Banner Graphic, Greencastle, Putnam County, 2 August 1973 — Page 3

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Thursday, August 2, 1973

Banner-Graphic, Greencastle, Indiana

Page 3

Beef Representatives Take Complaints To Washington

Soaring Egg Prices Push Grocery Bill Higher

By THE ASSOC I A TED PRESS Representatives of the beef industry took their complaints to Washington yesterday, amid a rising chorus of protests about a beef shortage caused by the continuation of price ceilings. Many wholesalers in the New York Gty area planned a oneday shutdown today because of a lack of supplies and consumers across the country sought ways of balancing the budget and feeding their families. - A spokesman for the American Meat Institute said representatives of producers and processors would meet in Washington at 2 p.m. EDI with Agriculture Secretary Earl L. Butz in an effort to set the ceilingson beef prices lifted. Cost of Living Council officials repeatedly have said the ceiling will stav on until Sept. 12. The council also announced on Tuesday that it would probe the entire profit situation in the meat industry and officials expressed skepticism about reports that wholesalers and packers could not afford to continue operations Virginia Knauer, President Nixon's special assistant on consumer affairs, said in New York on Tuesday that food prices probably will stay at present levels. "Prices will start stabilizing and leveling off, but the days of cheap food are over," she said. Fred Ftllinger of the Internal Revenue Service in Cleveland, Ohio, said he was investigating complaints from commercial meat buyers who said they had been ofTered beef at illegal, over-the-ceiling prices. Dave Doherty, director of sales for A&P in New Orleans, said the situation was getting worse. "We're only able to get about one-third of our requirement for beef and we're scrounging up fryers (chickens) from any place we can get them," he said. "Some of the stores are already running short and we're beginning to put other things in the meat counter— canned hams, sausage, orange juice, whatever." Officials in Houston, Tex., said there won't be any roast beef on the menus in the school cafeterias this fall. “The price of beef is just too high," said Claude Keen, food service director for the district. He said lunch prices were increased from 40 to 45 cents for elementary schools and from 50 to 60 cents for secondary schools. Reaction among Indiana restaurant owners to the growing beef shortage is mixed. Some report they have not been affected, and others say they are beginning to experience difficulty in filling normal needs. A common feeling, however, is that the situation will “get worse before it gets better.” The manager of a northside Indianapolis restaurant said no effects of the shortage had been felt, but that there is a possibility prices might have to be increased. A different opinion was heard from a spokesman at a Carmel restaurant who said, “We can’t get enough beef, but so far we’ve managed to get by.” Restaurants in northwestern Indiana reported they- were running out of the expensive cuts of meat, and those that have them are raising their prices. Grocers said they have limited amounts of beef for custom-

OUT OF ORDER BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Diane Hemming, 31, lost her suit for damages resulting from a dog bite which she claimed had ruined her ability to dance properly. Rejecting her claim, the judge said the dog had been generally "amiable” and the attack was “completely out of character.”

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ers, but that they were out oi the expensive cuts. Pork and poultry were available, but expensive. The owner of an Indianapolis steak house said he is getting half the beef he normally buys. Another steak house reported it has dipped into a six-week supply of aging beef to maintain its regular menu. “We’re getting maybe 10 per cent of what we need from suppliers,” a spokesman said. Meanwhile, pork prices hit another all-time high for the

third straight marketing day at the Indianapolis Stockyards T uesday. Prices hit $58.50 a hundredweight and beef receipts again were small. Barrows and gilts were $1.25 to $2 higher at Indianapolis, with 100 head of No. 1 and No. 2 grade in the 200-240 pound class selling at the top price, and others mostly at $58. Cattle and calf receipts were 700 Tuesday, compared with Monday’s 500.

- Soaring egg prices helped push the family grocery bill still higher during the last week in July, an Associated Press marketbasket survey shows. The increases came on top of sharp boosts that followed the lifting of controls on food prices earlier in the month. The AP checked the prices of 15 food and non-food items in 13 cities on March 1 and has rechecked them at the beginning-of each succeeding month. A special check was made July 23, several days after the announcement of Phase 4 and the end of controls on all foods except beef. The marketbasket survey

showed that between July 23 and July 31, the total grocery bill was up in 12 of the 13 cities checked. In all but one of those cities, the total also increased between July 1 and July 23. Of the total number of items checked, 17 per cent increased in the last week of the month, 66 per cent were unchanged, 5 per cent were lower and 12 per cent were unavailable on one of the two check dates. - Eggs and pork-chops led the list of more expensive items, reflecting higher prices at the farm. Eggs increased in price in 11 of the 13 cities during the last week of July with the boosts

ranging as high as 33 per cent. . The cost of a dozen grade A, medium white eggs had gone up in eight cities between July 1 and July 23 and tht new increases pushed the price up even higher. - For example, the price of a dozen eggs in Seattle went from 58 to 66 cents between July 1 arid July 23—an increase of 14 per cent. Then the price went to 85 on July 31—another increase of 29 per cent. The story was similar with pork chops. -Center cut pork chops were up in 11 of 13 cities checked between July 1 and July 23. They rose again in 7 of those 11 cities between July 23

and July 31 and increased in an eighth city where the price remained stable earlier. - The meat manager of a supermarket in Los Angeles— where pork chops went from $1.48 to $1.85 between July 1 and July 23—was selling them at $1.99 a pound on Tuesday. The Agriculture Department reported on Monday that farmers received record prices in June for hogs, potatoes, eggs and corn and the increases will be reflected later at the supermarket since processors and retailers are allowed, under Phase 4, to pass on boosts in the cost of raw agricultural products.

Because beef remains under a ceiling until Sept. 12, the prices of chopped chuck and all-beef hot dogs stayed steady. The cities checked for the AP survey were: Albuquerque, N. M .; Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Ebllas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, R.I.; Salt Lake City, Utah, and Seattle. The marketbasket bill went up everywhere but Atlanta with increases ranging from a fraction of a per cent in New York and Salt Lake City to 5 per cent in Seattle. The bill had gone up in all cities except Miami in the period between July 1 and July 23.

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