Evening star., 1946-11-03
Normal Supply
of Meat Due al
Lower Prices
Many Stores Accept
60-Cent Limit Set
, In Shoppers Pledge

Will De Dack 10 preWar normal this
week at prices thousands of shop
pers have pledged they will not
exceed, a meat spokesman predicted
last night.
The forecast was made by Joseph
B. Danzansky, attorney for the
wholesale meat division of the Mer-
chants and Manufacturers Asso-
ciation, who said that resistance of
wholesalers as well as consumers to
exorbitant meat prices had filled
the supply lines.
Mr.. Danzansky doubted that meat
prices would drop much below the
prices charged Friday and yester-
day, when at least one large chain
store was selling sirloin steak at
below the old OPA ceiling and
many stores put notices in their
windows that all their meats were
less than go cents a pound.
Halls Cut in Prices.
The cut In meat prices was hailed
by Mrs. Sarah Newman, chairman
Of the Washington Committee for
Consumer Protection, as a demon
stration of the real power of the
consumers and an indication of how
eager the retailers are to work with
u.s."
The committee has been signing
up housewives who have pledged
not to buy any meat above so cents
q pound.
More than 1900 housewives have
signed the pledge, according to re-
ports last night from 20 of the IS
"pledging posts" Mrs. Newman said,
explaining that the other posts
would turn in their reports today
Housewives Form Teams.
The committee chairman told of
one darlington resident who heard
about the campaign Friday night,
made up team of four housewives
and collected 418 pledges yesterday
A Buckingham housewife, she added,
organized the area into teams and
got 1,760 signatures yesterday.
Mrs. Newman believed the fact
that stores are advertising their
prices are below go cents reflected
the success of the committees cam
paign. The committee plans to meet
Thursday night to review the effects
of this campaign and to decide on
new targets in the fight against
high prices.
Mr.. Danzansky predicted that
meat prices would level off at high
of go cents, although the price of
better-grade steaks in most chain
stores yesterday was 50 cents a
pound.
Steak at IS Cents. |
Lowest reported price for steaks |
was So cents pound. 1t was grade
A sirloin, offered by the Acme stores.
The old. ceiling for this type steak
was 65 cents a pound.
One food retailer here predicted a
leveling of Of meat prices this week
at around 8 to 10 cents a pound
above old ceilings.
Irwin L. Siegel, president of Food
Fair, which operates six stores in
the Metropolitan Area, said he was
entirely in accord" with the move
Of the consumer group for lowert
prices.
IF that sort of thing continues,
1t should bear fruit" he commented.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture De-
partment predicted that meat pro-
duction for the remainder of this
year will exceed last years high level.
Farmers are expected to send live
stock to market in a continued
heavy volume in the months ahead
as a result of good prices, the de-
partment said.
Cattle Marketing to Stay High.
Experts see cattle marketing con-
tinuing high throughout the winter
and spring since many producers
believe that current prices will not
hold past the middle of next year
In addition, some reduction in con-
sumer incomes and demand for
meats is expected then.
Cattle, calves and hogs will ac-
count for the squirt in production
for the remainder of this year, the
department said. Slaughter of sheep
and lambs is likely to continue less
than last year because of the smaller
NUMBER OF LAMBS, the department
said
The department now expects total
meat production this year of about
81 900, 900 900 pounds, or 1000, ,000, 900
pounds below the 1945 figure.
AS for next year, the forecast is
for production at least as large as
this year and it may be even larger
This would be 145 pounds a person
for the year
Pork production should begin in
creasing soon the experts say. But
next spring and Summer supplies
may drop sharply-possibly Is to 20
per cent a year earlier This would
be due to the small number of pigs
produced this fall.
But next winter, consumers can
expect pork in abundance. The de-
partment says production next
spring probably will be the largest
since the record reached in 1943