The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-03
HOGS ON HOOP ARE
 BACK ID PRE-WAR
 PRICE QUOTATIONS
Pork and Pork Products at Wholesale on Way Toward Same Level, Report of
 Institute Indicates
By Associated Pres.

Chicago, December 2.--Hogs on
 the hoof have returned to what is
 practically their 1913 pre-war price,
 judging from figures obtained to-
 day from one of the sBig Fivc7
 packers. Pork and pork products,
 ax wholesale, are their way to-
 waxd that same level, the monthly
 report of the Institute of Arerie~n
 Meat Packers indicates, and have
 reached the scale prevailing In
 April, 1917, when the United States
 entered the war.
 Beef also is on the downward path. sthe wholesale price of carcass beef hav- ing dropped IT per cent since Septem- .ber 1, according to the institutes fig ares.
 The biggest drop recorded, however, is in 1.-Two hogs. The packing house fig ures show pork on the hoof brought 8 cents a pound in November, 1913. Dur. ing the war the farmer was virtually guaranteed a minimum average of 17A cents. In July, 1919, the price reached s23 cents a pound. Today hogs are back around 10h cents.
 RETAIL PRICES STILL UP
 Retail prices, however, have not
 kept pace with the falling whole
 sale market. the packing house of
 ficial said, but he declined to be
 quoted. directly, on the ground that
 retailers might boycott his com
 pany.
 Quotations from two retail dealers one whose store is classed as high price establishment, and the other as a cut-rate market, show a wide di- vengeance in prices, partly due, however, both said, to difference in the grade of meat handled.
 Figures furnished by the packers and the two stores show the following range between the packing house
 RANGE OF PRICES
 Pork Loins 1913. 1919. Today. Packers price 15c 40c 2lc First retailer ..... 6oc Sec Cut rate store..... 241a C
 Fancy smoked hams:
 Packers price .... 17c 4oc 2Sc First retailer ..... ~. soc 3Sc Cut price store 241ac
 Standard leaf lard: Packers price ... 121ac ST 12c ZIG First retailer ..... 50c 4lc Cut price sstore....,... 2ohc
 The bulletin of the meat packers in- stitute for the month of November says that during that period the wholesale price of pork loins declined 27 per cent making total drop of 45 per cent since october Other declines on November 29, as compared with October of this year, show: Smoked hams B per cent; fancy breakfast bacon, Is per cent; skinned shoulders, 30 per cent and lard, 10 per cent
 EXPLAINS SLOW DECLINE
 Explaining why the wholesale price has failed to fall as fast as the live stock quotations an official of one of the packing houses said:
 '3There are two features of the com parative price situation that should be borne in mind. One is the price Of by products, the other is the cost of labor. The average consumer naturally thinks of meat animals only as they affect the table He sees that the price of hogs has dropped, and he thinks, of cou-se' that meat should follow at once.
 "Only about 76 per cent of the live hog is meat. The other 24 per cent consists of waste and by-products, which just now have little value. Also fin the carcass there are parts that must he sold for low prices. The entire car rass does not bring pork loin or fancy smoked ham prices, for example
 Labor is now receiving much greater rewards than It did in 1913. The total Increase of plant wages has been more xhan ITO per cent
 "Thus, though there have been sub- Etantial decreases in wholesale pork prices, these price drops cannot quite equal the fall in live animal prices be. rausa of the conditions outlined"