The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1879-08-21
GRAIN VS.. STOCK VS.. SHIPPING.
A Talk WITH OUR FARMELs.

A TALK WITH OUR FARMELs.
An expression Of opinion from some of our
Sedgwick county farmers through the EAGLE
would be desirable touching the above prop.
osition. II is matter which we have been
now like to hear from men of practical expe-
rience. We have thought about as follows
Far too much of the profits of the farmers
of this valley are consumed in shipping. We
ship too much grain, and we ship too much
stock. The amount paid out in shipments
would make this county rich in ten years.
The amount paid tor shipping the rough and
ofial alone would In few years supply all
our wants and many !uXuries additional. No
gram should he shipped in the rough, and no
stock should be shipped alive. Less wheat,
more corn; the wheat all put into -four, and
the corn all into stock, is our idea. Where
is the sense Of hauling bran, shorts, and dirt
thousand miles. the cost of such hauling to
be paid by the producer! Where is the
the sense Of shipping live hog or live OK 4
thousand miles. which will not only fall of
twenty per cent. in transit, but leave the
raiser of the animal to pay the freight on the
hair, the horns, the hoofs and the otlal, TO
say nothing of the feverish and diseased con
dition of the meat and consequent depression
of price when it reaches the market. For in
the end all these deductions and expenses
comes out Of the pocket Of the producer. II
seems TO as that the farmers Of the west gen.
orally are robbing the soil TO enrich others at
a distance. If there is profit in the manufae-
ture of -four it is wanted at home. IL there
is profit in feeding stock we want il at home
II sweet, pure meats are high priced in mar
kcts where they cannot be produced, we want
the reward for having provided such meat
In fact. we want a revolution in the manner
of marketing our products. as also a partial
revolution in the kinds Of our productions.
The time is past when il was necessary to
wait for freezing weather to slaughter pork
and beef. Take for instance the packing
house at Atchison. with the temperature OF
its cooling room never more than two degrees
above freezing. Let the thermometer be
standing at one hundred In the shade three
thousand hogs can be slaughtered in day.
cooled. cut up and put into refrgerating
ears and sent of fresh and sweet to the high
est markets in the land. to command the best
prices going. No hoofs. horns and offal 10
pay freight on, and no shrnkage or suffering
of live animals. \ ear load of cattle shipped
from Wichita TO Chicago will lose in weight
from two thousand to four thousand pounds ::
hogs nearly as much. sSay nothing of the
hair. horas, hoofs aud oilal. il that shrinka &c
was saved to the raiser of the cattle does any
one suppose that corn would be sold for fif-
teen TO twenty cents per bushel: No! every
bushel would go into stock, and every bush
el for such purposes would he worth fifty IN
stead of twenty cents. Then we conclude
that we want a smaller shipment of corn, a
smaller shipment of wheat, and smaller ship
ment of live stock. and more cattle. more
hogs. mere mills and more packing houses !:
which means simply that all our productions
should be made ready for the consumer before
it leaves home. thereby leaving in the hands
of the producer not only the profits of manip-
uation but the greater amounts lost in
shrinkagc and in waste.
We don't know that we have made our
ideas very clear. IL is only conviction that
using one-half of 4 crop TO day for marketing
the other half is not good political economy !;
that the great loss and shrinkagc that the
producer at present is subjected To is unwise.
and that both might be avoided by the CO.
operation of the home producer and the
home caditalis. : or, by the proper enterprise
of both.