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THE1 OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAI, PORTLAND. SUNDAY MORNING. JULY -, 1903
ii
ILLIOM
i . .
How a Great Community
Stints and Splurges at
Its Table
0
iV wf A regard the modern American
city as a Gargantua, beside which the
iollv riant of old Rabelais, for all
ifew devouring of whole roasts, flocks of fowls
land pasties innumerable, was but a puny apol
pgy for hunger, with the appetite of a butter
fly and the capacity of a beetle.
. This Gargantua of the new world every
summer suffers from a falling off of appetite
Uhkh would be alarming if it weren't nat
ural. .-The hundreds of thousands of roast tur
nkeys, chickens and geese, the vast droves of
cattle, the huge herds of pigs', the enormous
mass of pies that greeted his greedy nostrils
with delectable odors are as far from his
summer thoughts as the first husband is from
a oioux r alls divorcee. .
' 'He longs for tliem no more. 'All he asks
h a lemonade jug underneath the bough, or
buttermilk that came from some real cow.
I With these, to paraphrase Omar, Gargantua
finds paradisjfenow.
But wmnhe forgets his abstemious reso
lutions which is about three times a day
he. breaks for the nearest table and leaves
Omar on the bleachers with the pink lemon
' . ade. v
. The Gargantua, in whom are comprised
:the appetites that make up the modern Amer
, ican city, from the million and a half of Phil
adelphia, the two millions of Chicago, to the
four millions of New York, manages, even in
summer, to spend a million a day for.his
meals and more.
' ' Here is how he spends it.
1
i HIS summer. Just when the Meat Trust made
the horrifying- discovery that It would have to
charge a cent or two more a pound on dressed -beef
because the disloyal cattle raisers hadn't
raised enough beef to go around, the great cities made
their discovery that they didn't care for meat
'. They could save money by being vegetarians, flsh
erlans, eggariS-iia and Fletcherites. Everything wai
too high, anyway.
Nevertheless, while the national outcry against
' meat prices was loudest and the national resolve of
vegetarianism was strongest and the national neces
sity for economy was sharpest, these were the dally
tncat records, per million of Inhabitants, for one great
eastern city:
; Beef 1400 head, or 1,680,000 pounds, at H -cents
per pound, dressed, with 975,400 pounds killed locally
and 704,000 pounds shipped dressed.
Vaal 1500 calves, or 140,000 pounds of veal, at 7
cents per pound; all killed locally.
i Pork 8000 hogs, 1,300,000 pounds ofpork. at
centa per pound; 7J 4.000 killed locally and 546.000 ship
ped dressed.
Mutton and lamb 12.000 shepp and lamln. 1,080,000
pounds, at 7 cents per-pound for lamb a.iJ EVi cents
- ior luuiiua, vvv,vv yvuui4 nuicu luL&iiy ana 4 43,duu
hipped dressed.
Gargantua 'will not quite starve this summer, ac
cording to those figures. And from being to per cent,
less than they were when he made his first strike
aaralnat meat diet UDon the rise in nrlrn fi,t,ir .v.-
v - - - ' ' r "
spring, tas total was men only 40 per cent, leu than
ilia normal consumption of meat during the early m ra
tter weather.
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' Peag for week heldf at IS cents per quarter peck!
string beans at 20 oenta per quartsrt new potatoes at U
cents per quarter; old potatoes at 9 cents tomatoes; I
and 4 centa apiece: lettuoe, 4 and centa; srgplanU, I to
!0 cents; asparagus, 10 to 30 centa par bunch; strawberries.
U to 10 cants per quart. The only cheap vegetables were
cabbage and radishes at I cents per. bunch.
Gargantua, then, did not sate hli appetite on graeti
stuffs; be could sot afford to be even a vegetarian. Tet
'h a be.
Only when the trail led to that most ancient standby,
the million waa buying SO per cent., mors bread than It
did In 1907. " '
When -all was said and done, the country's seven bU
Hon dollars' worth of farm products, as well- as the vast
and generous bounties of the rivers and 'seas, afforded
but one sure dependence to the millions who own the
world's greatest granary. , .- ,
It was the wheat; man's first and last dependence,'
from the old days when Joseph stored It In Pharaoh's
barns to this latest summer, when It fed as In our dire
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with its abstemious resolves, the prices at which the re
tailing butchers secured their meats were: For dressed
beef of good quality, from 10& to 11 cents, per pound, 2V4
centa higher than it was during the corresponding period
In 1807; for beef of poor quality, from 94 to 10 cents. 3
cents higher than the price for 1907; for dressed sheep,
most of them good, 12 cents per pound, 4 cents higher
than 1907; lamb, all good in quality, from M'.i to 14 cents,
Shi cents higher than 1907; veal, all good and a local
product largely Independent of the western range, 10 to
11 cents, the normal price per pound; pork, all good qual
ity. 12 cents, 3 cents higher than 1907; stewing chicken,
16 cents, being no change from 1907.
The meat-eating million went on its strike of 50 per
cent, reduction because of the retail prices the butchers
asked them.
Gargantua is a big, hearty, heavy-flstod fellow who
slugs the man next In line and lets him pass it along
What made him hit out was the near and expensive fact
that rump steak was costing, at tle butchrr a. zo cents,
against 20 ,cents in 1907: sirloin. 30 eents, against 25 cents;
rib roast. 2i, against IS and 20; chuck. 12 and 11. against
10 and 12: brisket. 8. against 6.
Mutton was 16, against 12. Tor leg: while chops were
25, against 18 and 20. T,amb chops were SO to 35 against
19078 extreme lilfe-h uf 25. leg Of lamb. 20. against 16; rack.
25, against 18. and shoulders. 14, against t and 10.
Veil remained unchanged. In pork, bacon was IS and
20, against the normal of IS. and bellies remained at 14.
while regular ham, which was 15 in 1907. was only 12 this
year. But chops were 15 cents, against 12 of 1907. and
shoulders were 14, against 10. The weather wasn't favor
lng salt pork or, for that matter, veal. v
Wholesale dealers In fish could not recall a year dur
ing the last haif century when the demand for fish was
greater. That was where the million -went first, after the
quarrel with the butcher.
But spring storms kept down the supply, and the scant
supply, in fhe face of the overwhelming demand, kept up
the prices; and vitally Important fact a' man will eat a
pound of fish for every half pound of meat It crowds out
of the dietary.
The favorite roe shad of the million cost, wholesale,
from 55 to 65 cents; buck shad, 15 to 25 cents; sea bass,
g 'and 9 cents; porgles, 5 and 6; catfish, iO and. 12, weak
fish, 9 and 10; squid favorite of the foreign poor 4 arid 6;
halibuClO and 12; butterfish. 12 cents.
And the hungry American people all-along the sea
board, paying winter prices for these varieties on the
basis of the retail advance of 25 per cent, above the wharf
rates quoted, left to foreign appetites and to those nicely
particular connoisseurs, the fish dealers, the most ex
quisite fish of all, the whiting, available In tons, and sold
wholesale at 1H cents per pound, retail from 3 to 5 and t
cents. v
But the new Gargantua has still much' to-learn from
Europe. Meanwhile, Ignorant and wroth, he tried to
forswear fish as he forswore meat, and turned to veg
etables. But - .-
"Suffering bank presidents!" exclaimed the typical
"commission" merchant "They want the stuff for noth
ing. They'll turn away from the finest when we ask the
prices we must get to make a profit, and come back to
buy It, when It's half spoiled, three days later, at rates
that don't pay us and don't pay them."
Everybody was getting mad, but the biggest mad was
the million's. It will spend royally, when It has the
money; but when It hasn't well, cabbage was only the
last resort, even as low as S to 6 cents per head. Very
healthy, cabbage; but It calls for pork, and, to say the
best of It. cabbage is liable to be cloying.
1 9
i i
v 1 v
necessity and promised afresh such a crop as the nation
has seldom welcomed In the past.
The millionaire among the million who. whatever
might be lacking In the bills of fare of the remaining
S999. was bound to take affectionate care of his share
of Qargantua's stomach, walked In to supper queer hew
the old-fashioned word has come into Its own again at a
"correct" hotel, and put gilt trimmings with ailver service
all over those prices which his neighbors found so heart
breaking. To be temperate, and eat like the common peo
ple, he could order:
Blue points, 25c; cup of chicken consomme. 30c: crab
meat Dewey. $1.40; roast beef. 80c; potatoes, Sarah Bern
hardt, 40c; asparagus, Jl; radishes, 15c; Gorgonzola cheese.
25c; baked Alaska Ice cream, 75c; cafe Ture. 20c; apolU
naris water. 25c: chamnaenp 15 2S- niarfair il'iimn),. -n.
cigar, 3oc, and waiter s tip because one must economise
(".I iiiiw, in inesa nara times c. A
modest repast, costing, all-told, no more than t9.
But the million's millionaire is very far from being
the million's real self. The true Gargantua. this spring
anj summer, was a very different sort of a bird, as, from
8 to 8 o'clock In the morning, he emerged from the front
door on hi hustling rush to the foundry, the factory,
the store or the office.
EVEN EGGS DWINDLED
He was not hungry then. As a rule, even where neither
foundry nor factory, store nor office had any use for him.
and where he was only starting out to discover somebody
who might have a Job to offer, he was "rilled up." tioruj
of him were thanking lucky stars for the bread, coffee
and potatoes that did the tilling; others carried, in their
Internal economies, the two soft-boiled eggs to which the
usual three of breakfast had fallen, and. In their ears
the plaints of wives who could not understand how, Jusc
now, when we have to depend on eggs so much, they
should shrink- to the size of guinea eggs.
Along about noon, when the whistles blew or the
boss nodded, the 999,999 turned to dinner pails or meekly
slid homeward to the table where, in default of wages,
the baker's faithful product held its unaccustomed placo
Bf honor. But many still found themselves able to go to
the familiar restaurant and tire re, in form, at least, rival
the millionaire's patronage of nls "correct" hotel.
With the strain easing, with the beloved face of "pros
perity" showing an encouraging smile or two at every
other corner, the real Gargantua the 999.999 of the city's
million should remember for a long time to come that
Abou ben Adhem among his neighbors. If, during the
months of the lean kine, out of the herd of butchers,
bakers and candlestick makers there has been one who
loves his fellow-men, that one has been the restaurant
keeper the ordinary, cheap working man's restaurant
keeper.
He had to pay high prices. Just ss Mrs. Gargantua had
to pay them in shop and market. Yet he held his nerve
bna showed his sporting blbod. For to him came the
hordes of men whose wages could not afford meat enough
for the family appetite.
From his bounty few such restaurants parned profits
they secured, for 15 or 20 cents, full meals of coffee, bread
and butter, one good vegetable and a generous cut -of
meat that was not so tough, even In comparison with tha
millionaire's extra order at 80 cents.
The city's million, half a dnnen years ago. lived pretty .
high on the wages It struck against every now and then.
This year much of It has formr-d the bread line, from
old New York to hrand-new Frisco.
And now, like the emperor who tackled ham'and eggs
while he wes exiled from his grandeurs. It has discovered
for the first time what an appetite It really owns.
1 Suppose the Kaicr AYusfache
HEROIC RESOLUTIONS
Herolo -rMolutions, eay enough to make, are not
always kept to the letter, when it comes to ordering
cabbage.
Tet It waa undeniable that this Homeric appetite
f the city's mlllida had dropped off 40 rr cent, in
the matter of meats; and. as for the abattoir figures
ad tfee statistic of shipment, great quantities of the
t'M W,B to curing biuM for preservation and shlo
aitfat te other communities; much of the vei went to
the neighboring million, re.ldent In the country dis
tricts round Uie rrut distributing cnttr- -
rreciable Prcnlar4 of ih tf. muiim
Ie4 .Imlia routes before It reached the red Une
wair. u humanity Ust avenue to warns storage.
r. li"?'. ,hl" PPo ob wnlcn the Amerl
S !ifc' ,o rrdl Hslfr It did not .ud-
J..Li"OK because all the faxtorle haan't
..UP. " trust hded higher prices
II??. orklng evertime ee ointL
rflTTi. riLST-S" u""ftd until everylmdr starred
- lTn hfrt I.TIir -W,n,d ull through thus
kS?LTSZl.Urti"1 wmght Erie b.
Mylars: prtcn w.re put oa te tb l..,
i te MUte woe opent their mmro a.iiV
U tia rvpreaeetauve eltz. whea the Ut
:7- A :i Cff:: (InvadEs America ?
. -,tv i' '. u f V'! ;,- hi 1L-i ' -- ' a" ..".-. v
9)
t-crrf rrayYrr.ro rrre
SEE the kaiser's new style of moustache I
It used to soar straight upward; it
could soar riiOe eoaringly than any mous
tache known to fame, and never turn a
hair, until the kaiser landed in London to call on
his Uncle Edward.
Then, suddenly, it tot a twist alonjr the hori
zontal diverting from the vertical, at a fixed alti
tude on a level with the r.ostrils. at an anle of
ninety degrees. The new shape was about that of the
horns of a Texas steer.
Berlin is twisting it? upper-lip decorations
until the long horns seem almost as dangerous a!
the big hat trims. Paris is discussing ihe danger
of this latest German invasion. Suppose it in
vades the United States! .
IT 1. no Idle fear.
Humanity 1 hlpVi in the pretence of royalty's
wfcimi When King Inward was prince of Wales
Jid was iLHmj :u t.s a L,jre. tae UviilstJ
world li4 ta bum io b:tric imck.
When Queen ctor.a rto.ed that the scrawniest
shoald not escape the burr.i,.ai.r.g horrors of decoliete.
great-grandmotner. faenficed the fichus that hid the
scrd i-etlca,of their jouth.
- Mere t baa all, whn the kaiwr said to bis mous
tache. -Hoch der Kaiser- hoch it was. getting hocaer
and cocher. so to speak, ur.tii It remrix put his es
out and even the fierce Tarislans had to follow suit.
Taey y.U.d for la ravaacbe from under niou.tacbes
that were perpendicular popularlsaUons of the k&i.er'a
Whenever a foreigner blows over this way, Ameri
cans get an idea of the power of a great Idea. Every
one of their moustaches taovi the kaiser's tyrranous
Influence. Whenever one of our native sons has
acquired an auto and the "bug" that Inspires the plain
American to become haut ton and likewise facile
prlnceps which mean that he Is the reej article In
society the fir.t thing that happens, after he cuts his
old acquaintances, is the perpendicularity of his mous
tache When It was only that, and nothing more tbo re-
fneratlon of oar canaille scientifically termed mtl
ionalres vulgares was easy. A cake of savoa santaL
that favorite French toilet soap which coots half a '
dollar and stick, like the millionaire s poor relations,'
a little water to start Its stickiness working, a couple
of firm twists by the fingers of that powerful, horny
hand, at last emancipated from Its accustomed toll
and you had an American imitation of a German baron
or a Trench count fit to hook an heiress on either
barb, if you only could induce it to keep its mouth
shut
But the metamorphosis te the long horn is not
going to be eo simple, albeit the Texas steer Is in
digenous to the soil, like the millionaire.
In the 'first place, a big proportion of Americans
have been so busy raising money that they haven't
really had time to devote their genius to the User
art of raising whisktra Plenty of them simply
ripped off the crop, mornings, with the old rasor dad
gave them on their twenty-first birthday, and let it
go at that.
With others, soap, and the muscles they developed
la those early days, sufficed for the kaiser's former
brand of moustache; hat this mow one well it takes
the finest kind of valet to pat it into shape. Em
the barbers axe not certain, yet. whether it aught to
call for the hot Iron or a cold twist.
Then. too. there are the haira Any little old
moustache would do for the "kaiser" of last spring.
Bat the "kaiser" of this summer requires a total linear
measurement of no less than half a foot
Of lata tha kaiser has been showing a fondness for
the society of American millionaire i. Pterpont Mor
gan has to swap yacht visits with htm, and Carnegie
aad be discuss the reformation of the English lan
guage. Harrtmaa Is due nest for the class of captain
emeritus of Industry whose degree Is confe-red In sn
Invitation from Wilhelm to hoard his yacht and talk
It over, and he real, good chum -
Common courtesy to a reigning monarch, whose
position Is so overwhelming that his Invitation
eraeaats to a oemmaad, woVild require that they snatch
his moustache. Caa they lie It? "a
Tee. ell three ef th.rai lHarriman beet of all.
What the rest of as trtay look like Is raarr than
the majority ef a can rvets entll the blow falta .
But. above, we eee what three famous Americans
nay reeesablo wbaa tha kaiser's fashion lavades
Ajgsartcsv . .