The Pascagoula chronicle. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1905-1920, 1919-03-01
SHOWS WHO GETS THE MONEY

or the dOllaT receNO"
, ducts and something or the re'ahe'
causes for the prices when ne mus
charge in order to realize ii'"e
profit. are shown in the l9l9 ie"'
Book issued by Swift G. Company
The Swift dollar as illustrated gives
graphic description of the money
which the packer received IN 1910
from sales of beef, pork, and mutton
and their by-products. FROM 'ne
amount left for profit it is stated tha'
federal taxes and interest on borrowed
money are not deducted.
at will be seen from the diagram
SAYS the Year Book, that during 1910
Swift & Company paid out for i've
animals IS per cent of all money re-
ceived from the sale of meats ana Dy-
products. that 1897 per cent went LOT
expenses of packing, freight to distrip-
uting points all over the United States
operation of branch houses, ana even
delivery to the retailer, and that the
profit was 200 per cent. swirl
Company would be glad to know OF
any other system or method OF organlz-
alton of the packing industry winch
can result in a higher price to I'VE
stock raisers and a lower price IN the
sale of meats.
TO analyze our cattle figures stlll
further, we present the following fg-
ures which give the average amount
paid per head OF cattle during 1918 as
well as the receipts, expenses and
profit.
Average per Head
Paid for live cattle---------S 92.lO
Received for SSl.fo
Received for by-products- 22,06
Total receipts ------- lu5.3l
Amount remaining for expense
and profit lOol
Exnenses 9.79
Profit Interest not deducted)-- l.O2
1T will be seen from these figures
that the amount received for meat
from the steer is less than the amount
paid for the live animal. The by
products make up the difference and
result in total receipts which are
enough to cover expenses and yield
a profit. The total expense of 1919
consisted of 1852 for killing, dressing,
etc, S257 for freight, and $50 for
selling expenses. The profit amount
I'd to about one-third OF a cent per
pound of dressed meat, or, since only
| little over half the animal comes
orth as meat after dressing operation,
o about one-eighth of cent per
,ound of live animal. Even out of this
)ne-eighth of cent, there should
ightfully be deducted a charge for
interest on borrowed money.
"These figures mean that if Swift
. Company had paid 10 cents per hun
redweight for cattle there would
ave been no profit at all-not even
nough to pay interest on the money
hat we had borrowed in order to carry
n our beef operations"
The Year Book says that during
weeks of the fifty-two in
re year Swift q Company either
lade no profit at all or suffered an
ctual loss on sales of beef, and by
Ioducts During two weeks the loss
as over one dollar per hundred
ouuds.
"The retailer is the final step in the
chain" the Year Book CON
rues, "and his operations, as well as
lie packers, are frequently misunder-
God. In the first place, he has to
large relatively high prices for
'rterhOuse and sirloin, because he
IT'S lower prices for the stewing and
bling cuts.
THESE figures must be used with
eat caution, because they represent
ny an average quality of meat.
lring December, 1918, Swift & Com
ny's average selling price of beef
rcasses was all the way from is
nts a pound to over 20 cents a
und; porterhouse steaks from car
sses at these various prices would
tail from SO cents a pound to 60
nts a pound, or even more. The
5thods of cutting also vary in dit.
rent localities and for different
AIDES and weights of animals. Re
j prices also vary with the quality
d character of service rendered to
5tomers in the shape of Deliveries,
arge accounts, etc"