New-York tribune., 1918-01-28
Farmers Not Shipping Food
Because of Railroad 71e-Up
OF Loss Through Delay and Freezing Keep. sunne.
~"y 0" arms, Declare Market Experts-Whole Carloads
OF Staples Have Been Destroyed in Congestion

"ere is the food the lack of which
Aeeps New York prices high?
ne tribune has put this question to
provision men. commission men. NOR
S"an's' =, officials of the United States
=, department. of Agriculture and the
'eoefai Food Board and other market
experts. They agreed that so far as
poultry eggs and vegetables are con-
eefneo most of the trouble is at tho
la'ms In other words, the food is still
On the farms. Three billiards. since
onr'stmas have kept it there.
one market expert told of a Mich-
gan 1arm family who lived on cornmcal
ana water for three days durinr q
s'or"' Stories of freight congestion
nave made farmers reluctant to shin
even when shipping was possible.
Eggs Now aNuxury
Only about $4,000 cases OF stora,e
eggs are left in New York. At the rate
'hey are going now there will not he q
case lett In week. New York con-
sumes storage eggs at the rate Of 600
cases day. This figure is low because
p;r'ces are high now. Last year at this
y, - e noo ra'e or consumption was near
~ lo,OOo cases a day.
but fresh eggs arc now reaching the
market. Last Wednesday 3.299 cases
were received. The price of fresh eggs.
i'o" ever remains about so and S5 cents
{" oozen to the consumer. and. since
storage eggs arc nearly gone, there is
AiITie ~ prospect Of any great reduction.
mere are less than 100000 pounds
Sa putter III New York public ware
day-6.o00 packages. Present re.
celp5s c niE are liberal. however. Friday
e,ooo packages came in: on FRIDAY Of
last week only 5,941. The receints for
the last week. 1896 packages ara
ABOUT $500 packages more than for thc
same week of 1917. WV
$4,000 Cars Tied Tn
A great deal Of food for this market
nas oeen IN transit eight or ten DAYS.
Some shipments arriving this Syco,:
were dispatched at Christmas time Tba
answer to the obvious question accord-
ing to a food board official. is that
ou'ooo cars belonging to Western lines
are tied up III the East, with no i'm
mediate means Of shipping them back
to be filled. O''NN ~
There is plenty of cheese in New
1ork - nearly six million pounds. in
puoilc and private warehouses. The
TODD boards moral is, Eat cheese
One pound of cheese is as nutritious
as two pounds of meat"
Ihe price. however, is high. largely
because of the cost of milk productio
The same holds with regard to butter
There were l4,2Oo,o0O pounds of
dressed poultry in warehouses here on
January 7. On January 20 there were
1o.150,000 pounds. Receipts are light
The situation in regard to live fowls
IS described as serious. New York eats
more live poultry than all the rest Of
the cities of the United States put to-
gether. Only ffty-nine cars Of live
poultry were received last week; the
same week last year there were ninety
seven. Farmers fear to ship. Whole
carloads Of live fowls, side tracked be-
cause of congestion. have died for want
of water
Potato Crop Excellent
Federal and local food officials agree
that there is a record potato crop, and
that New York will have the benefit
Of it when the weather breaks and
traffic knots are Strengthened out.
The present supply is ffty-sevcn cars
day. Last year at this time there
were 100 cars a day. In mild weather
New York can dispose of 125 to $50
cars day. for then the price is low.
AS to meats. There is real scarcity of
pork, and the government wishes Ameri-
cans to eat as little as possible. Biz
yards have tied up the Chicago ship
pers; that is why New York has re-
ceived very little meat of any kind. Not
fresh lamb came into the city for
several days. Friday there we're no
hogs. and only 140 live calves were
offered.
The government urges the use Of