Los Angeles Daily Herald

THE BATTLE OF LIFE.

The Butchers Fight to Supply New York With Meat.

New York, February 20.—The Mail and Express says: "A big fight is at hand and the prize is the meat supply of New York City. Three opposing armies have been struggling and planning during the past year against each other. Each possesses ammunition to the amount of $9,000,000. Slight skirmishes have been fought during the last few months, followed by a lull during the week just passed. However, the scheme has been unearthed, which for boldness and enterprise is unparalleled in history. The Cleaver National Consumers' Meat Company is its author, and has succeeded in surprising its foes, the Chicago dressed beef men and the city slaughterers. This is the scheme. The sale of Chicago dressed beef and city slaughtered carcasses is about even in New York. Last March the National Consumers met, formed a company and opened five retail stores in this city. It shipped dressed carcasses direct from the Montana range country, and thus became a rival not only of the city slaughterers and Chicago dressed beef men, but also of the retail butchers. With its forces concentrated and its capital multiplied, it will make a vigorous and diplomatic attack on the city slaughterers and Chicago men. Thus it proposes to call the retail butchers to its side by purchasing every shop in New York for cash, by making its proprietor a stockholder in the company, and retaining him as manager of the business. The company will supply all these stores with its own meat, and owning every retail establishment in the city, there will be no outlet for any other stock. This means the total abolition of city slaughtering and of all shipments of Chicago dressed beef to New York. This movement, it will be seen, is a very bold one. The Marquis de Mores, who is general of the Consumers' forces, is very confident of success, though reluctant at present to disclose the details of the scheme in question. "Our plan," he said yesterday, "is not to sell at wholesale to retail butchers, as seems to be the general impression. We desire to bring our stock direct to the consumer. Our company is to be merged into another very large syndicate and having abundant capital, we propose to buy up every retail store in this city either for cash or stock. If our negotiations are not successful, we can open three or four hundred independent retail shops. We first desire to give every retail butcher a chance to dispose of his business. The city slaughterers cannot compete with us." A. E. Foster, of Kansas City, the company's western manager, who was present during the interview, said that any possible opposition from the Chicago dressed beef company was not considered at present. Interviews with leading wholesale butchers are given. They are generally of the opinion that the plan won't work. They say that it will take about twenty millions to begin to buy all the retail stores. This will not give the company all the trade, as its meat is not equal in quality to city dressed, and opposition shops will spring up all around those of the syndicate. Managers of the Chicago dressed beef houses do not think much of the scheme.