Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-06-18

I
made ~ out Of the large net he Sc
cures from the handling OF one animal
but out ~ che small net he secures troth
! the ra-F'l.,-. g hurSrriss 81 anl"'alS
When the beef in question reaches the
retailers store. il will be cut up ana
/ sold as follows: Four shank bones Tor
soup. aggregating 20 pounds. This meat
will bring three cents per pound or oo
cents i'm all. There Will be 10 POUNDS
of neck at Is cents or $3.50. There VIII
( be two kidneys weighing one pound anc
selling AT ; cents each, or 10 cents gross
| The kidney fat and other fat of which
there will be three pounds will bring
| 4 cents a pound or IL cents. OF round
] steak il is possible to cut "a pounds
| out of this carcass, which Will sell at
| from So TO 40 cents. Taking the lower
figure as a average the gross return
will be S1I.9O There should be about
s pounds of rump roast worth % cents
a pound. or 81. There would be S5
pounds of chuck steak and roast worth
90 cents OF 81. OF plate stew there
/ sSill he % pounds worth Is cents a
pound or SS75. Of flank there will be
6 pounds worth Is cents or 80 cents.
OF rib roast there will be about IA
pounds. worth 80 cents a pound or S4.9O.
OF Ioin steak there will be about 81
pounds which at 80 cents pound will
be worth SI2.4O. The bones and TRIM
mings represent a loss of about
pounds and shrinkage pounds. due to
the drying out of the carcass. Adding
these in we have 200 pounds, the orig
inal weight of the carcass. The sale
price of this carcass was S45.1T. From
this must be taken 20 per cent as the
cost of selling. or 5000. leaving S36.14.
The delivered cost was S32. hence the
l. tu
cass. sA14. AS the average retail
butcher in Georgia will not sell as much
as one carcass a day il is easy to see
that he rs not making the enormous
profits even at the prices indicated the
public assume to be the case. 49,
1t is a very easy thing to conclude
theoretically that the other fellow is
the robber, and while the cost of food
stuffs are high, and particularly that of
meat when the grade of the average
animal offered for sale is taken into
consideration and the price the farmer
obtains therefor is figured out, il will
be seen that large profits are not ac-
cruing to the small packer or to the re-
tail butcher. There are very few peo-
pie who would be willing to handle a
carcass on a profit of 81 net for their
trouble. and it would be impossible fer
basis. Moreover. but for the fact that
the packer can handle thousands Of ami
mails at a rels lively small cost and Sc
cure his profit not in the large excess
obtained from one, but from the rela-
lively small profit made from hundreds
would it be possible 60 market and dis
tribute meat for anything like the prices
now prevailing.
In this connection il lis proper to note.
that a part of the meat in this car
cass is sold at relatively high prices
and the public are much dissatisfied.
Herewith. For instance. 40 cents a
pound is considered to be an unreal
sonably high price for loin steak. but
II should not be overlooked that there
is only a limited amount or meat in a
carcass which brings fairly high price.
In the case under discussion it is rep
resented by 81 pounds of round steak
at IS cents; Il pounds Of rib roast at
80 cents. and 81 pounds of loin steak at
40 cents In other words. 20 pounds of
meat out of the 200 pounds must sell for
SIS. 20 in order for the butcher TO stay
in business. Suppose now that the loin
steak could be sold for 30 cents a pound
the rib roast at 25 cents. and the round
steak at % cents. what would be the
RESULT The cheaper and less desirable
{
situation would not be sold at all. and
would represent a waste amounting
annually TO millions of dollars II is
true that the parts of the carcass in
dictated contain the choicest meat. in
I that they are relatively the freest of
bone. the muscles are more largely ag-
gregated about the joints and, there
fore, the meat is more tender and juicy
but in the matter of nourishment these
cuts are not more desirable than any OF
the others mentioned, and for certain
purposes not nearly so valuable For
instance. the shank is better ADAPTED for
the making Of soup than any other part
OF the carcass. One of the troubles of
our consuming population lies in the
fact that they wish only the choice cuts
/ from the carcass. This being true they
will have to pay higher prices for" them.
than would otherwise be the case if
there were ready market for the bal
ance of the carcass at a reasonable price.
In proportion to cost. a soup bone is
infinitely far and away cheaper and
more desirable from every point OF view
than pound of steak which costs from
/ 50 to 30 cents.
AS a matter of fact. the average
butcher does not handle meat at a profit
in the summer time. His sales are too
low At that season, relatively speaking,
and his cost of ice too high. These
/ figures are such as to help the public
I to gain a fair idea Of tho beef situation
it exists today and show that prices
/ are reasonably Iair and justified by all
: the existing circumstances They also
! indicate that the. average small retail
butcher under such circumstances will
not make more than fair living out
/ Of his investment in capital and effort.
/ To show the public that the reduction
! in the price of meat to a lower scale
/ than that indicated is not practical the
following statement has been. prepared:
: Two sides beef. 300 pounds t
d a. 1sc. ................. $500
Four shank bones for SOUP
81 pounds. at cents.s as
Neck. IS pounds at coo. $50
Kidney fats and cod fat.
raw. S pounds at Sc. 10
I Round steak. As pounds
! at CSC .......-.......... 1880
Rump roast. II pounds at
FAC ..-------- -. D.. S.OO
Chuck steak and roast SO
I pounds al csc. .........- 1925
Plate Stew. SO pounds at
/ 2Oc. ................... 20
! Flank. 70 pounds at soc. ..- 200
Rib roast. IS rib IS.
pounds at Csc. ......... $40 .
Toin steak. - pounds at
Csc. ..................... 1880
tones and trimmings loss,
13 pounds