BEEF INDUSTRY

one of the great agricultural industries in the United States conducted on an enormous scale, It is largely concentrated in the West, with its chief centers at Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha and St. Louis. Probably half, if not more, of the livestock slaughtered in the country is done by the large packing houses situated in these cities. The corporations are capitalized at millions of dollars and their operations subject to rigid government control both in regulating their slaughtering in the interests of public health and in the restriction of the great power they po e of monopolizing the country’s meat products and dictating prices. The packing houses, however, perform an immeasurable service to consumers in being able to operate modern plants with improved machinery and employ skilled workmen, enabling them to place on the market a great variety of animal products, fresh, cured and canned. ‘The modern packer, in short, with the aid of railroads, stock-yards and refrigeration, has brought the producer and consumer together. The growth of the American meat industry dates from the opening of the West, where the great ranges offered an enormous field for breeding cattle, sheep and hogs. These animals, as well as other meat-producing species, are bred, raised, fed and prepared for market on a scale which enables the United States not only to provide itself with 148 pounds of meat per capita, that amount of beef being consumed in 1920, but to furnish one-third of the meat supply in international trade. The feeding of cattle is a separate stage of production from that of breeding and raising. The industry’s development has produced the profe ional feeder, who, it has been estimated, fattens more than 80 per cent. of the cattle killed in the abattoirs, purchasing them after ity, and taking no hand in their bringing. The western ranges bred and raised the cattle, the are transported to the feeding which lie in the corn belt embracing states of Kansas, Mi ouri, Nevada and Illimnois. The modern meat industry has placed the small butcher, who in days when cattle were slaughtered near the point of consumption. butchers did their own killing, two or more cattle weekly, and little shops were numerous. the small butchers are rare. The pec ane houses can economize in yond their capacity and succe fully compete with small independent retailers in the remotest parts of country. In fact, the modern proce es of meat production, after slaughter, only be undertaken in large volume. Such proce es involve the preparation and disposal of fresh meats, curing preservation by salting and a dpe operations as omnis to acon, etc., preservation by hermetically sealing in various containers, such cans and jars, and the final sterilization that completes the preparation. proce es produce numerous by-products and important industries have developed through utilizing parts once wasted. These by-products of cattle slaughtered including fertilizing material, (used for handles of various utensils, ee knives), glue, soap and powder, Of late years the industry has had remarkable expansion. The U.S. census of 1920 showed figures of growth slaughtering and packing houses, 1914 to 1919, as follows: Establishments, 1914, 1279; 1304; Wage earners (average number), 1914, 98,832; 1919, 160,996; capital vested 1914, $534,273,563; 1919, $1,176,- 483,643; wages paid, 1914, $62,135,722; 1919, $209,489,263; value of products, She $1,651,965,424; 1919, $4,246,290,- In 1921 the total number of animals which 38,982,356 were under federal inspection. The country’s total sumption of meat for that year 15,624 million pounds, or 144.8 capita, comprising beef, 57.7 pounds; veal, 8 pounds; mutton and lamb, pounds, and pork 72.8 pounds per capita.