously injured were the vic- tins in the case. Near Nevada Ohio. on the Pennsylvania railroad wreck
 in which six died and many were se-
 riously injured was officially ascribed
 to the disregarding of visual signals | by one engineer who passed three sets | of block signals without obeying them During a general powpow in Chicago
 of officials of the Pennsylvania system,
 A. M. Schoyer. general superintendent west Of Pittsburg. was appointed a
 committee to secure from the League
 of Public Safety information concern ing automatic stop equipment which In service tests was found to avoid the dangerous emergency stop which has condemned stop devices with operating
 railroad men. Distance, fog, storm, low l burning of the lamp. all make the