56 CANADA - AGRICULTURAL ECOXOMY IN GENERAL 



government inspected slaughterhoitses in 1916 ; but it must be remembered 

 that there was a contemporaneous increase in the exports of fresh pork. In 

 1 913 the cold storage companies exported only about 2 per cent, of the to- 

 tal quantity rf fresh pork they sold and 24 per cent, of the bacon ; in 1916 

 they exported 26 per cent, of their fresh pork and 91 per cent, of their ba- 

 con. Of the ham sold by them they exported less than i per cent, in 1915 

 and about 15 per cent, in 1916. The figures in column 2 of Table I are 

 not accurate but they are approximate and serve for comparison. 



The table shows that about one fifth of the butter produced in Ca- 

 nada, more than a third of the cheese and about a fifth of the eggs passed 

 through cold storage. The fraction of the beef killed in government in- 

 spected slaughterhouses which did so was about two thirds. Fj-esh pork 

 converted into bacon and ham loses about 10 per cent, of its weight. If 

 allowance be made for this fact it appears that the total weight of the poik, 

 bacf n and ham in cold storage approximated to that of all the pork killed 

 in government inspected slaughterhouses. About half the quantity of 

 mutton and lamb so killed passed through cold storage. 



Practically the whole export of meat comes from the large abattoir 

 companies. Probably about forty-five of the forty-seven million pounds 

 of cheese mentioned in column 21. as stored in warehouses not the ]iroperty 

 of the storers, belonged to wholesale dealers or cold storage firms owning 

 other warehouses, and were intended to be exported. 



The grocers and butchers of the larger cities de]jend greatly on the 

 abattoir and other cold storage companies for their supplies of butter, 

 eggs, cheese and meat. This means that these companies have to a marked 

 extent as'^umed the task of feeding the larger industrial and com- 

 mercial centres of Canada. In the course of the investigation under the 

 ©rder-in-council invoices were secured from all the more important grocers 

 in the largest towns of the dominion. It was discovered hat they bought 

 directly from the cold storage companies practically all the bacon and ham 

 the}^ sold, a large pro])ortion of the cheese, about half the butter, and, be- 

 tween October and April, a large ])roportion of the eggs. Their other sour- 

 ces of supply were the creameries for butter, the wholesale dealers and in 

 a few cases the cheese factories for cheese, and the wholesale dealers and the 

 farmers for eggs. Really fresh eggs are necessarily bought from farmers, 

 but in one case a grocer of good standing in Toronto bought his " fresh 

 laid eggs " from a cold storage company. These companies have lately 

 undertaken to supply dealers with the most expensive kinds of meat, butter, 

 cheese and eggs, and this branch of their business is growing rapidly. Some 

 of them now manufacture fancy cheeses and do a well established trade in 

 them. 



§ 3. Profits of the cold stot?age companie.s. 



In the course of the investigation question-forms were sent to the va- 

 rious companies asking in the case of each for sworn testimony as to : 



