THE MEAT TRADE
The export of Meat from the River Plate Territories is no new thing; the first of such exports being authorized by Philip III of Spain in 1602.
The export under this edict was entirely confined to jerked beef; the salting industry only obtaining important development considerably later. It was not until 1793 that we find another Royal Edict which granted freedom from Export and Import duties for the salted meat and tallow of Buenos Aires.
About three-fourths of the exports under these Edicts usually went to Havana and the remainder to Spain.
The next development of this industry was begun when in 1841 a certain Hipolito Doinnel established a salting factory at the foot of the Cerro at Montevideo; at which he also manufactured soap, candles and sulphuric acid.
During all this period the export of hides was constantly much greater than that of meat.
The first mention of the export of horse hair relates to the year 1585, when from 300 to 400 mares were ordered to be killed so that their tails might be sent to the Guinea coast to be bartered for slaves.
The first privilege or patent granted in the now already independent River Plate Territories for meat preservation was granted by the Congress at Paraná, in 1854, to one Samuel Laffone Quevedo for the exclusive use of a machine invented by him for the preparation and pressing of salted beef.
Further experiment in preservation, by either heat, cold or in a vacuum, led to many local patents being granted for various processes from the year 1867 onward, to the present day in fact; in respect of alternative systems or suggested improvements of those generally in use.
The historic beginning, however, of the present River Plate Meat Industry was made in the year 1877 in the spring of which La Frigorifique and in the autumn of which La Paraguay, specially fitted boats, sailed from Buenos Aires with cargoes of meat preserved by the freezing and chilling systems discovered by Mr. Charles Tellier.
Thus, while in the past the River Plate Territories exported only sun-dried meat for the slaves on the Brazilian and Havana sugar plantations, now they supply meat to the most highly civilized and exacting countries of the world.
The free export of frozen meat was sanctioned by the Argentine Congress in 1884, two years after the first of the existing cold storage establishments in Argentina had been started by Mr. Alfred Drabble. An establishment which still continues to carry on business successfully under the control of “The River Plate Fresh Meat Company.”
Other large companies which exploit this industry are the Sansinena “La Negra” (est. 1883), the “Las Palmas Produce Co.” (est. 1892), the “La Plata Cold Storage Co.” (est. 1902), the “La Blanca” Cold Storage (est. 1902), the Sansinena “Cuatreros” (est. 1903), “The Smithfield and Argentine Meat Co.” (est. 1905), and the “Frigorifico” (est. 1905).
The Meat Trade recognizes an average difference of weight between Argentine and Uruguayan beef and between Argentine, Uruguayan and “Patagonian” mutton. Argentine quarters of beef run about 12 to the ton and Uruguayan about 14 to the ton. Argentine mutton carcases run about 40, Uruguayan about 45 to the ton, and mutton carcases from Patagonia (in Argentina) some 2 or 3 lbs. lighter than Uruguayan.
Already in March, 1915, British Trade Reports showed that the meat trade in Great Britain was particularly dull on account of the extremely high prices ruling and the impossibility of retailers being able to get an equivalent in their shops. Since then, through the fact of the Governments of the belligerent powers being, as they are and are expected to be, large buyers, the conditions of the British Trade have been completely, if temporarily, changed by the War.[44]