Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-06-27
Study Of Some Things Which A.
feet Final Delivery of Food
to Consumer.
QUESTION OF RAPID TRANSIT
Fresh Meats and Other P~erishable
Products From Farms Must Be
speeded Up at Every Stage
Delay Means ~Shrinkage,

One Of the fundamental factors In
the problem Of feeding towns and cit.
les is that Of transportation. Since
city dwellers are so dependent upon
TRANSFORMATION for their foodstuffs, 1t
may be interesting to study some OF
the things which affect the final deliv-
cry Of food and especially meats to the
consumer.
Transportation difficulties begin with
the stock raiser, whether he Is q
rancher In the West. a corn belt farm
er or other agriculturist who produces
live stock for food. In the early days,
before our railroads were In existence
or before they were the principal
factors in getting stock to market,
cattle, hogs and sheep had to be
driven or hauled long distances to
reach q selling point or a point from
which they could be shipped BY boa
or rail. This was q very expensive
way Of moving stock; It not only TOOK
a long time but the loss Of animals
and the loss Of flesh by these animals
was also considerable. ever though the
values per pound were very little COM
pared with today.
Troubles Of Stock Grower.
The first trouble the stock grower
or dealer today has in getting MS
stock to market is to get to q railroad
point to ship his animals to one O
the various large stockyards TO DC
sold. Bad roads, adverse weather a
perhaps 4 long drive or haul to inc
shipping point all affect the length OF
time required; then there may be q
temporary shortage Of cars and STOCK
must be held in the railroad stock
yards and fed until cars are provided.
Once loaded into cars. however, there
il 4 gpecial effort made to get to the
market In the shortest possible time.
Delay means abnormal shrinkage; II
the cars are on the road 80 hours the
stock must be unloaded for feed and
water: or the market may drop sud.
denly; hence the necessity for speed.
Shipping Fresh Meats.
In order to ship fresh meats sue
cessfully they must be thoroughly
chilled before loading and then trans
ported in refrigerator cars. especially
during the warmer weather, although
this practice IL followed the year
round, These cars have Ice tanks ct
.ach and. which nre filled with Ice
and a percentage Of salt and the car
chilled to about 06 to IS degrees Fab
renhelt. Also they are provided with
yentiating or circulating systems 10
order to keep the temperature 10 Oh
parts Of the car az nearly uniform q
possible. In making long shipments
and especially during the wasmed
months, It IL necessary to ice the ca
one or more times en- route to keeI
the temperature 40 low and % con
stant o. possible. Even then o.
account Of bad weather. wrecks O
any other condition that causes uildu'
delay. the meat may not be 10 iirst
class condition on its arrival at tn
destination and must therefore be sol
q7ickly even ct some sacrifice 10 pr'ce
Spssd 10 Essential.
Speed II vital from the time tn
stock leaves the producers hands On
I'll II reaches the packer and from, tn
time the product, fresh meat. leave
lhe nacking house until Il reachse ID