Evening star., 1951-06-17

w cCC WA4Cb44C1 CAVCk1o4OAl Va COk4e
trolls beyond June 80 will fail.
One Baltimore packer told the
committee that there is black
marketing all along the Eastern
seaboard. He said he was offered
50 to $5 a hundred pounds above
the Office of Price Sterilization
ceilings for beef. He rejected the
offer. But he said the proposal
was made with the apparent ex-
pectation that If he did not accept
it some one else would.
Paul c. Smith of Swift g. Co.
said that beef animals are dis
appearing" from the Chicago
market. He said he could not
say the animals were going into
the black market. But they were
vanishing as they did in the late
days of the OPA in 1946, when
black markets developed and meat
became an explosive political
issue.
Mr.. Smith cited these figures:
In Chicago in the week of June
4, about $4,000 cattle were re-
ceived. About 1900 were pur-
chased and shipped away-in-
stead Of the normal out-of- Chi
cago shipments, which would have
been about $500. Where the cat
tie went he did not know, but 1t
was said an examination of the
records at the yards would show.
Against the 1900 bought in
Chicago, the recorded slaughter
amounted to $500. What about
the other 800?
All CottIe Accounted For
Mr.. Disable said he knew what
had happened to the cattle; he
had seen them himself. None van
ished, he asserted. The Office of
Price Sterilization, he said, has
records and can account for all of
them; none went into unusual
channels.
In the week Of June 4 receipts
at all the Nations cattle markets
were only about three -fourths of
normal. Mr.. DiSalle's contention
that the matter would straighten
itself out after the industry be-
came used to the controls appeared
borne out last week. There was a
big increase in the number of ami
mails reaching the markets and the
pictures of stockyard pens show
them filled with animals.
The first roll-back of beef
prices-10 per cent-went into
effect May 20. For some pack
ers it was delayed, so that the
roll-back would coincide with the
beginning Of their accounting Pc
riods. The next roll-back-4h per-
cent-will come August /, with
another AZ per cent scheduled
for October /.
Cattle feeders buy lean range
animals, usually in the spring,
put them to pasture and then
finish them off" with hard"
feed-corn and cottonseed cake.
In advance of the 10 per cent
an unusually large
number Of these animals were
sent to market unfinished"
A representative of the cattle
growers gave this explanation for
the light receipts in the week of
June 4:
If cattle feeders fed their ami
mails high-priced corn and cot
tonseed, they would lose money
on the extra pounds the animals
put on. So they put the cattle on
grass, to fatten them as cheaply
as possible.
Just before the August / roll
back. some of these cattle will
come to market, and there will
be a good supply of beef in the
latter part of July and in Au-
gust. Then there will be another
dearth of cattle until just before
the next roll-back, October /.
These animals will be $50 toI
400 pounds under weight. And,
since the cattle are grass-fed, the
meat will be inferior. The con-
sumner will be getting beef that
would not reach the
tables until January, February and
March.
Secretary of Agriculture Bran
nan denied that the meat would
be inferior. He conceded that thel
marketing Of the animals would
be distorted, but he added that
it would be distorted If there were
no price controls.
Not only has OPS assigned mem
to the markets to watch where