MARKET CLASSES AND GRADES OE DRESSED BEEF. 3 
the United States to describe market classes and grades of livestock 
and dressed meats had been made until early in the present century. 
The task was undertaken by the Agricultural Experiment Station of 
the University of Illinois, under the leadership of Prof. Herbert W. 
Mumford, assisted by Prof. Louis D. Hall and others. Thorough 
investigations were conducted both at the experiment station and on 
the Chicago market, and these investigations were reported in a 
series of bulletins. 
When the Bureau of Markets, now the Bureau of Agricultural 
Economics, inaugurated its market reporting service on livestock and 
dressed meats in 1917, these publications of the University of Illi- 
nois were used as a basis for formulating a standard classification 
of market classes and grades for use in reporting prices and trade 
conditions. Using this classification as a basis, the bureau has elab- 
orated a complete classification of livestock and dressed meats, and 
this complete classification will be described in a series of bulletins 
of which this is the first. 
For many years, some business in dressed beef has been done on 
the basis of specifications, but in most instances such transactions 
have been based largely on class, the grade being indicated in only 
the most general terms. For that reason this plan has not, as a 
rule, been successful, and the great bulk of beef is still personally 
inspected before purchase. 
That at least some progress along the line of buying meat on 
specifications is possible is indicated by the fact that in 1923 the 
Emergency Fleet Corporation purchased hundreds of thousands of 
pounds of meat weekly for use on Shipping Board vessels — wholly 
on specifications. Although all meat was inspected for grade by 
a Government inspector before it was finally accepted, the fact that 
for days at a time the inspector made no rejections, and that, on the 
whole, probably 99 per cent of the meat offered was accepted, dem- 
onstrates rather conclusively that it is entirely possible, under a 
standard system of classifying and grading, for the purchaser to 
make his specifications so clear and exact that the seller has little 
or no difficulty in understanding what is wanted. 
CHIEF REQUISITIES OF STANDARD CLASSES AND GRADES OF 
BEEF. 
What are the chief requisites for a standard system of classifying 
and grading beef, and what should be the basis of such a system? 
First of all, the system should be logical and workable. It should 
fit the needs of the trade. Arbitrary action is sometimes necessary 
to uproot certain evils and inconsistencies which creep into every 
industry, but no system of grading could hope to succeed which ran 
counter to the fundamentals of trade practice. For example, there 
would be no point to calling a certain carcass of meat No. A 1 
unless, under a fair interpretation of the term, that kind of a carcass 
be superior to all others handled by the trade. 
Second, it should be specific. Whenever a carcass of meat is 
placed in a given class and grade it should be placed there for some 
definite reason which can be explained and demonstrated to anyone 
interested. Individual fancy or personal prejudice can have no 
place in a standard system of grading. 
