Rare Steak

Canada's lower meat prices have long been the envy of U.S. housewives. Last week, T-bone steaks were 70-c- a lb. in Lethbridge and sirloin was 75-c- in Ottawa. This was a third less than New Yorkers were paying, but Canadian housewives thought the prices outrageous. In Ottawa they paraded with a papier-mache cow, demanding a rollback. They would certainly protest more loudly if prices jumped again--as prices certainly would if the government lifted the embargo on beef shipments to the U.S. Yet cattlemen in Calgary, selling choice steers for record prices as high as $23.70 a cwt., griped because the embargo was still on.

Ever since war's end the government had intended to lift the embargo (imposed in 1942 at President Roosevelt's request) as soon as it could be done without upsetting the butcher's cart. That day never came. First, the embargo had to be kept to insure a full domestic supply while heavy shipments went to Britain. When it looked as though the British shipments would taper off, there was always some technical reason for keeping the embargo a little longer.

Cattlemen kept hammering the government to restore their "natural market" (TIME, Jan. 12, 26). Last month, Agriculture Minister James Gardiner boldly announced that the embargo was coming off "soon." It looked like a shrewd move to win friends in the west and help Gardiner capture the Liberal Party leadership in August. But the mere promise of action sent cattle and beef prices up. That made consumers sore. And when Gardiner's great day seemed too long a-coming, cattlemen growled their disappointment.

Allowing $4 a cwt. for shipping, shrinkage and 1 1/2-c- lb. duty, Canadian cattlemen could still have made about $8 more by selling south of the border last week. Growers argued that it wasn't the dollars so much as "a solid U.S. market" for the future that they wanted. The best bet was that the government would give it to them in midsummer. Then, packers predicted, sirloin would go to $1.10 a lb. in Ottawa--or to whatever outrageous figure U.S. buyers are paying at the time.

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