The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1921-01-21
FINDING OUT THINGS
ABOUT THE BUTCHERS
No Evidence of Profiteering Here, But Astound-
And Too Much Reef JInfssf faaSr Eooosd

Il
Ithods of Elizabeth City meat
dealers may not be able to report
any decided reduction in retail
prices as result of its labors, but
the committee is finding out
much of interest to the consum-
er and its report, to be made at
an early date; should make inter-
esting reading.
The committee has not Mound any ev-
idence of profiteeripg upon the part
of the butchers in the sense that any
of them are growing rich on current
/ prices Prices charged for meats in
Elizabeth City are about : the same as
prevailing prices in towns of similar
size in the state and far below Norfolk,
Va. prices. But there is an enormous
waste in the meat business as conduct
ed in Elizabeth City and the elimination
of much of this waste could be avoided
and the consumer materially benefited
thereby
= There is an annual waste of thou
sands of pounds of meat due to the in
ability of the butchers to dispose of COM
mon cuts of beef. The public will not
] buy fore quarter beef when more choice
fcuts are available There is also a tre-
kmendous loss due to inadequate refrig-
GRAFTON. The butchers claim that the
refrigeration plant in the markethouse
lis not properly looked after and that
the low temperature required to keep
IL y. L
with any degree of regularity. Another
enormous loss is from rats. The mar
kethouse, is oyer run with rats and the
rodents are cutting the very ice boxes
to pieces when meat is not left out of
the boxes for them to feast upon
, The refrigeration problem and the rat
problem may both be disposed of by in
telligent effort, but the problem of how
to get the public. to buy cheaper cuts is
: not SO easy. The public can hardly be
, blamed for not wanting to eat the cheap
er cuts of meat, since the quality Of the
, beef generaly sold in the city market
such that only sthR< choice cuts are.
edible A large part of the beef sold
in the city market is from the tick in
, tested area of northeastern North Car
folina. The cattle are thin, feverish,
tough and really unfit for food. The
! average weight of beeves sold in the city
; market is only 200 pounds. The best
; beef is not available inI such weights
| The fore quarters of such beef are thin,
!; scrawny, tough and bony. One who buys
this beef at any price is the loser. A
housewife may go to the city market
to buy beef for a stew. She can buy
stew beef for 20 cents a pound, but she
| might as well buy a slat barrel and
stew the Stats. She buys choice cut
at the highest price and that is usually
none too choice. The result is that the
impression prevails that the butchers
have only one price, 30 centsNfor any
part of the beef.
What is true of beef is not true of
pork, The quality of pork handled on
the local market is usually the best.
The public is being supplied with a
low quality of beef and at the same
time the butchers are not making the
profits made in most other lines of
business, due allowance being made for
their losses. A year ago the butchers
may have been making large profits.
But a year ago they got 50 cents a
pound for their hides and to-day they
are getting only three cents a pound
for hides. That is big item in the
meat business The ninety cents but
cher gets for hide to-day hardly pays
him for handling it. He got $15 for
the same hide year ago and that $15
was practically all profit And while
! he buys beef cheaper to-day than he
bought it year ago, the loss in the one
item of hides alone largely offsets his
larger profits on the meat itself
| Investigation of the meat dealers has
revealed among other things that they
are not a cooperative lot and are de-
ficient in the knowledge of an apph-
cation of modern methods of business.
They do not cooperate. they haycnt
! such thing as an organization or a
| markethouse committee, they do not ed
vertise. By their failure to advertise
and take the public into their eonflsenec
they have. bronght much of their trou-
kts; srpso.s. sas,res.
Iininsst1Eae1ns ashe -aa1ttt
llaSf e0faS0s2dxsH' 'cattP. 1BusW1es'
Be- 13ou5s; DfsdA3oK Eend1seoHsa9 :
1A.,Wooa and ". @. ,SaAndeTsPlSaE
Brow 5ffeisf g., chairman. Their report ~iAtbe
t9made to the next regular meeting of the
board of Aldermen. -1r
The Fish Dealers
The retail fish business in Elizabeth
City is not so complicated as the meat
business. The retailers buy practically
all of their supplies from a local whole
sale fish company and investigation re-
| veals that the retailers are making only
modest profit. Small mixed fish quot
ed By the Globe Fish Co. at . cents
pound wholesale are sold by the re,
tailers at 10 cents; white and yellow
perch quoted by the same company at
10 cents are sold for 10 cents. Fish
that cost the retailer from II to lS
cents a pound are sold at 10 cents to
25 cents a pound, the retailers highest
profit being Z cents a pound. But
aga;nst this profit must be charged NC
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