Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-03-15
Millions Daily Paid to
Breeders Of Livestock
LOUIS r. SWIFT TELLS OF OBSTAc
LES THRU WHICH PRoDUC-
Frs and CONSUMERS GAIN

Spending million dollars a day
for raw material is no child's play.
The wrong kind of material may
mean heavy losses. Too much of the
right kind of material may mean the
same thing.
The packing business, in so far, at
least, as Swift & Company is concern
ed, is dependent on the supplies sent
to market by the producer, in such
quantities as the producer wishes to
send them, and on the within of the
tickle appetites of the consumer as
its outlet. Yet we spend approximate
Iy one million dollars for live stock
every working day of the year.
The packing industry is unlike
other industries in that it is not pos
sibIe to buy supplies ahead of time
The steel business, the furniture bust
ness, and the newspaper may order
their supplies months ahead.
The packer cannot do this. He is
dependent entirely upon what the
producer and farmer send to market
Yet it is essential that the packer
buy the supplies sent him. After they
are bought, they cannot be kept alive
for future use because the expense of
keeping would soon eat up any mar
gin Of profit that might exist.
Neither can the meat from these
animals be kept indefinitely. The
American people are a nation OF
fresh meat, within from three to four
teen days of the time it is dressed.
Fresh meat is kept under constant
refrigeration from the time it is
dressed until it reaches the retailers
door. This involves a system of dir
ect marketing. The meat is prepared
near the centers of production and is
shipped to consuming centers.
Towns and villages that are not
served by branch houses receive meat
at regular intervals from car routes,
or "peddler cars" Statesmen cover a
given route once or twice week.
Thus it is possible for meat dealer
in a remote village to have the kind
and quality of meat that his trade
desires.
This is far different from the situa-
ton that existed twenty-five years ago
Then it was frequently possible to Sc,
days. Many butchers did their own
killing and when they had killed a
beef steer they did not feel that they
could take the risk of having pork,
veal and lamb at the same time.
Today the retail dealer may order
cuts of various kinds of meats and
thus be able to spply beef, pork, veal
and lamb as his customers desire.
The packer also has been Of ser
vice by developing many by-products
from what once was waste. This has
benefited both producer and consumer
the producer in that it has enhanc-
ed the relative value of his livestock
the consumer in that the by-product
development makes it possible for the
packer on the average to sell fresh
beef for a less amount than the cost
of the live animal.
When we stop to consider that the
American public consumes more than
45,000,000 pounds of meat day,
there can be little doubt that the
packing industry has played an i'm
portant part in the development of
the country's resources.
Meat consumption sfluctuates from
year to year depending on the amount
produced, the exports, etc. In the
last few years the average amount Of
meat consumed per person has de-
clined. The preaching of faddists as
well as the necessary anti-meat pro-
paganda during the war may have
had some effect.
Despite this decline the American
people are a meat-eating people They
want it fresh, and they want what
they want when they want it. The
packers job is to get it to them.-By
Louis F. Swift