The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-10-31
Big Profits on t. B. Beef.
bellows Falls Times.)


Here is a pretty kettle of fish. Read
this from THE Washington Farmer"
and draw your own conclusions The
article in the Farmer is headed,
Prices for Reactors." and tells re-
markable story. Here it is
In the campaign for the eradication
of tuberculosis in cattle being carried on
by the United States department of agri-
culture, the states and counties, one of
the most important economic considera-
tions is the salvage, at fair price, of
the animals that react to the test. Up
to Il year and a half ago a large PERCENT
age of the reactors that We're passed by
the inspectors as perfectly fit for food did
not bring a fair price, because some buy
ers took an unfair advantage of the seller
and prOtited unreasonably.
The department of agriculture,
through the bureau of animal industry
and the packers and Stockyards' admins
tration. has been looking into this matter
for a year or more. taking it up with
packing concerns, commission men and
organizations interested in the marketing
of live stock. As a result much better
prices are now being paid. Reports to the
department show that the price being
paid for such cattle in various parts of
the country are getting very close to the
prices paid for the same class of cattle
on the regular market. \ special travel
ing inspector now spends all his time
visiting live stock markets, noting prices
that are being paid for reactors and in
| SlStlng that buyers who are diScriminat-
| ing against them pay fair price.
/ "Carcasses of reactOrs that have been
passed by the federal inspectors are
worth as much and are as wholesome as
any other carcasses. There is no war
rant for price discrimination against
| them. Many of the leading packers at
I 10 a hpT pf
| the smaller concerns on many markets
| now see the justice of this view, with
/ the result that reactOrs are now selling
at more nearly fair prices.
The department has compiled figures
on the prices received for reactors in a
number of states for 1921 and 1922, and
in several of them the increase in aver
age price has been considerable in a few
\ instances reaching more than 100 per
cent. In Kansas the average price paid
| for these cattle rose from S16.52 to
$34.26; in Minnesota from STA TO
/ S24.4S; in Missouri from $3.50 To
/ S31 90; in Wisconsin from $1,000 to
| $26.25; and in Vermont where only one
I firm has been handling them previously,
! from 1851 to S16.29. In 1St states. in
Guiding the live stock and states of the
/ Middle West and number of eastern
states, the average price paid increased
about So a head, The department ex-
poets that continued efforts on the part
of the bureau viii result in still better
prices for reactorS.
| Packers, commission men and live
stock exchanges are getting behind the
| movement for better prices since they
! have been impressed with the fact that
| the encouragement of the work of tuber-
| CulOSiS eradication means more and bet
! ter business in the future. The InSti-
| tute of American Meat Packers passed
| a resolution calling upon the members
L Z Z
! tested cattle of the same quality.
| In connection with this discussion
| of prices. it is well to keep in mind. ac-
Z cording TO department officials, that the
area method of Graduating the disease
has an additional advantage in that more
reactors are available from one place AT
i one time and consequently. can be
! shipped at less expense at the yards and
| in the packing house
/ Doesn't this show a close connection
/ between the packing houses and the ma
| chinery for the eradication of bovine
| tuberculosis and now that the cat is out
| of the bag and pressure is being brought
| 70 bear the houses are willing TO pay a
! little more for condemned cattle? Yer
| mont Is now only getting what other
states got from the first. Think of car
casses going to the rendering company
! during the war time for $5.61 when the
! hides alone were worth twice that
| amount or more.
| This is the way this game seems to
| work out. In the first place the farmer
! often gets an inadequate price for his re-
actors. In the next place a reactor for
/ which the state may have paid the
/ farmer $40 to SO goes TO a rendering
company for 1851 and the difference Is
! charged back to the people of Vermont in
the form of taxes. Here is something
! worth further investigation. provided of
!, course the figures given the Washington
paper are correct