Evening star., 1915-01-15
Predicted Decline Materialized.

Ihe hVe-year average of prices per
hundredwe1ght for beef animals also
shows that the drop this year of be
tween and per cent, either figured
from June or from the highest point of
the year. is drop larger than the nor
mai. The hve-year average of prices is
5.11; March, 3.2y: April. $50; May $50:
June, o44; July, 5.33: August 5S6:
September. 5.35: October So; No
vember. 5.26. and December. 5.2e From
June 10 December the drop is about 4
per cent. SO that it is seen that the
drop this year is greater than the av-
erage decline for the last five years
and that the drop of per cent this
year from August to December is twice
as great as the average decline from
June 10 December in the last five years
The movement of cattle into the great
markets OF the country naturally tends
70 drop on during the summer. Every
spring and summer hears talk of the
great scarcity OF meat, and ever-soar-
ing prices, which need every year the
corrective of correct figures, as pre-
sented. to allay the fear that meat is
soon TO be thing beyond the reach
OF OF the average human. In June. 1872,
there was talk of a scarcity of meat
and the receipts that year were the
smallest for the period from 1905 to
1913, in June. In October of 1872
however, the receipts jumped from
40s,0o0 head to $4,000
Not Much of a Rise.
The December price of beef ner hun-
dredweight this year, SS01, IS but an
advance of cents a hundredweight on
last years price of s5.96. This increase
Is characterized by experts as mot
much of rise" When the attention
rs turned to prices per hundredweight
of live stock. which term includes beef.
veal. sheep. lambs. hogs and chickens, it
Is more apparent than ever that this
winter meat is abundant, and the bogey
OF high prices, If not a thing of the
past. at least is allayed for a while
November. 1913. the price of live stock
Per hundredweiaht was s6.94. This No
vember just past the price was but
$3.50. The decline in December of the
year just past from the December of
the preceding year is even more
marked. In December, 1918, the price
of live stock per hundredweight was
S6.s5; in December, 1914, the price was
ssS1
The European war seems to have had
no material effect SO far on meat
prices. officials of the bureau of crop
estimates declare. The small rise on
beef per hundredweight. as pointed out,
is so small to be indicative of moth
ing.
I'VE slaughter, in very rough ap-
proximation. between 4oo.ooe,oe0 and
500,000.000 pounds of meat 4 month"
declared one official. although our
exports have increased enormously
since the war began, they are hardly d
drop in the bucket"
Canned beef is the article of meat ex-
port that has taken the most tremen-
dous jump since the opening of war in
Europe. In July, 1913. the expectation
of canned beef was 231.1T1 pounds, and
in the same month in 1914 it was 314,-
9&9 pounds. Then with August our eX-
ports of canned beef jumped to ",s25,-
193 pounds. whereas in the same month
of 1913 exports had only been 36S, 1863
pounds October just past our exports
of canned beef totaled S,955,124 pounds.
whereas for the same month in 1919
they totaled but 355,6s0 pounds
Prefer Canning to Pickling.
According to officials. nlanufa cturers
are putting up their beef for export in
cans in preference to picking it. This
latter method, including curing, has
dropped off from 1913, the figure for
this form of exported meat being 1.0s0,-
7bI pounds for october. 1919, as com
pared with 2.504.212 pounds for Octo-
Der, 1913. While fresh beef exports
have increased about 100000 pounds
from October. 1913. TO October, 1914
this increase is negligible, compared
with the more than eight million
canned beef
Merely a drop in the bucket" how
ever, is the verdict of expert statisti-
clans. Which is cheering to home con
Sumers. In view of the statement of the
same expert statlstiCian, that there
are y undoubtedly less cattle in the
world, nov. that's all there Is to it.