El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-12-01
BY
Frank G. Carpenter
Copyright. 1917. BY Franz;

I carcass and others take off the skin.
hoofs and horns. all OF which re
saved for oil glue, leather or some
other by product.
All Is Done in 20 Minutes
When the carcass is ready for beef
IL Is divided along the backbone. max
ing two sides. and IL is in this shane
that 1t Is shipped abroad to our sol
diers or sold TO the retail butchers.
It does not take more than 20 minutes
from the time the steer is killed until
IL is ready 10 be examined by the gov
eminent inspectors and hung up in
the Refrigerator room And yet Il
has passed through the hands OF
about 20 men
The meat has TO 80 through many
more processes before II Is ready for
eating. II IL is TO be canned il travels
10 the departments where It Is
trimmed. cooked and sealed I'D in tFas.
If il is to be sold fresh II slides along
on the overhead trolley into the great
frlgerating chambers. which are so
large that they will hold 10000 sides
Of beef at one time, and so cold that
the temperature is Just above freez-
ing Here II remains for 4S hours
and becomes chilled through. II next
travels on a track down 60 the ground
floor. where il is loaded into the cold
storage cars. which viii take it TO the
chief cities Of the United States and
~ AAAN llNl u WAfLE II " ia ne NeALAf-AA
IN the retriEeratlng. rooms Of the
steamers which win carry it to
France
What the Packer Gets.
It is interesting to see just what the
packer gets out of a steer Cost ef-
ficicncy sheets and the saving Of
waste have been brought TO a fine
point. and. after a trip about the fac
tories here in Chicago, IL is easy to
believe that nothing is lost but the
squeal." The average steer weighs
about 1000 pounds when alive and
yields TO the packer $50 pounds o.
dressed beef. Eighty nine percent OF
this is sold as refrigera tors beef
seven percent is frozen and the re-
naming four percent goes TO be cured
or canned in the early days Of the
industry almost all Of the remainder
Of the carcass went to waste and
great values were lost on the scrap
Today with the application Of the
methods OF modern science and at
tention TO the most minute details,
these enormous wastes are con-
served. and il Is said that the by
products really make possible the
profits Of these great meat packing
plants.
From the refuse meat come vslu-
able fats, which are manufactured
into grease. tallow, soap and various
izers with high percentages of nitro
gen and phOsphoric acid The hides
are sold Just now at great profit -
the tanueries and the bones and horns
go TO manufacturers Of buttons.
combs and other ornaments The hair
is used in the making OF mattresses
and the sineWs and hide trimmings
are transformed into the glue that is
sold in our stores
The same methods obtain in the
handling OF sheep and OF hogs and
every department throughout these
great butcher shops seems 10 be rgu
with the highest degree OF efficiency
and the lowest percentage OF waste.
Says Profit Only Three Percent.
talked today with one OF the lead
ing officials OF swift q Co. as 70 the
danger of the failure o. our meat sup
ply. and Of the increasing rise In the
prices Of beef said he
The profit on every steer we han
die. by products and all IS only three
percent. Where our money Is 9lsde
is I'm the short time II takes TO handle
The animals, and the number we can
turn over in a years time The only
way 20 cut the price is. I believe. for
people 70 eat less beef every day I
am not in favor Of the meatless daE.
It Will not be a success for the rea-
son that the stream OF meat flowing
out OF the packing centers throughout