Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1902 — HIGHER PRICES FOR FOOD. [ARTICLE]

HIGHER PRICES FOR FOOD.

Fresh Meats of All Kind, Poultry and Score Advances. Higher prices for various foods, particularly fresh meats and butter, which are regarded in this flourishing country as necessaries of life, although looked upon as luxuries in some others, have not only come, but they are here to stay. Moreover, according to expectations of men in the trade, they are likely to go higher still in the very near future. It is not only beef that has advanced almost sensationally in price within a few weeks. Lamb and mutton have gone up, as have hog products, and so also have poultry and butter. Lard has been advanced 1 to 3 cents a pound within a few months, and it has become known that there has been formed some sort of a working agreement between the great producers, who have held meetings in western cities to come to understandings as to the conduct of their business profitably in view of the gradually advancing prices all along the line from hog to lard. The rise in the price of butter is said to be chiefly speculative, not as turningupon any attempt to corner the market, but owing to a belief among the dairymen that Congress will pass the proposed law prohibiting the manufacture of oleomargarine. The advance in the price of poultry is a sympathetic one, consequent ii]>on the high beef market. The price of beef in the carcass, as the butcher buys it, is now about 3 cents a pound higher than six months ago.