The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-08-09
A RIDE IN TEXAS.
The Cattle Trade-Its Dimensions and 1t
Needs.

The Cattle Trade-Its Dimensions and Its
Needs.
A correspondent who writes from Fort
Worth, Texas, says: My ride has been
through eighteen of the western and
northern counties-the great pastoral
region. The grass is long, thick and
nutritious. The streams come purling
in such frequency that the herds do not
need to be driven to obtain water, as is
the case in Kansas and Colorado. The
climate is SO mild that the cattle Craze
the year round. A little snow falls in
midwinter in the northern counties, but
only enough to swell the streams after
the next days sunshining. The grass
dries in November, and the stranger
would suppose that it had lost much, ii
not all of its juice. But appearances de-
ceive; it is as sweet and nutritious as i'll
June, and the truth is now confessed the
world over that mesquitefed Texas
beef is the finest and purest food.
The cattle trade of the State is already
immense, although the herds have to be
driven hundreds of miles before obtain
ing transportation to the North and
East. The western and northern coun-
ties are capable, do not doubt, of sup
plying not only our own continent, but
Europe, with beef, and the demand for
American meats in England is only the
small beginning of what must become an
immense inter-continental traffic. The
only objection offered to American beef
on the tables of London and Liverpool
is that when brought over in refrigera-
tors it is already slightly deteriorated
and must be cooked Immediately. The
causes of this deterioration are not far to
seek. The herds must now be driven
thousands of miles over the plains, in
some sections, and are weakened by the
inferior grasses and scarcity of pure wa
ter procurable on the journey.
They are prodded in this exhausted
state into badly ventilated cars, in which
they are so crowded that they cannot
breathe comfortably, or even stand at
ease, and if one falls he is trampled OF
horned to death, or dies of suffocation.
The yards along the railroad routes are
not numerous enough; cattle should be
unloaded for fodder, water and rest at
least once in eighteen hours; on the con-
trary, they are now kept thirty-six hours
and even forty-eight hours lii then
poisonous and enfeebling prisons. The
law whose passage was sought with SC
much earnestness by the Massachusetts
Humane Society, requiring the moving
of cattle trains at speed OF not less
than eighteen miles an hour, prescribing
the intervals at which they were to bt
unloaded, fed and watered, and pro
habited the detention of cattle trains Oh
side-tracks during unreasonable periods
and for trivial causes, is dead letter
Just as the other statute is forbiddint
the inclosure of more than a certain
| nunabUI in a of nortein diIncnslous
Laws are very good in their way, but
they do not enforce themselves. The
men who have charge of cattle in transit
know very little and care less about ami.
NAL hygiene Not that they intend tc
be brutal; they are simply ignorant
thoughtless and reckless. The evils o
cattle transportation, of which we hear(
so much five years ago, have been YER.
slightly modified, and the result of com
bined carelessness, neglect and wantol
brutality is the wretched condition il
which the beasts reach Boston and New
York. They are killed while overcom
by starvation, thirst and fatigue; tn
already deteriorated beef is hastil
packed in refrigerators. and, of cours
the meat is not of the very best qualit
when reopened, for it was not of tn
very best when packed.