On That Date, No. 19

“The anti-meat crusade . . . is really a movement of hope for the meat producer. Thousands of farmers and stockmen have long believed that the . . . great meat barons are, in plain English, just uncommon thieves. . . . 

“[The packers are] committing nothing more or less than highway robbery on the farmer and petit larceny on the consumer, in order to satisfy their selfish greed, which appears to be their general policy --- a policy that the farmers have been unable to resist, scattered asnd isolated as they are, and therefor unable to form an organization which would be effective. . . .

“Why not . . . ‘fight fire with fire’? The ideal way would be for [cities] to build small, cement, sanitary, slaughter-houses ---- such as nearly every European city has. This is only an extension of the principle of municipal ownership of water-works, electric-light plants, etc. Then let the bankers, merchants and all live, public-spirited people of the community form a cooperative meat market company.

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Letter to the editor from W. F. Ramsay, American Magazine 70 (1910): 138-140.