Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-06-29


fcg of confusion. to Texas billion
dollar cattle industry the source
of most of America steak dinners.
Cattlemen. buyers. feeders, COM
m ssion men. stockyard men,
Third orticle in on Associated Press
Survey Of the Cattle Production ond
Price Control situotion in the South
west ond Midwest
Sc lghterers and bankers-they're
al trying to figure out what price
CT. trols and rollbacks may do to
the business.
They are as nervous about beef
c. 'rols as a young bridegroom
s. ding at the church door.
T. y don't know exactly what the
fu.'ire holds.
Cottlemen do know they don't
" controls. They say it loudly
ar violently. Some cattlemen
&C end price controls will ruin
thc grower and cause even a
greater shortage of beef for the
housewife in the future.
Cattlemen Watching Bill.
Right now cattlemen are watch
Ing the progress of the Senate
Banking Committee bill which
would ban any further price roll
backs, including those planned on
beef. The committee took the cat
tlemen's view that further roll
backs would hurt and not help
beef production.
The Office of Price Sterilization
saws even under the rollbacks the
cattlemen still could make a rea-
sonable profit that would en-
courage beef production. The OPS
has rolled back beef prices 10 per
cent and plans two other cuts of
= per cent each on August / and
October l. unless Congress halts it.
The Texas cattle industry is
made up of growers operating on
all scales from huge to little. More
little growers are coming into the
business each year.
OPS says they can do all right
under the rollbacks and clear a
profit of $42.43 on 700-pound
animal.
Here's some typical reaction
from men in the business:
Joe Lane. cattle buyer and
rancher: We've always worked
out our own salvation without any
Government help and all we ask
is to be let alone.
"They Keep Us Upset"
They keep us upset in Wash
ington by the indecision. If they d
make UP their minds and then go
ahead-we'd do ALI right. We hear
there's be rollbacks. Then we hear
there won't be any rollbacks.
We'll, that keeps everybody up
set. We want to know where we
stand
W. L. Pier. manager of the Fort
Worth stockyard
I'm all this confusion. lot of
peonle are saying just wait and
see They don't know what to do
until they can see which way this
thing is going.
What will happen no one
knows. Certainly any cutback in
price affects the cattle industry
all along the line.
THE cattle people don't want
to be regulated. But even if there
are rollbacks, some people think
they can get along under normal
conditions. But we need stability. -
jeff Slocum. cattleman: 1.-The
biggest thing they could do for us
in Washington is to make up their
minds.
I'VE don't want controls. But if
we've got to have them, then let's
know what they are and stick to
1t and don't go changing the rules
all the time"
Most cattlemen will agree that
beef prices are too high--but they
insist, they are not out of line
with other prices.
OPS Cites 5-Fold Raise.
On this score, the OPS argues
cattle process have risen more than
five times as much as wages of the
factory worker. more than four
times as much as prices paid by
farmers, over five times as much
as the index of consumer prices.
and over three times as much as
the average prices of food items.
The administration contends if
beef prices aren't rolled back, they
will affect other prices and wreck
the control program.
IN support of this argument, the
administration points to the fact
that the average price of live cattle
per hundredweight has increased
from 1890 in 1949 to SGT in
January, 1851.
But cattlemen say beef prices
have risen no more than other