FOOD: Yes, We Have No Beefsteaks

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Question: What would draw a crowd of 4,500 people—almost all housewives— to the opening of a Thom McAn men's shoe store in Davenport, Iowa?

Answer: Steak.

All 4,500 turned out on the promise that just one of them would win a supply of four beef filets weekly for a year. Similar scenes occurred at Thom McAn openings in Dallas, Roanoke, Va., and South Bend, Ind. In St. Louis, three banks were attracting lines of new depositors by promising each of them a poke of rib eye. Juicy bovine slabs were joining Waring Blenders and Miami Beach vacations on America's list of treasured giveaways.

The beef industry—farmers, ranchers, packers and especially cattle feed-lot operators—could not have hoped for better testimony to the point that it was trying to make. The Nixon Administration's price freeze on beef, which is not scheduled to end until Sept. 12, was shutting off the supply to the public. The price of live animals was not frozen, and packers could not afford to buy at uncontrolled prices and sell at controlled prices. The number of cattle slaughtered at packing plants dropped 10% two weeks ago and plunged an estimated 23% last week. At least 40 plants shut down throughout the Middle West. There were reports of cattle rustling in Utah and a hijacked meat truck in Stamford, Conn. Canadian operators were buying cattle in the U.S., dressing it in Canada and selling it back to the U.S. at prices above freeze levels because there is no freeze on imports.

Black Markets. For the U.S. consumer, who has an almost emotional attachment to beef, the meat situation was similar to that of World War II—but without the patriotic fervor. Black markets developed as some packers sold sides of beef for whatever price they could get; the usual subterfuge was to sell lower-grade cuts at high-grade prices. Supermarkets adopted a form of rationing, occasionally limiting shoppers to a roast or two each. All across the country, shoppers discovered empty or nearly empty meat trays; in Cleveland, a fight broke out between two women over the last roast in the store. Sales of home freezers heated up to records as many shoppers hoarded, risking disaster if the electricity went out.

In Washington the purveyor to the White House staff, Bernard Goldstein, protested the price freeze by refusing to supply President Nixon with his usual choice cuts, and directors of the Cattlemen's Hall of Fame in New Braunfels, Texas, promptly elected Goldstein Man of the Month. Jails, hospitals and college cafeterias will have to cut down on servings of meat and stretch their meals with macaroni and plentiful, reasonably priced seasonal produce, including potatoes, snap beans, corn, squash, cucumbers, bananas, peaches, cantaloupes and nectarines. At least two U.S. institutions, however, vowed to pay any price or bear any burden in order to get great portions of red meat for their highly prized charges. One was the Cleveland Browns football team; the other was Chicago's Brookfield Zoo.