The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-13
PORK POINTS.
The story of Diseased Hogs in
Cincinnati.
Arxnours Game to keep up
q Wheat deal.


The telegram from Cincinnati on yester-
day that new and probably fatal disease
had broken out among the hogs in the
stock yards in that city has created no
alarm among the Chicago pork men, and
the report has not affected the market in
the least. The story is very generally dis
credited, and interviews with several of
the leading packers and hog buyers as
well as with the officers of the stock yards
disclose unanimity of opinion that it is a
silly yarn concocted to break prices. The
health of the hogs in the Chicago yards is
said TO be better than for a long time,
there being no evidence of pleuro-pneumo-
MIA, lung diseases of any description, or
trlchinae, among the occupants of the pens.
MIR. Sherman superintendent of the yards,
says that he is always on the alert
! to detect the presence of disease among
cattle and hogs at the yards, and that the
reports which have come to him of late
been of a very encouraging character.
There have been no complaints, and so far
as he can learn, there is nothing to com
plain about. Mr.. 7. ID. Armour says it is
the people who are in trouble now and
not the swine, and that as long as they are
supplied with water that is full of worms
they will have their hands too full to both
er much about pigs. Another large pack
er laughed when asked his opinion, and
said the report had evidently been origi-
mated by some fellows who were short on
/ pork and hoped in this way to knock down
! prices. They need not go to that trouble,
! he added, 'for the market will tumble quick
/ ly enough. The fact is the entire pork pro-
/ duct is in the hands of one or two men,
and the rest of the world is letting it sew
| erely alone. The stock accumulated on
their hands at the rate of about twenty
million pounds a week, and it will take all
| the capital in four cities to carry it much
! longer. 1t has come to such pass that
| when a packer contracts for two or three
thousand hogs. he jumps right into his
| buggy, drives into the city, and sells the
product to the men who are running the
deal They are afraid to hold the stuff a
minute longer than they can help. Sixty
per cent of the pork that is packed in the
United States has heretofore been sold in
Europe, yet for the past three months there
has been no demand whatever from that
quarter, and as long as prices keep so,
there is no likelihood Of there being any.
1t would be hard enough to sell our meats
to Europe at low prices this season, but
when the market is held up by the tail to
its present height the demand ceases alto
gether.
ARMOURs LITTLE GAME.
1t is said at the produce exchange that
Mr. Armour of Chicago is undoubtedly I'M
der the present wheat deal. Chicago ad
vices from private sources state that he has
monopolized lake freights by chartering a
number of large grain vessels for several
trips from Chicago and Milwaukee to Buff
falo, and by the purchase of a grain fleet
of his own, thus beating J. 3. Lyon at his
usual game Of controlling lake freight ton
mage and rates, and shutting competitors
out of the market except on his terms. The
gossip here is that Lyon will now be obliged
to hold his millions of corn. Fat Chicago un-
til Armour gets his wheat shipped or comes
to his terms on freights. The fleet bought
By Armour & Co. has carrying capacity
of Il quarter of a million bushels, which, !
with the vessels chartered, will bring from |
a half to three quarters of million at a
trip. This grain will be shipped by canal
from Buffalo as Armour says he is in no |
hurry about getting it to market for he |,
believes it is good property. Shippers
however, say it is conundrum TO
them how he is going to make |
any profit az No. 2 Chicago can not be |
towed down here at under $1.1S by lake
and canal without New York charges, /
equal to about two cents more. Having
these vessels on hand, he is compelled to
employ them, however, if it does not pay. /
What Lyon will do with his corn mean
while remains to be seen, for when recent
ly here he said there would be in June and
July more hot corn than was ever known
in this market, though what was then in the
Chicago elevators would 90 through all
right The amount of No Chicago wheat
inspected out at Chicago is now about
100000 bushels daily, while receipts are
only ten to twelve cars and the 'shOrts"
may find when Armour has shipped all the
No 2 wheat out of that market solution
of how he is going to make profit on it.
There are renewed evidences of cutting
freight rates from the west, for parties at
the produce exchange are buying corn to
arrive from Peoria this month at an equiva-
lent Of 593 060 cents in New York, on
schedule rates of freight, while May corn
is selling here at Sc cents. They are able
to do this while the regular receivers of the
Peoria corn can not compete with them and
are compelled to lose their customers.
CINCINNATIs DISEASED HOGS
The official investigation made by the
health officers of Cincinnati into the dis
ease which has prevailed to certain ex
tent among hogs at the tock-yards has
served rather to excite than allay suspicion
among consumers. The hospital surgeons
who made postmortem examinations of
the hogs declare that no trichinae exist in
the flesh, and seem agreed that the disease
is simply an aggravated form of pneumo
MIA These examinations have shown that
the vital organs as well as the flesh and
tissues of the hog are radically affected
by the disease. Several of the sick ami
mails were killed by the surgeons, and an
examination made at an early stage of the
disease shows a serious disorder of the
whole body The pork men assert that
the disease is not epidemic, and is not
more extensive than it is every season; but
the fact that the health officer deemed it
wise to inquire into the disease and report
upon it to the health board has aroused a
general feeling of suspicion. The stock
wards are carefully guarded, and it is al
most impossible to learn the extent of the
disease.