[Clipping: "Record Drouth Imperils Gigantic King Ranch"] Part: 1 of 2
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THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
HOUSTON'S FAMILY NEW
eration with less adequate finan-
cial and other resources would
be "out of business in this drouth."
The board of .directors of the
American Meat Institute took a
brief glimpse Sunday of the poor
range condition. They came over
from a meeting at Corpus Christi
for a tour of a part of the ranch,
including huge cattle feeding pens
and a thoroughbred horse farm
which has produced two Kentucky
Derby winners in six years. The
board includes packers and other
meat processors.
At a chuck-wagon luncheon,
Kleberg told them the removal of
price controls in the meat indus-
try was imperative if the coun-
try was to get the meat produc-
lion now being called for by the
government to meet the minimum
requirements of an increasing
population in this country.
"The production of beef gen-
erally requires long-'time plan-
ning," said Mr. Kleberg. "And
the production of beef requires
a very long cycle. The imposi-
tion of all sorts of artificial con-uth Imperils Gigantic King Ranch
Record Dro
By New York Times.
Kingsville, April 7.-The King
Ranch, the largest single beef pro-
ducing operation in the United
States if not the world, is suffer-
ing the worst drouth of its 99
year history.
There hasn't been a general rain
over the nearly 1,000,000 acres of
the ranch since last July and
emergency measures have been
employed to keep alive the cattle
grazing the vast range. Its usual
cattle population of 85.000 head
is down approximately 60.000 be-
cause of the dry spell now ex-
tending into its third year.
Robert J. Kleberg, Jr., head
of the big spread and leader in
the development of Brahman-
type beef cattle suited to the
short grass and hot climate,
said the drouth was "far worse
than the 1916-17-18 drouth. and
that was bad enough." He esti-
mated the oil and gas rich ranch
had spent $1,000.000 in the last -
year on its extensive efforts to
combat the drouth and keep its
great quantities of beef moving
to market to help meet a grow-
ing demand.
He observed that a cattle op-"The decrease in the amount Mr. Kleberg ended his talk on
of exportable beef is all over the this note:
world," said Mr. Kleberg; "The "To meet the minimum re-
exportable beef of the world has quirements of the ever-inereas-
shrunk from an average of 780,- ing population of the United
000 tons in 1939, 1940 and 1941 States, the increased produc-
to 470,000 tons as of last re- tion of feed and livestock is im-
ports.", perative. It is obvious that we
Referring to the record of ex- cannot depend on imports. We
perience in other parts of the must depend on ourselves, our
world, Mr. Kleberg asked: processors, our ranchers and
"Are we in the United States farmers and their ability to in-
going to learn from such les- crease the yield of the land.
sons? If we are, we'd better for-. "Today, their efforts are hob-
get about price controls on beef, bled by government controls as
for good!" in Cuba-as in Argentina-as
In the United States, the popu- elsewhere.
lation has increased 16 per cent "And it is short-sighted, to say
in the past decade and meat pro- the least, for our government to
duction has gone up only 9 per urge increased production of all
cent, Mr. Kleberg explained. kinds of resources and, at the
"And our production is going same time, throw up barriers
down-not up," he warned, against increased production."- -~
trols dksturbs the cycle-planning
and confidence of the producer
-confuses and stymies the in-
dustry-and automatically de-
creases production.
"The ceiling becomes the floor-
the base-in any regulated mar-
ket, and the price moves from
there up and out into the black
market."
Mr. Kleberg pointed to the rec-
ord of other countries-notably
Argentina, to show that controls
have cut beef production in those
nations also. He said that Argen-
tina, historically the land of
plenty of beef, is now observing
two "meatless days". a week.
Other countries mentioned
were Cuba, which has a "long
and erratic" experience with
controls and Britain, which is
"full of controls." In both, pro-
puction has fallen lamentably.-
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New York Times. [Clipping: "Record Drouth Imperils Gigantic King Ranch"], clipping, 1942-04-07?; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1456356/m1/1/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rosenberg Library.