It's Now Up To The Students

IT'S NOW UP TO THE STUDENTS

Will They Forego Daily Rations of Tender Beefsteaks

AND FIGHT THE MEAT TRUST

Make a Sacrifice and Help to Rescue the Victims of the "Oxtopus" Says Professor Brewster

The meat dealers of Ann Arbor say that the trust is affecting their business seriously - that unless there is a let-up soon some of them will be obliged to go out of business. The consumers feel the burden of the raise in prices, but it affects most seriously the men who have been compelled to sacrifice the profits of their business in order that they might not unduly crowd their customers. This is what is what Jacob Eschelbach, the Huron street dealer, thinks of the situation:

"Unless conditions change and the meat trust ceases to hold up the public, I shall shut up shop and go out of business. There is absolutely no use of continuing when a dealer loses from $3 to $5 on each beef that he handles. The dealers have not raised prices as much proportionately as prices have been raised on them by the packers, and are selling at a loss; and besides that, business has fallen off greatly. Where I used to cut up five or six beeves I now cut up but two or three, and I could easily handle all of a day's business in a couple of hours. We are almost absolutely at the mercy of the packers, as there are almost no cattle in this section of the country. Yesterday I drove 40 miles in search of beef, but couldn't find any. Many of the boarding houses which deal with me have cut down their orders materially, and some of them do not give meat at all for breakfast, using eggs instead."

L. C. Weinmann, the Washington street dealer, was a little more hopeful. When he was asked if he thought that there was any prospects of relief from the present condition of high prices he said:

"I think that the high water mark in prices has been reached, and that when the grass cattle come onto the market in July there will be a reduction In prices all along the line. I think that the present high prices are due in a measure to the shortage of the corn crop last year, although the trust is probably the most responsible. The dealers are the people who must undergo the principal hardship, and if the consumers can stand the raise until July, conditions will probably resume their normal state after that."

EFFECT ON BOARDERS.

J. F. Hoelzle, a Washington street butcher, has particularly noticed the effect of the increased prices on boarding house keepers. "Why, some of customers who used to buy roasts of 23 pounds have cut down their order to 16 or 17 pounds," said he. "I suppose the boarders can notice the difference in the serving, and then the boarding house keepers are more particular about waste than they used in be. They have made up their minds, at least some of them have, that they are not going to be the ones to suffer, and so hare put their guests on short rations. I never saw a time before when the prices of all meats were up to the point where they are now. It is not uncommon to see one kind of meat reach a high price, but to see all meats go up is something unusual"

Butcher C. V. Pardon of North Main street does not care much whether he continues to sell meat or not if present conditions are to remain indefinitely. When asked what he thought of the proposed plan of consumers to do without meat for a time he said:

" I have no objection to their doing so, as I am now carrying on the business at a loss, and would just as soon close up as continue business under existing circumstances. There is a prospect that when this year's corn crop is harvested the price of meat may be lowered, but that time is of course quite a way off. The farmers who have cattle certainly have no cause for complaint, as they can get their own prices now." .

WILL STUDENTS HELP?

Prof James H. Brewster of the law department, whose communication in regard to the meat trust appeared in Monday's Argus, was also seen this morning. He strongly favors a meeting of interested citizens, dealers and boarding house keepers, for the purpose of considering means for relieving the situation. He said:

“The trust evidently has a hard and fast hold on the public, and any efforts to check it will have to be determined ones. As I said in my communication last evening, I should very much like to see a meeting called for the purpose of considering the feasibility of the consumers of Ann Arbor doing without meat for a time. By united action of this kind we might produce a moral effect that would cause other cities to follow our lead, with the ultimate result that the trust might ease its grasp on the public. Of course there are many thing to be considered before such a course is taken. For example would the boarding houses be able to convince the students that they should do without meat for at time in the interests of the community at large? Unless something of the kind is done, [illegible], it is quite likely that the boarding houses will be compelled to raise their rates.”