The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1921-02-16
BOACNPS MARKET
JOINS PROCESSION
IN LOWERING PRICES
Will Further Reduce Cost
to Consumer When
Justified
BAKERS, HOWEVER,
STILL STAND PAT
Milk Dealers Maintain They
Can't Sell For
Less Now

Some days ago Mr. Jos. NJ Boagni
proprietor of the big city meat mar
ket. called at this office and invited
a representative of the newspaper to I
visit his place of business, inspect the /
interior and take a uncover Of the /
various kinds Of meat he had on sale.
Mr.. Boagni has operated the market
for many years and has always fur
nished his many customers with the
best to be had.
The interior of the building is kept
in the very vest condition and all ap-
purtenances for the hnding q the
meat is strictly modern and in keep
ing with the same class of markets
in large cities. All meat. with few
exceptions, is home-raisad and home
killed the packing horse stuff is con-
fined to a few things like ham, saus-
age, head cheese, these article being
kept to supply local demand. Cold
storage pork and beeg, however, are
not handled here.
Mr.. Boagni stated that in accord
ance with the general tendency of the
times he had lowered the prices on
all cuts of beef and pork and that
choice quality sells now for twenty
five cents per pound and lower
grades at much cheaper figures. 1t is
his policy to keep step with progress
and as soon as a further reduction in
cost is warranted he will order his
employees in the market to give the
consumer the benefit thereof. He is
under heavy expense in the matter IF
rents, wages, ice, lights, etc, and as
the volume of business is not near as
large as it was formerly a further
reduction in selling price is practi-
cally impossible at present. He
sfaughters nothing but first class
stock and hogs and everything is
handled in a sanitary way. All this
| increases the cost to him and, nat
urally, the consumer must pay the
bill. The margin Of profit to the
market owner is small, as the gross
profit must absorb all costs and ov-
erhead charges that are fixed and per-
manent.
| Now that the butchers-that is, two
of them-have lowered the price to
/ 49, o.,,-r-v,or tbo Nh bIio r,uct turn az
attention to the bakers, all of whom
maintain the ten-cent loaf PROPOSE
ton and apparently they have bound
| themselves by some so-called gen
tleman's agreement" to hold up to the
present exhorbitant price. A day or
two ago several interested parties,
| commenting on the newspaper cam
/ paign to reduce the cost of meat and
bread, said that flour was selling
! around $3.50 per standard barrel, as
compared with more than twice that
figure a year ago. The ten-cent loaf,
| they claimed, is unfair and to main
| tain that cost to the consumer was
! profiteering. Their attention had
been called to the undeniable fact that
! Crowley bakers were selling bread at
five cents, or twenty-four loaves for
one dollar and that in Lafayette the
price was seven cents per loaf. Local
bakers claim that the weight o' the
lOaves in the cities named was much
lighter than the loaf sold in Opelou-
sas. This may be so, but we main
| tain that ten cents is entirely too
much to gouge out of the consumer.
There will have to be soma change
along this line, and that change must
come soon. At least a few Of the in
censed consumers state they will boy
colt the bake shops and eat biscuits
and corn bread and rice before they
will stand for the ten cent loaf OF
bread.
Now the milk dealers have begun to
come under the heavy artillery of the
consumers. Milk is still retailing at
fifteen cents per quart, or sixty cents
per gallon. Some time ago it was
twenty cents the quart and eighty
cents the gallon. The dealers state
that they voluntarily reduced the
price then and will make another re-
duction soon. Prices for feed. they
claim, is justification of the present
price for milk, that they are paving
$3.50 per hundred for cotton seed meal
and $40 per ton for hulls. They give
each COW a quart to two quarts OF
meal and four to five pounds of hulls
twice a day, and this ration runs the
iced bill up considerably. The COST
OF labor around the diaries, the work
IN maintaining the standard Of SAM
tation set by the state board of health
and the dozen other things that cogt
must all be added to the price Of milk
to the consumer.
Feed bills, the consumer states. will
shortly be reduced, as the sprins
grass will furnish an excellent pastur
age and milk cows win not have to be
fed so much. The winter has bene an