The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1875-06-05

The trade in Toxaa cattle has
grown in the past eight or ten years
to commercial proportions of which
the general public has but q vague
comprehension. The capital in
vested in it, and the labor employ
cd by it, with its relations to other
industrial enterprises and to the
general comfort and welfare, give
it an interest and Importance second
to that of no other single branch of
internal traffic. Its operations ex-
tent from the Rio Grande to the
Atlantic, and from the Missouri to
the Pacific. Cattle driven from
Texas to Kansas and shipped thence
TO market, make much Of the beef
now sold and consumed in all the
large citios Of the country. The
trade has in fact, become distinct
business of itself, as much as the
cotton trade or the grain trade, hav-
ing shaping influence upon the
general markets, and affecting, in
in no light degree, tho ebb and flow
of national finances,
Tho cattle are raised on tho PAM
pas of Texas, and driven north to
Kansas in the early spring and
summer, in herds of two to ten
thousand, where they are grazed
until ready for sale. During the
last eight years nearly three mil
lions of beeves have thus been put
upon the market. In the last year
alone about 465, 900 head were han
died, the cash value of which, on
the cars in Kansas, was 100000;
and when finally sold to butchers
and packers they brought, in round
numbers, 100000. This gives a
fair comparative idea of the annual
transactions, and suggests at
glance the large amount of money
involved in this great business.
Formerly the traffic was merely
local, and the only marts were the
southern coast cities; but the ex-
tension of the railroad system to
tho rich grazing grounds beyond
the Missouri has turned it almost
entirely northward, and created
new markets thousands of miles from
the once isolated region where the
cattle are produced.
The city of st. Louis has had
fair share of the commercial advan-
tages resulting from this newly de-
veloped industry; but it might, by
proper efforts, secure a great deal
moro. There is no reason why all
the cattle grazed in Kansas, and all
shipped from Texas direct, should
not reach the eastern markets over
the Transportation lines converging
here from the west and south. The
slaughtering and packing branch of
the business, which is fast becoming
an important itom in itself, might
also be easily monopolized here.
In short, st. Louis has it in her
power TO become the center and |
of this important, grow
ing and profitable trade. Her To-
cation, with reference both to pur-
and selling, is all that could /
be desired; her railroad facilities
could not have been better if they 1
had been devised for the special |
purpose of attracting ard accom-
the cattle interest and |
she has millions Of available capital
that might be put in excellent use
in grasping and conducting the
business through all its ramifi-
cations. 1t only needs nerve, en-
srgy and concert of action TO d.
verge this valuable traffic from the
several channels through which it
now flows, and concentrate it at
St. Louis for all time
There will never be a better time
% begin these efforts than the
present spring affords. The men
engaged in raising and driving the
attic. as well as those interested in
he barter peculiar to Kansas, are
N many respects dissatisfied with
existing arrangements, aud could
,asily be induced to cooperate in a
for putting the business
m a new basis By cutting loose from