1910. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1163 
THE DECLINE IN MEAT PRICES. 
What reasons do western stock growers 
give for the lower prices promised for 
meat and the lower prices for live stock? 
Different views prevail. Mine is that 
meat has been too high, and public has 
eaten other foods. Also the range coun¬ 
try west has had most excessive drought 
in 16 years, and there is no forage in a 
country that usually produces immense 
supplies of meat; settlers have settled up 
the range country, and they have had to 
close out the range stock, wholesale and 
retail train lots. They could not winter 
them at all as there is no local western 
hay crop. To illustrate this, nearly 700,- 
000 sheep came in from the West to south¬ 
ern Omaha in 80 days. Mutton got low 
and competed with pork and beef, though 
much of this was reshipped to grain and 
corn belt for further growing and fatten¬ 
ing. This is only one of a half dozen great 
markets. You could get small weaned 
lambs at $1 per head once and many went 
out on grain farms, though not all so low 
as this. Immense areas of corn have been 
grown this year. Everyone had shut off 
on the maximum pork and beef produc¬ 
tion, and, instead of western farms being 
this season feeding centers of live stock, 
buying corn, they dropped stock and went 
to grain raising. For three years grain 
was going into high-priced stock, and, 
while getting high prices for cattle and 
hogs, the grain would have brought more 
sold on market, so that the farmer grew 
his hogs for nothing and cattle for fun of 
it, in fact some losing as much as $600 to 
$1,200 per farm each year by hogs and 
cattle not paying out. Then cattle got 
scarce and hogs, too, and they have paid 
out well the last 18 months, but two years 
before they did not pay at all. This made 
western farmers unload and let the trust 
have the stock their own way. This stop¬ 
ped production for nearly two years, and 
farmers quit cattle and hogs which has 
made the scarcity and high prices. 
The trust methods of packing centers 
cause these conditions. Armour heads it, 
and all packing companies are forced to 
these methods. In the two seasons prior to 
the high prices and scarcity in early Win¬ 
ter, the so-called packing season, they or¬ 
ganized a bear market, getting hogs in 
packing season to $4.25 to $4.60 per 100 
when farmers have to sell in Decqpiber, 
January, February. They got bulk of crop 
two and three years ago at such prices 
The corn that produced these hogs had a 
value of 45 to 55 cents per bushel. The 
next season, just before scarcity, packers 
in early Winter gave us $4,50 to $4.75 per 
100 for hogs, and corn brought month or 
two later and all the Spring 50 to 67 cents 
per bushel. Both seasons there was loss of 
about $1 per 100 on hogs. With cattle it 
was about the same, and losses were 
heavy, so farmers just dumped the breed¬ 
ing stock at the later high prices, and 
turned in on an immense scale to grow corn 
and grains in immense areas, such as west¬ 
ern people have at command. Long feeding 
and pasturing of live stock has made these 
prairie farms richer than when in wild 
state and the result is immense quantities 
of corn, as farmers say they prefer to pile 
up the raw materials in cribs and wait 
than to go into the losing game of grow¬ 
ing hogs for the benefit of the meat trust, 
that is buying up with immense profits en¬ 
tire railroad systems and express compa¬ 
nies. This trust is gobbling up all grain 
elevators along system of Milwaukee li. K. 
that develops much of the Dakotas’ hide 
business. Fertilizers, canning, bacon cur¬ 
ing and the tanning industry are made 
holding companies, and the general public 
business is being swallowed up. Nearly 
two years of dumping of breeding live stock 
has gone on because of these things caus¬ 
ing a distrust in the market ends of west¬ 
ern farm live-stock business. The ship¬ 
ping trade got so low that practically no 
live stock was shipped. Locally we used 
to send 7 to 12 train loads a week from 
this point, now 7 to 12 cars would be all. 
From February 10 drought prevailed all 
over the West, burning out everything, and 
the remainder of livestock had to be 
shipped to prevent them from starving and 
going through fences into fields of grain 
we were trying to save. This drought 
was without parallel for 16 years. For 
nearly 40 days there was not a cloud; tem¬ 
peratures ranged from 80 to 104, while not 
winds swept. In this period a run of stock 
to markets began, and many had to sell as 
pastures were like roads. The rains in 
August relieved us, and we got a good crop 
of com and small grain, but the arid sec¬ 
tions and plains and range country did 
not, and they have no hay. Hay is $15 
to $20 per ton, where it generally has been 
$6 to $8, often $3 to $5, and they have 
continued the run of cattle on the mar¬ 
kets. The run is still on, but has assumed 
a different shape. After August rains in 
corn belt the fields were transformed as 
by a miracle. The heat here for over 60 
days was 100 to 120 and 6% inches of 
rain fell in seven days. The great heat 
continued and in six days grass grew three 
to five inches in pastures, and in less than 
two weeks after long period of rest all veg¬ 
etation shot up more wonderful than green¬ 
house conditions could make them. Im¬ 
mense corn crops were saved and Fall pas¬ 
ture was luxuriant. Prices of grain began 
to sag some; farmers rushed into markets 
from the grain belt and loaded up with 
stock at markets shipped in from western 
drought and range sections. Many bought 
feeding cattle too high, $5 per 100, and 
now hundreds of carloads are again shipped 
back to markets since the fall in meat 
prices and stringency that seems to be 
setting in. They would rather sell at 
some loss now than a greater loss later. 
This selling back now is beating the price 
down, and the packers’ tactics to get this 
crop of hogs as low as they can by trust 
methods operates against higher prices, 
and is beating those who have produced 
this crop of hogs with high-priced feed. 
As soon as packers get tills meat and live¬ 
stock out of our hands they will put the 
price up on you easterners. 
Shelby Co., Iowa. w. m. bomberger. 
Without question the meat prices are 
regulated by the packers, just as the 
money market is by a few Morgans and 
Hills. My opinion is this: The packers 
stocked up high priced meat, so high the 
consumption fell off amazingly. In order 
to clean up old stock the bottom is 
knocked out, much after the same manner 
of great clearance sales, and farpiers and 
feeders therefore will hold shipments, pre¬ 
mature or otherwise, for a last chance. 
And since the packers control the market 
anyhow, they will buy to their advantage 
when the time comes. Grain is sligntly 
more plentiful than for a year or two, but 
both hogs and cattle are scarcer, and but 
for the stringent money market would be 
“away up.” Horses have dropped one- 
third in price in the last few weeks. Over 
production in a night’s time ! 
Kansas. joiin e. hinshaw. 
It is hard to tell what may be the main 
causes of the decline in grain and meat 
products; in this part of the country I see 
very little difference in the amount of 
Stock being raised and fed for market for 
several years. It is claimed that the corn 
crop is very much larger than ever before, 
with very little demand outside the United 
States, which of course would have a ten¬ 
dency to lower that product to a commer¬ 
cial basis with other countries, that being 
the staple of the best farming part of our 
country, and being that grain that pro¬ 
duces most of the meat product would nat¬ 
urally have a tendency to lower that prod¬ 
uct. Also there has been a great dissatis¬ 
faction for the last year or so about the 
high price of living among the consuming 
class. The stuff they had to buy to sus¬ 
tain life was too high, considering the 
price they got for labor. Taking those 
things in consideration, I think the pack¬ 
ers and grain markets have concluded to 
lower prices on those products. 
Missouri, alex. glass. 
CROPS AND PRICES. 
Potatoes did not turn out quite so well 
as usual about here. On certain days when 
there is a boat loading one can get 23 
cents per bushel for No. 1 stock. As soon 
as boats stop running there will be no 
market for them here. The apple crop was 
a total failure in this section. a. l. d. 
Charlevoix Co., Mich. 
The potato crop in this locality is fair. 
The price at present is 55 to 60 cents. 
Corn good crop; rye best in years; oats 
good. No wheat raised here. Tomatoes 
good crop, cabbage fair, hay good, $20 per 
ton. Butter 35 cents per pound, eggs 45 
cents per dozen. Apples fair crop, $1 per 
bushel. d. m. m. 
Lackawanna Co., l’a. 
I think there is more politics in this cry 
of lower prices than there is actual reduc¬ 
tion. I telephoned an old friend last night 
living on the farm next to mine. He said 
buyers were falling over themselves to get 
potatoes at 35 cents. He said price would 
be 40 cents soon. When buyers are tele¬ 
phoning all over the country for farmers to 
draw their produce there is something in 
the wind besides low price. We are sell¬ 
ing some at 35 cents, but I expect to see 
50 cents before January 1, 1911. This is 
the way this man I was talking with felt. 
A very shrewd produce buyer I know said 
early in the season that he looked for 50 
to 60-cent potatoes after the early Fail 
rush was over. L. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
The potato crop was good, best for sev¬ 
eral years large size and of the finest qual¬ 
ity. Prices at present are 45 to 55 cents 
per bushel. North of us in the potato 
country, a good many bushels are being held 
for higher prices, as they are only worth 
25 cents there at the present time. Oats 
will average over 50 per cent, of a crop 
owing to drought; price at present time, 32 
to 34 cents per bushel; corn, poor crop, 
hardly half crop. Many farmers will have 
to buy, it is selling now at 40 cents per 
bushel. Very little buckwheat is raised 
here. This year it is worth $1.50 per 100 
lbs. Many cows and feeders are being 
rushed to market, as farmers are all short 
of feed. The hay crop was nearly a com¬ 
plete failure, and hundreds of farmers have 
not got a load of hay, depending on corn 
fodder and silage for feed. About twenty 
new silos were put up in this vicinity this 
season. This is a dairy and stock country. 
There are some local creameries, but most 
of the cream is shipped to the large cream¬ 
eries at St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Stocton, 
Minnesota, where we receive at present 
32 cents per pound for butter fat, the 
patron paying the carrying, but as the 
cream is shipped as baggage this does not 
cost much. Hogs are selling to-day at $5.25 
per 100 live weight, not half as many as 
last year. Eggs 27 cents, butter 30. 
Trempeauleau Co., Wis. a. b. s. 
POTATOES IN EUROPE. 
Consul Hamm, of Hull, England, reports 
that France has had a poor potato year as 
well as a poor wheat year, and larger im¬ 
portations of these necessaries will be de¬ 
manded. England and Germany are 
called upon to supply the deficiency. Just 
now the demand is for potatoes. Large 
importations are going from England, and 
prices have taken a sudden rise. The east¬ 
ern potato-raising counties of England, 
which include Yorkshire, Lancashire and 
Norfolk, are being searched for supplies to 
ship to France. Germany has also beeu 
sending great quantities into France, but 
as the yield in the former country is be¬ 
lieved to be about one-fifth below last 
year’s' crop, that source of supply will 
soon be closed, and the Germans may also 
be compelled to import potatoes. 
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