New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-06-15
KOSHER BUTCHERS VOTE
70 CLOSE THEIR SHOPS
r,ecision of 1000 Dealers Due to
Hiuh Prices and Affects
100000 Consumers.
RAN ON CHUCK AND CHICKEN
Rioting Continues in Brooklyn,
Oil Is Poured on Stock of One
Shop and Wife of Owner Is
Hit on Head with Bottle.

Tho kosher butchers OF New York are
.oire on strike against the high prices Of
80 narticularly chuck-and until further
,,otice il will be next TO impossible to get
,.o.her meat i'm this city. The strike was
l.o;ded upon yesterday afternoon at a big
,aeting held in Eagle Hall, at First avenue
and sd street
There were about one thousand butchers
-, the meeting, and all but two of them
n.,e in favor of an immediate strike The
,uo were compelled TO take to their heels
I, &c said the strike will affect some six
,bousand kosher butchers and deprive at
EAST 10000 consumers of. the privilege Of
hpving chuck, or even chickens, until
further orders.
Yesterdays meeting was called by the
Retail Kosher Butchers Association. Ben
iamin Restvogel was the chairman. The
arst business of the meeting was the\hear-
ing OF a report of q committee that had
gone 10 the wholesale men TO ascertain
lust why meat was so high. Restvogel
made the report.
They told us" said he. that cattle are
bigh and that if we don't buy their meat
they won't kill so many beeves, and that
and 7 know that II we pay 13 cents for
chuck We can't sell it for less than is to 20
cents so We can make a living profit. after
taking out the bone and cutting away the
scrap. and II the women won't buy the
meat. then why should We buy it,"
That's right" cried a hundred or more
voices. once we could make money if
we should sell our meat at Il to IS cents
now we can't make anything at ALL"
Louis Kirsch, of No. 294 Rivington street.
took the platform and addressed the meet
Ing. Said Mr.. Kirsch: Ne see the de-
mands Of the people. They want cheap
meat. but they don't look TO the slaughter
houses for It; they look to us. and they
think il is up to us to let them have what
they want How can we do that when We
can't get it cheap ourselves? If we keep
open our shops they come to us and say:
II you can't afford TO sell meat cheap with
out losing money, why then do you keep
open your shop at all? Why should you
not close? And say brothers, why should
we not close? Let the housewives find out
in that way that We can't afford to keep
open. and they will know that We are suf-
ferng as well as they"
The remarks of Mr.. Kirsch were greeted
with cheers and words that meant the
same as Hear! Hear
And then Sigmund Speigebere, of %
street, arose. 1t was his idea that there
was no reason why a butcher should keep
open his shop. and he called upon his
brother butchers 10 close. Elias Fleischer.
Of Bathgate avenue. The Bronx made the
most moving speech Of the day and was
cheered again and again.
we butchers are the finest gentlemen in
the land" said Fleischer. The women
folks get excited and spill kerosene on our
meat and we say nothing to them. We
simply go to the police. and the police they
ask us why we don't do something about
It ourselves or shut up our shops. And
J say so. too. why don't we shut up our
shops? There is nothing in the business
for us at the present prices that we have
10 pay"
At this time Benjamin We'll arrived at
the head of delegation Of fifty kosher
butchers from Brownsville and East New
York lie reported that the butchers in
those sections had closed their shops on
Wednesday and that they intended to keep
them closed lie begged that the butchers
Of al New York join them, and moved that
tho 80 schochtim, or men employed in the
slaughter houses TO kill animals in kosher
style. be asked TO quit work. The meeting
adopted the resolution when it was put
and also declared that all butchers would
30 asked not even to sell chickens.
When the members of the association had
decided that they would strike a good
many of them remembered that IN a neigh
boring packing house there was a large
quantity of meat upon which they had
placed their individual tags. They rushed
10 the packing house and took away the
tags so that they would not find them
selves overstocked.
Of course the shops will not be open to-
day and those present at the meeting said
Yesterday they would not be open next
week unless there had been an appreciate
drop in the price Of meat at wholesale.
There was some rioting in Brooklyn yes
terday afternoon, and it required the SER
vices OF the police to break up a mob that
attacked the butcher shop o. Abraham
Klein. at No ls41 Fulton street. In the
scramble Mrs. Klein was hit with kero-
sene bottle after the oil had been poured
over Klein's stock Of poultry.