Business: Down on the Range

In Eastern Seaboard supermarkets last week, bargain-hungry housewives bought choice sirloin steak at 69¢ a Ib. and heavily marbled porterhouse at 79¢—and impatiently demanded more when supplies temporarily ran short. Out on the broad Midwest ranges, cattlemen were not so happy. Beef prices have been sliding for months, are expected to stay low most of this year. On ten major Midwestern markets from Denver to Chicago, grass-fed steers that brought 28½¢ per Ib. in May sold for only 23¢ in December. In Kansas City, choice cattle slipped from 31¢ per Ib. in midsummer to 27¾¢ last week. Hogs and lambs have...