El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-05-31
new YORK MAY
BECHIGKEN HUNGRY

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Continued from page j, this secnOn)
poultry famine here this week. 1t is
not the fowls. however, that are strik-
ing, but the jObbers. who buy the chick
ems on their arrival here from the re-
celvers who ship them to the city in
carload lots. The jobbers have at last
come out flat-fOOted and refuse to Uuy
any more chickens until the dealers
cease the practice of forcing them to pay
Tor extra useless weight by stUffinE The
crops of the fowls with sand and gravel.
As the retail dealers of the whole city
rely on the jObbers for their supply,
tins means that chicken, as an article
OF food is temporarily at least absent
IRON the city's bill of fare. 1t is esti-
mated that the profits of the receivers
IRON the extra weight they obtain by
sand and gravel feeding amount to 81
100000 OF more every year 1t used
70 be customary to feed chickens that
were received here from the west all
the com they could eat. But that meth
cd soon became obsolete. There wasn't
any profit in it, the jobbers say So
the receivers adopted this scheme: The
night before the chickens were to be IN
loaded the man in charge prepared Tor
them a supper of thin meal and red pep
per. That course merely whetted their
appetItes and made them thirsty. Then
a mess of soaked bread and buttermilk
mixed with sand and gravel was pre-
pared. The chickens ate this TavenOusly.
Often they gained from IA to 16 ounces
IN weight As there are about 4OOY
hens to a carload, It was not unusual
Tor the weight Of the whole carload to be
increased $500 pounds. In dollars and
cents that meant over $500 extra profit
TO every car Dealers throughout the
city claim that all of their profits have
been eaten up by the shrinkage in
weight of the chickens they bought from
the receivers.
Brooklyn Bridge Fools Them
With no more ceremony than the fly
ing Of two flags from its towers, Brook
lyn bridge, the first to span the East
river, IS quietly celebrating its 5Oth
birthday this month. This first OF New
Nork's mighty bridges took l3 years
TO complete. The work on 1t began IN
1870 and It was not until May, 1888,
that it was opened to traffic. The cost /
to date IS placed at S22,4OO,OOO- At
various times. notably some SIX or eight
years ago. 1t has been said that the
bridge was on its last legs and that II
was only a matter Of luck whether OF
In some rush hour. carrying lOO,OOu Of
not 1t would collapse into the East river /
so of human beings with it. In spite OF I
all this the bridge Is still in commission I
and in first class shape. The bridge l
has earned SO $4,000 in its 30 years, I
OF about $500 90 more than its estl- /.
mated cost to date. I
Child Life Tenure Is Heightened.
That the youth in this city has bet T.
fer chance for long life than 1t did % /
years 400. while the mature person has /
poorer one. are the apparently contra I
dictory statements emanating from the /
latest vital statistics. A child under I
years Of age at present may reasonably !
look forward to a life of 81 years, while I
81 years ago a child OF that age could /
EJECT to live only Al years, according /
to an important "life tale of the de- /
partment of health just issued after the (
most careful mathematical calculations
covering all statistics between 1879 and ,
the present time While the normal eX-
pectancv of a child under has been IN
creased Il years, largely through the /
improvements IN sanitary conditions. the
Sight against tuberculosis and the over
coming of many diseases, such as dlph- (
liberia scarlet fever and meningitis,
which usually affected children, the eX- 3
pectaucv for continued lire IN persons J
more than 40 years old IS diminishing.
That Is. the tale prepared IN 1882 /
showed that a man at 40 years of age
could reasonably expect TO live p Il
wears more. while the tale now issued /
shows that a man at 40 may expect to
live only . wears and one month From
40 wears on there Is a constantly Increas-
ing diminutiOn of the expectancy OF life Z
as compared with the statistics Of 81
years ago.