Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1920 — PLAN TO LOWER COST OF MEAT [ARTICLE]

PLAN TO LOWER COST OF MEAT

Federal Department of Justice Starts Campaign of Intensive Education. -— URGED TO BUY CHEAPER CUTS Forequarter Meat, Looked on With Indifference by the Majority of Housewives, Is High in Quality and Nutritive Value. Washington. — Farmers and stock raisers are indirectly interested in a nation-wide campaign which has just been undertaken by the department of justice to increase consumption of fore-quarter beef cuts. - -The-generni-canjp«rfgn is already under way. Intensive educational efforts began with the “Save-Money-on-Meat week” in Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin, Michigan. Ohio, New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Every farmer who raises beef animals has to produce fore-quarters as well as hind-quarters, and he has to put the same high-priced feed Into both. But city housewives more than ever before have been largely confining their purchases to porterhouse, sirloin and club steaks. If they do buy forequarter meat, it is sure to be prime ribs. The uneven demand makes these cuts higher in price, but no matter how high they may go there Is no corresponding benefit to the producer, for he cannot confine his production to porterhouse and sirloins. He must make chucks, plate and clod, to which a majority of the housewives are indifferent. The department of justice is trying to interest consumers in these palatable, wholesome cuts of the forequarter and thus bring about a more even consumptive demand. The result will be a more even scale of prices and better prices on the whole to the consumers ail along the line, while live stock prices will not be affected. If the department succeeds the producer will have a market among housewives for all his beef. Of course, the department Is not directly concerned with any plan to Increase beef consumption, for it will have achieved Its aim if the distribution of meat is made economical and if consumers are made to see how they can help themselves by studying the different cuts of a beef carcass. The fact that makes the Campaign possible, however, is that beef should actually be an Inexpensive food; and as an inexpensive food its use would be greatly Increased if an economic demand is developed. Consumers will learn how to get more good beef for less money than before, and the volume of beef consumption will be increased as a direct result. Will Halp Meat Industry. This Is an advantage to the consumer, but hardly less of an advantage to the producer. For a great many years there have been efforts to increase economy of production, but economy of consumption has been neglected. The quality of chucks, clods and other forequarter cuts is' so high and their nutritive value so great, that the economy preached by the department of justice is entirely sound and bids fair to be a permanent and growing thing. Between forequarter and hindquarter cuts there has never perhaps been so large a spread as now. A decrease tn this spread will be of enormous benefit to the whole meat Industry. "A Frenchman at Madrid looped the loop in his plane 624 times ln‘ a flight of 2 hours 49 minutes and » seconds.