Gunnison news-champion., 1920-12-17
STOCkMEN's
MEETING
DISCUSS BIG SLUMP IN CATTLE
PRICES AND WHAT 10 DO
Arrange for Estrsy Day. Spsiag b.
9see Appaine Delegates - State

Cunnisoa steekmen met a their mid
winter coayeu1ion in the cuurt hnuse
Saturday and discussed the serious
situation in which the caktJe industry
IL placed BY the tremendous dump in
prices.
The way out was not discovered but
the discussions were Of great interest,
and numerous resolutions were adopt
ed bearing upon the situation The one
protesting against any further inc
rease IN grazing rates ON the forest re-
serves, is printed on page two.
Attention was called to the annual
report of Secretary Aeridith in which
he takes very strong ground against
increase Of the grazing fees, at least
until 1873, asserting that Il wsuld be
. breach of faith by the government.
That the retailer was largely resPon-
sible, was the opinion ef Geo. Anderson
who claimed that months after the
the toboggan, the dealers kept up the
high prices Of steaks and chops and
rs q Consequence the consumer failed
to buy, which still further flooded the
market. Owen O,Fallon advocated
an organized effort to market Gun
nison county stuff without its passing
thru the hands Of commission men, in
other words to deliver directly 70 the
Kansas, or the Iowa feeder.
R p. MergelmAn thot We had had .
30 TO 35 per cent cut in consumption
rs a result of the boycott Of meat by
the consumer. c. T. Stevens suggested
. representative at the principal mar
kets to advise our cAttlemen when T.
hold because Of glutted conditions.
J. L. Scobey thot the solution might
lie in getting feeders TO come TO Gulni-
ison valley and purchase direct. IaE3
McCulley told Of local man who lost
81 800, by decline Of the market while
on the road.
Tom Stevens detailed the results Of
investigation by . committee from the
Armour packing plant, Is b why the
meat market had siumped. II was
largely because Of the waste IN got
ting rid Of the hind quarters, this
committee found. During the WEI.
thousands, almost millions Of women
went to work when the men folks were
at war. They still held their jobs, and
had no time to cook cheap cuts that
require hours ON slow fire. They
want q steak they can grab and fry
in few minutes. In all the great city
meat consuming centers the women
declare they have no time to cook, and
besides the additional cost of coal for
the slow fire is more than the differ
ance in the cost Of the steak or the
roast. As q result, for instance the
packer bought steers ut 12s cents.
II they dressed 90 per cent this made
the meat cost 70 cents. But the fore
quarters would hardly sell and were
disposed Of at IL cents. Then the
dealer must get 50 TO 40 cents for the
hind quarters and they called him =
profiteer. It seems that Armour
was planning to push the sale Of fire.
lsss cookers and things Of that charac-
ter in hopes that the ladies Of the land
0ould thus utilize the cheaper meats,
L. H. Rouviere thot the packers
should not have been forced by the
government to give up this retail meat
and grocery business. Others agreed
with him. Ralph Allen wanted to hear
Mr.. Mergelman's success In marieting
direct. The latter replied that he had
had fair success, because be personally
knew feeder who desired his type Of
steer, but the trouble was the feeder
wanted an even lot, and
could rarely gek Il from one or two
shippers. Consequently the cattle had
to 6e gathered in larger lots ct tie
seeeIEyards in order to sort into even
h1nches for differsat feeders Who had
(Csafinusd - Last raesl