The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-16
THE BEEF PROBLEM.

The beef problem is giving anxiety
to the public generally. The consumer
is troubled by the high retail price
The stock raiser is troubled by his in
ability to sell his cattle. Ordinarily he
could afford to hold his livestock for
/ a while. feeding and fattening IT; but
grain prices are now so high that IL
he doesn't get rid of his cattle they
will eat their heads off. The depart
ment of agriculture is troubled be-
cause It knows that II there isn't a
profit for the stock raiser in his cattle
he not only will sell them off on any
terms to stop his heavy feed bills, but
will quit raising cattle at all. Then
the country will be without beef
For the first time in years there
| is an abundance OF beef on the hoof
and in the packing house-an actual
oversupply-but at so high retail
prices that the burdened public will
not eat meat.
The cattle raisers. the packers and
the department of agriculture want to
stimulate the consumption of beef.
They want to teach the American peo-
pie that with so large a supply in the
country they no longer need to save
beef either for our soldiers or for the
hungry peoples. OF Europe. But the
trouble is that the American people
aren't cutting down their consumption
of meat because they think it is needed
abroad. They aren't cutting 1t down
because they think there is a shortage
in the west or anywhere else. They
are cutting down their consumption
because they are not willing to eat it
at the prices demanded for it,
1t is true that when American con-
sumers quit one article of consumption
| because of its price they usually turn
to another article of consumption with
an increased demand which also drives
its price up. When bread got dear
the consumers made a rush for po-
tatoes and made potatoes dear. Then
they made a rush for rice and made
rice dear. In the same way they
turned from beef to fish and made
even ordinary Goldfish dearer than the
choicest cuts of beef had been.
The American people, by their self
sacrifice during the war have learned
that they can do with great deal less
meat eating than they ever before
thought was possible. They are not
going back to their former degree of
meat eating unless meat can be made
cheap enough to appeal to them. Just
as they turned from sirloin steak to
Goldfish steak they may turn from cod
fish steak to sirloin steak when It be-
comes a better bargain or when It be-
comes nearly a good enough bargain,
the superiority of beefsteak to Goldfish
steak considered. to tempt them
| Otherwise they will not
There has been a persistent effort
to make the retail butcher the goat.
But the Investment News comes to his
defense in the following:
1t will not suffice to say that the
retail butcher can easily untangle the
economic knot. Maybe he could if
his other costs went down as the price
| of beef went down in the packing
house and the price of steers went
down on the range. But his other
costs don't go down. They don't
| even stand still. He goes on paving
more, not less. for his labor He goes
on paying more. not less, for his rent
| He goes on paying more, not less, for
the feed OF his horses used in his de-
livery service. He goes on paying
more, not less, for his fuel. for his
| light, for his taxes, for his insurance
for every single thing necessary to
the conduct of his general business
and the selling of his specific beef.
There was a time. with all other
costs normal, when the prices which
the retail butcher paid for his beef at
| wholesale largely determined. or at
| least could determine. his charges to
! consumers. This isn't so any longer.
All his charges are so high, so abb
normally high. that his beef can 20
down. and down. and down, and yet
this decline be more than offset by
the rise in his other costs.