LABOR 



159 



encourag'emen't, the slaughtering, packing- and shipping of m'eats should 

 become in the near future an imoortant and profitable industry in the State. 

 After a thorough and conservative investigation of the S'tate, it is esti- 

 mated that the annual meat importations, including mutton, hams, bacon 

 and lard, irrespective of live and dressed poultry, is 12,000,000 pounds. The 

 average wholesale price of these products during 1913 was 

 Meats approximately 21c per pound, which would give a value of 



Worth Mil- $2,520,000 for meat importations alone. 



lions Are Another surprisiner condition is the importation of live and 



Shipped in. dressed poultry. This estimate is given at $1,500,000, while 



150,000 cases of eggs at 30 dozen each were shipped into the 



State during the past twelve months. At 30 cents per dozen, the egg impor- 



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Digging an Irrigation Ditch. 



tation would amount to $1,350,000. The poultry products would therefore 

 total $2,850,000. 



The creamery business is another industr}^ showing a lack of growth, 

 improvement and development. With fifty creameries in the State Mon- 

 tana annualily imports 3,500,000 poimds of butter and 4,000,000 pounds of 

 cheese. The wholesale price of butter has averaged 31 cents per pound the 

 past year, and cheese, of which practically none is made in the State, ha? 

 sold at 20 cents per pound. Based on these prices, and adding thereto 300 

 cars of 40,000 pounds capacity each, of condensed milk and cream at $2,100 

 per car, annually shipped from abroad, would make a total of $2,515,000 

 sent out of the State each year for dairy products which should be pro- 

 duced and manufactured at home. 



-Montana leads the country in production per acre. 



