The High Price of Bacon
A local packing manager pushes back against rumors that Seattle’s market is driving up the cost of smoked meats.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The following letter has been received by the Post-Intelligencer from W. Marriott, manager of the Cudahy Packing Company, relative to the cause of the advance in cured meats: 'To the Editor: He must be a queer joker on the staff of the Post-Intelligencer who has been filling up space in the market reports with stories to the effect that the Seattle packing houses are responsible for the present high prices of smoked and salt meats and lard. The reason for the seemingly high figures now obtaining everywhere in the United States is that there has not been in three years so small a stock of meats in Chicago as at the present; and this in spite of the fact that packers west of Chicago have this year killed about a million more hogs than in 1891. With reference to Portland and California houses offering smoked meats at lower figures than we are asking, we would suggest that possibly some of these firms have on hand some winter-cured meats which do not compare favorably with our freshly cured goods, and they are proportionately anxious to dispose of them away from home.'
“He must be a queer joker on the staff of the Post-Intelligencer who has been filling up space in the market reports with stories to the effect that the Seattle packing houses are responsible for the present high prices.”
This 1892 dispute mirrors the modern tension in Seattle’s supply chain economy, where local price hikes are often blamed on regional industry practices rather than national inventory shortages. Just as Marriott defended his packing house against accusations of price gouging, modern Seattle businesses continue to navigate public scrutiny regarding the rising cost of living.
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