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Show TO REDUCE THE COSTJF MEAT It Will Have to be by Increasing Not Diminishing, the Supply of American Cattle A trado paper dovoted to a partic ular manufacturing Interest declares If Congress will oven reduco tho duty on cattlo and meat to tho low lovel of protection now given tho shoo Industry there might bo somo thing accomplished In tho way of reducing tho high cost of living. Wo wonder. From what country or countries Ib to come a supply of meat adequato to fill tho normal demand of tho pco-plo pco-plo of tho United States If tho cattlo cat-tlo raisers In this country of producing produc-ing less and less meat food because of tho unsatisfactory returns on their business, how can nnybody suppose that thoy would produce- more meat food If tho returns woro to ho still lower? Tho trado paper admits that there hns beon a steady decline- In tho raising of cuttlo for beef; but no cattlo raiser would havo stopped producing pro-ducing If thero had beon satisfactory profit for him. Either it hns cost him more to produce than tho product I was naturally worth In tho market whoro ho must sell, or, regardless of what It cost him to pioduco, tho beet combines havo fixed for his product an arbitrary prlco which has not permitted per-mitted him to continue In business at a profit. It tho cattlo raiser has been unablo I to make enough money out of his j business to Justify his remaining In It at present prices, under what the-orj' the-orj' could lie make moro money, nnd ! would he produce moro meat food, If prices, owing to Tariff changes or any other causes, should go still lower? Outside of the United States the wholo world does not produce n sufficient suf-ficient Bupply of cattlo for meat to provide for the normal demand of American consumers If the natural Amorlcnu supply Itself la extinguished. extinguish-ed. Owing to freight chnrges and oth er uisauvantngeH 01 mnrKcung at a long distance from tho source of supply, sup-ply, It Is doubtful whether nil the rest of tho world could supply at reasonable prices sufficient cattlo for meat to provide for tho needs of American Am-erican consumers with American supplies sup-plies extinguished. This country long was and still Is tho natural cattlo raising country of tho world If In tills country, whero natuial conditions favor them, cattlo raisers aro going out of business busi-ness because of unnatural control of tho distribution to consumers of what they produce, thoy certainly nro not going to resumo that business with their markets still artificially controlled control-led against them, and with still lower low-er prices to make It Impossible, for them to survie. |