RETAIL MARKETING OF MEATS 
23 
Table 9. 
-Number of retail meat dealers by cities and number of butchers and 
meat cutters reported to census of 1920 
Straight 
meat 
markets 
and stalls 
in public 
markets 
Combi- 
nation 
stores, 
chain 
stores, 
and de- 
partment 
stores 
selling 
meat 
Census of 1920 
City 
Butchers 
and meat 
dealers 
Meat 
cutters 
Lowell, Mass ._ . 
162 
194 
331 
64 
162 
338 
62 
305 
102 
225 
1,246 
450 
143 
170 
365 
902 
40 
Hartford, Conn. __ . . . .... 
24 
317 
117 
31 
33 
117 
270 
49 
Pittsburgh, Pa 
126 
St. Paul, Minn 
126 
Des Moines, Iowa . . . . ... .. 
92 
Birmingham, Ala . . 
54 
Portland, Oreg. 
203 
Los Angoles, Calif 
364 
Total 
909 
1,618 
3,603 
1,054 
Total for the United States.. . 
122, 105 
22, 884 
PREV.OUS OCCUPATION AND EXPERIENCE OF DEALERS 
In recent years the retailing of fresh meats has tended to assume 
a distinctly nonprofessional character. Of 2,301 retailers concerning 
whose previous occupation information was secured, 900, or 39 per 
cent, reported that they had always been engaged in some phase 
of the meat business; 521, or 23 per cent, that they had been pre- 
viously engaged in the grocery trade; 162, or 7 per cent, in various 
lines of merchandise ; 156, or 7 per cent, in farming or stock raising. 
The remainder were distributed over 88 other occupations varying 
in numbers from 1 to 83. 
Of the retailers entering the meat business by the grocery route, 
only 43, or 8 per cent, were operating straight meat markets or 
stalls in public markets, and 472, or 91 per cent, had merely added 
meat to their grocery line. Of the operators of straight meat mar- 
kets and stalls in public markets, 481, or 74 per cent, reported that 
they had always been in the meat business, while of the operators 
of combination meat and grocery stores 398, or 24 per cent, had been 
continuously connected with the meat trade. An examination of a 
number of reports from recent entrants into the field of retailing 
meats, or meats and groceries, indicates that the number starting- 
combination meat and grocery stores as compared with straight meat 
markets was in the ratio of 12 to 1. 
Table 10. — Average number of years of experience in the retail meat business 
of owners or managers of stores 
Class of service and type of store 
Number of 
retailers 
Average 
years of 
experience 
747 
2,190 
10.86 
13.11 
1,792 
804 
159 
176 
6 
10.25 
Straight meat markets. . . ...---. .... ______ 
17.16 
6.86 
Stalls in public markets. . ___________ ------------ ... 
19.81 
14.00 
Total 
2,937 
12.54 
