Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-04-17
ARMOUR OFFICIAL
SEES ND DROP IN
PORK PRODUCTION
BY j. c. ROYLE
Especial Leased Wire 10 The Journal.)
(COpyright 1920

ttOpNflSnt, lJ-tJ
NEW YORK, April 1.-THE farm
er of this country is not going to
turn his back on the hog, in spite
of the fact that more hogs have
been sent to market in the last
twelve months than in any similar
period. That is the conclusion OF
lmany of the live stock men and pack
ers who are in close touch with the
situation. Accurate figures on spring
IGarrowinGs are not yet available, but
Frank w. Waddell, vice president
of Armour e Co., in charge of pork
operations, in outlining hog pros.
poets for the next six months, fore
casts no shortage.
The accurate data which has been
kept by my department on the guam
tity of hogs that have been reship-
ped from the public markets to the
farms for further feeding" he said,
gives every assurance that there
will be no shortage despite the
heavy marketing of brood animals.
The hog has been the money
maker for the farmer all through
the time of depression and yet is the
money-maler. The farmer knows
this and is not going to abandon
the commodity which has meant so
much to him financially in the past.
Wherever in this country you tlnd
a corn farm, there you find a hos
producer. Corn and hogs go hand In
hand and are part of the economic
system of our agriculture. l see no
reason to anticipate an unusual con-
dition of the hog market within the
next year"
Business Healthy
"Employment has been Sc wide
spread and steady throughout the
United States" he declared, that 1t
has been possible to keep the huge
supplies of pork moving into con-
sumers' hands and mouths and pre-
vent disastrous piling up of the
product. Business conditions in gen,
eral have been healthy and when
such conditions exist with labor gain
fully employed, there is always a
strong demand for meat. Naturally
the great supply has made it neces-
sary to broaden that demand as
much as possible. The natural way
to strengthen and broaden the de-
mand and make it more nearly com
mensurate with the supply was to
offer as little resistance as possible
to the downward trend Of selling
prices.
"Some months ago. pork became
the bargain food on the meat coun-
ter and was sold at wholesale on Il
basis comparable with that of 1913.
The cheapness of the product made
it attractive and it has moved into
consumption with remarkable fresh
ness. The same is true of cured
products. The latter are heavy but
by no means cumbersome.
Similar opinions were expressed
by J.. +. Swift, president OF the Swift
& Co. Hog receipts in the
past year" he said, have been 81
per cent greater than during 1918,
the previous record period. No less
important than these huge receipts
has been the ability of the country
to CONSUME all the meat offered
All Stocks Absorbed
THE heavy consumption of meat
products at home" said Thomas K.
Wilson, of Wilson & Co., which,
according to government statistics,
increased by IS pounds per inhabl-
tant in the last year, is a fair IN
dicatiOn of what our home markets
can absorb if general conditions are
normal and reasonable prices pre-
vail 1t seemed at times in the last
year we were facing the possibility
of having to carry over into the next
season large stock of our products.
However, all our surplus stocks were
readily absorbed.
The heavy marketing of pork un-
doubtedly had an influence on the
beef situation in the last year, ac-
rording to President F, Edison
White, of Armour; x Co. Beef cat
tie were marketed in normal Quanti-
ties he sad, but the surplus pork
products pressed upon the market
constituted unusual competition with
beef and in consequence beef prices
have not been wholly satisfactory
either to hackers or producers"