St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1919-08-02
CITIZEN REPLIES
TOLETTEROF
BUTCHERS
dior 81 TammanK Farmer:

Editor SL. dlluudHy t dI Hel.
Replying to the butchers letter in
last issue of your paper, ] wish to
take issue on many points. | think
their letter a most fiimsy excuse foI
non-delivery of meat, and / haze
heard many others express the same
opinion.
The butchers claim their way OF
conducting their business is modern
because it benefits dealer and con-
sumer tc the greatest extent. There
may be five butchers who believe
that, but there are five hundred adult
citizens who do not believe it. The
modern business concerns try 10
please the customer. The monde
livery is not modern from stand
point OF service nor advent. That is
the antiquated way.
They advance the argument that
by not delivering they have increased
their cash sales so per cent and de-
creased their credit about the same
amount. But this was not due to
not delivering, because the other
merchants who delivered all the
time have done that. 1t has been
due, of course, to the shipyard bring
ing many people here and paying
them high wages. Surely non-deliv-
cry of meat is not responsible for the
shipyard coming Then it is not re-
sponsible for the money situation.
1t may be beyond the butchers to
see where non-delivery affects the
growth of the town, as they claim,
but | am sorry to think it of them.
Any town that does not offer modern
conveniences will lose to the other
neighboring towns which offer these
conveniences.
True, it takes Industrious people
to make an industrious town, as they
claim. But this statement does not
exclude the butchers from among the
industrious. Many men here hustle
off to work before six o'clock. They
can't get the meat. The wives of
many have only small children, too
small to leave alone. Some wives
are not able to walk from ten to
thirty blocks to and from the mark
cts Should they be forced to use
cured meats? Other wives can send
Suliul Cl1 Va oS4 iAAo
is the plan the butchers want all
families to use, and then claim that
the housewife can see what she is
getting and thus avoid TROUBLES and
MISUNDERSTANDING. Absurd! She
would see the meat when it got
home; yes.
If the butchers choose to, they
could accept telephone orders at GER
tain hours when it would not inter-
fere with their waiting on custom
ers who would come to the shop, nor
interfere with their nights rest.
This would not necessitate keeping
some one extra at the telephone.
By delivering to people, the shop
would not be crowded and would not
necessitate keeping as many men
there to wait on the trade as now.
The other man could be on the
wagon. This way the butchers could
sell more meat with less shop force.
Of, if they wanted to keep some one
at the phone for orders in the morn
ing, this would only require the same
shop force as now, and this was the
plan the butchers called for in Their
letter.
And, lastly, they threaten to raise
the price cents per pound should
they deliver This would be plaGs-
ible if they had lowered the price
) cents Ger pound when they stopped
delivering last year. The prices are
as high here as in other places where
they deliver meat Why this threat?
Even surposing that the butchers
could pot afford to deliver at pres
ent prices. They would not have to
advance the price as much as 5 cents
to cover expenses of delivery. On
800 pounds delivered this would
mean $500. Wages have increas-
ed since the winter and so has the
feed bill. Why raise the price. The
extr avolume of business done by
delivering with the same managing
expense, rent, ETC., would more than
pay expenses of delivery.
The butchers know these things,
or ought to, and We don't want them
to believe and try to make the people
believe hard luck story. They
don't have to deliver, of course.
Neither do we have to 60 and get
the meat. Other butchers will come
and deliver if these do not. We pre-
fer our home butchers.
CITIZEN.