Norwich bulletin., 1921-02-11
THE PUZZLE IN THE MEAT SITUATION
year, there was very considerable de

year, there was very considerable de- crease.
 The demand was larger, because of the increased number of eaters. The supply was less, because of the decreased mum Der of live stock for slaughtering.
 What would you naturally expect in such case? What else than that the price would rise?
 That it didn't, that it has actually de- creased slightly can be due only to the fact that the original producers, the stock-grewers, have been compelled, by one circumstance or another, to take losses instead of profits on their work. But they are net going to keep that up, as steady thing. They can't. If they should, they would either go into bank ruptcy Or starve to death, themselves. And men don't run farms, any more than other businesses, with either bankruptcy or starvation as chief objects in view What they are doing Is plainly indi- cated by the figures of the governments report. Having been compelled to sell their fat stock for less than the cost of | fattening, they are going out of the bus iness, as many of them as can, and as rapidly as they can do so without losing l their skins in the process. According to all probabilities, there will be even less
 
 1 than there are now. With whole lot more people dlamoring for tAe meat which they can't get.
 I dSA't know how much the biz packers have had to do with bringing this con 1 dition inte effect Naturally, one would expect them to be jealous in fostering an enlargement of the livestock grow ing industry. The more carcasses they handle the more are their opportunities for profit The bigger their business, the bigger their aggregate gains. This would be the first thought of anybody Perhaps it is wrong. Perhaps there are other factors entering into the problem 1 which outweigh the desirability of ar enlarged business, AS I've said, don't pretend to know the ins and outs of the stockyards trade. Nor it's details. No,
 its tricks.
 But can't yeu see, if there are thret million people calling for meat and thre,
 million less carcasses on sale to supply them, that there is less, meat for eacf
 individual? And how can you, expect with more meat being called for and les!
 meat being supplied, that the price car
 go down to the oid-tifne basis? .i When meat Is plenty t can't help be
 ing cheap. When meat is scarce do yet know any recipe for preventing it iron l Defng dear? ] don't.
 We can denounce the psekers to ou hearts content; we can abuse the mar
 ketmen; We can pull out cur own hai
 and tear our own shirts in the frenzy O
 our indignation. But we can't pern1a
 nently stay the operation of the law O supply and demand, any more than ", can effectively halt the insweep of an At ] lantic tide.
 When there is more meat being of
 fered than the public can absorb, it vii be cheap, so cheap that the sellers ma! come to offering premiums to anyone wh'
 will take 1t off their hands. When tner is less meat than the public wants an, ] demands the canny seller will hold it fo the highest bidders price. And tha } price will make the market" ever : time. l The whole problem is an extremei { complicated one. There doesn't appeA Q on any horizon any simple formula fo 2 settling 1t.
 Meat-sP6kers will not produce Ihes
 animals unless they can do 50 at a prof At present prices of feedstuffs and labol I | this means they must get bigger pay fo . the animals on the hoof. than now. Ye = the public demands cheaper meat froi y the butchers, which they can't supply UT