Evening star., 1946-05-25
Commissioners Urue
Lifting Of Slaughter
Quotas in Area

The Commissioners today asked
the Agriculture Department to lift
temporarily the meat slaughtering
quotas of slaughter houses within
trucking distance of the District in
a move to bolster the city's meat
supply during the rail strike crisis.
At the same time responsible Of
ficials in every quarter sought to put
the brakes on any panic food buying
and reassure the public, fortified by
the Commissioners assurance that
Washington has at least three weeks
supply on hand for normal purchas-
ing.
While there were reports of iso-
lated rusheS on food stocks in some
stores and markets, Washingtonians
were strongly urged not to rock the
boat but to buy just the customary
amount.
Study National Quotas.
The Agriculture Department, ac-
cording to Commissioner Guy Ma
son. admitted the suggested lifting
of the slaughtering quota was an
unexplored angle and recommended
that the nearby slaughter houses
first be contacted to see if they can
do anything for the District within
the present quotas.
If not, the department suggested
that the abattoirs telegraph imme-
diately to the meat section of the
department and that consideration
might then be giving to lifting the
quotas on a Nation wide basis.
Commissioner Mason said slaugh-
ter houses to be contacted by Wash
ington meat wholesalers would in
clude one at Loos, Del, another at
Purcellville, Va, and a third at
Frederick, Md
1t was pointed out that the same
situation with regard to meat was
facing many other metropolitan
areas and that the Agriculture De-
partment would be unlikely to sin
gle out one particular area for spe-
cial consideration.
The quotas were imposed, Com
missioner Mason explained, to con-
troll the amount of meat going on
the market as means of limiting
supplies to the so-called black mar
ket.
Would Need Two Weeks.
Mr.. Mason estimated that even
| If the rail strike ended within the
next day or two it would be matter
of 10 days to two weeks before full
movement of rolling stock could be
expected to bring meat supplies here
from the big packing houses.
! The proposal to lift the slaughter
quota was recommended to the
Commissioners by the Board of
Trade
Washington wholesalers are rent
ing trucks and sending them to the
Southern food-producing areas tc
bring in produce.
Trucks to Ease Situation.
| Jimmie G. Deoudes, manager of g
wholesale fruit and vegetable firm
at Union Market, Fourth and Flor
ida avenue N. E., said today:
LAS long as We can rent trucks
there will be plenty of food brought
in. If people will only take it easy
therell be plenty of food"
Mr.. Deoudes said that this morn.
ing he did three times the celery
business he does on a normal Satur.
day. He explained that his firm ha:
rented trucks to go to South Caro-.
lima for potatoes and to Florida fol
celery.
People are going crazy out here
at Union Market-they are buyins
anything they can put their hands
on" said Mr.. Deoudes. "To slow
down the buying wave, the dealers
have gone up to ceiling prices sc
they will have some produce fol
next week."
Mr.. Deoudes pointed out that his
firm has a car of potatoes en- route
from California, but does not know
where it is stalled, and he has beer
| informed that a carload of onions