Evening Star Newspaper, September 30, 1937, Page 37

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, THURSDAY,. SEPTEMBER 30, 1937. COST OF STEAKS IN STRATOSPHERE 32-Cent-Per-Pound Rise in Year Noted in New York. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, September 30.—There was no choice for Gotham's millions today—sizzling steaks were becoming rarer than rare. It wasn't the quality of the finished dish from the hands of culinary ar- tists that irked New Yorkers. It was the cost. Prices are skyrocketing. Housewives complained that “steak- Jess” days might be ahead, that they no longer could cut a good steak, or for that matter most meats, from the patterns of their budgets. Rastalirateurs asserted they no longer could serve steaks at a profit and there were threats from some to discontinue them temporarily on me- nus. Many admitted steaks no longer were featured Butchers, numbers of them, clamored that they were losing money by continuing in business, so critical is the meat sjtuation. Food Guide Issued. The tip-off was in a food guide from the city department of public markets, weights and measures, citing 8 347 per cent increase over 1936 in retail beef prices. There were other boosts recorded too. Pork, for instance, is up 12.4 per cent on the average. Lamb is up 10.5 per cent, veal 8.6 per cent, poultry 9.9 per cent, and dairy butter 5.1 per cent. There was one ray of optimism. Fish cost 5 per cent less. Housewives, retailers said, were shifting to diets containing greater proportions of vegetables, which are plentiful just now and selling for normal seasonal prices Wholesale meat packers blamed the rise on the floods and droughts of the last two years. More than 10,000,000 head of cattle, they said, were killed either by these disturbances or by | the Federal Agricultural Adjustment | Administration, which bought the farmers’ ailing herds. Shortage in the cattle market has eaused many packers to dip into accu- mulated inventories, it was said. Many restaurateurs and butchers claimed the packers were over-emphasizing the drought effects. Says He Loses Money. Jack Bleeck, restaurant proprietor, said, “I lose money on every steak I serve.” Housewives found, for example, that porterhouse steaks cost 28 cents at re= tail a year ago and 61 cents today. Other comparisons of beef were: Sir- loin, 39 cents, now 52; round, 39, now 51; rib roast, 29. now 43, and chuck steak, 24, now 33. Chickens for roasting, the depart ment of markets said, are selling for 40 cents now. CAUSE OF RISE. Livestock Men Attribute Boost to Supplies’ Cost. CHICAGO, September 30 (#).— High meat prices—in recent weeks— the highest in seven years or more for some cuts—are attributed by livestock men to reduced supplies, particularly of hogs as well as finished grain- fattened steers, Hog prices have been declining rather rapidly the past few days and are now around $1.50 per hundred- weight below the season's peak level reached in August. Steers, however, have been advancing and choice grain cattle have been selling well above $19 per hundredweight, the highest in 18 years. It is from these high-priced | cattle that the choicest steaks delivered | to the restaurant trade are cut. In Chicago wholesale markets top grades of beef loins here advanced 4 cents & pound in the past two weeks to 52 cents. Prices of best beef loins are now around record levels and | compared with a top of 29 cents for | beef a year ago. The top price for | pork loins has declined during the | past fortnight from 31 to 27 cents a| pound wholesale. Market authorities | attributed this partly to consumer re- action to high prices. Pork loins were 22 cents a pound a year ago. PRINCE GEORGES LISTS AVERAGE PUPIL COSTS Expenses Per Child Range From $30 Among Colored to $142 at Brandywine High. By a Staff Corresponcent of The Star. UPPER MARLBORO, Md., Septem- ber 30.—The average pupil being edu- | cated in a one-room school in Prince Georges County is costing $47,85, with the highest per-pupil cost being in the | Brook Ridge School, where $99.10 is| spent on each pupil, it was shown in | the report submitted to the county Board of Education by Supt. Nicholas | Orem yesterday. Pupils in two-room schools average $52.39 a year, the highest per-pupil cost of $74.29 being in the Fort Wash- ington School. Graded schools in the county showed an average per-pupil cost of $41.87, with Brandywine and Mitchellville tied for high honors with an average of $68.33. Among the high gchools Brandywine leads with an average cost of $142.73 per pupil, as against the average for all high schools of $75.63. Colored schools of the county have the lowest per-pupil cost, with an average of $30.86. Horse, Mule Kill Boy. CENTREVILLE, Md., September 30 (P —Willlam Smith Brown, 10, died of s fractured skull apparently suf- fered when he was thrown from a horse and stepped on by a mule. The boy rode off to drive the cows home. Later & farm hand found him in the field. Women who douche find "flVfln Novogo %o refreshing and soothing. Novodo is a convenient cleans- Ing preparation in effervescent tablet form. On sale at drug and department stores. Another Modess Product N P i f t i 3 = NOWHERE ELSE IN THE U. S. CAN YOU DUPLICATE THE QUALITY, FASHION AND VALUE YOU GET HERE IN- DYNAMICS ? e e b 1207 F o T7th & K e 3212 14th