The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-08-24
EXPORTING LIVE CATTLE.
What the Business Has Grown
10 and How iI is Conducted
Srn,,

the present year $4,000 beeves. The
statement is prepOsterous. Only
the Monarch line has steamers es-
pecially constructed for the cattle
carrying trade and capable of carry
ing as many as 600 head at one time.
There are only two other lines that
carry cattle, and each of them does
about half the business of the Mon
arch line. There will undoubtedly be
extraordinarily large shipments this
fall, but they will reach no such
amount as $4,000 head in those two
months. During the year ending
July the Monarch line carried over
715S head of American cattle and
from 5000 to $500 head of sheep,
which amounts doubled will give
about the total shipments in that
period from this port. This year
the shipmentswill be very consid-
erably larger, it is anticipated, al
though they have nOtyet begun, be-
cause of the remarkably and unnat-
urally high prices that beef COM
mands this season in New York. AS
the market stands now, cattle pro-
ducers can make more money by
selling for local consumption here
than by shipping to Europe, but this
condition of affairs, it is believed,
will be reformed by autumn.
The first shipments of carcass beef
from this port to England were
made by Messrs. Sherman 81 Gillette,
on the Guion line of steamers, in
1875, and were arranged by Mr.. e.
Berlinger, who is now in charge of
the outward bound freight depart
ment of the Monarch line. Owing
to the low price and good supply of
gram in 1877, fattened marketable
cattle were cheap in this country,
and the good idea occurred to Mr..
Il. G.. Eastman of sending them over
alive for English consumption. lie
at first made his shipments by the
outside or irregular lines, and by
chartered steamers, and subsequent
ly by the Guion line. Now there
are three regular lines of steamers
the Monarch, National and Anchor
that practically monopolize the busI-
ness of carrying live cattle from
New York TO England.
"When American beef was first
sent over to England" said Mr.. Ber-
linger to a Sun reporter, "there was
q great deal of prejudice against it
in the popular British mind. 1t
stood to reason, EnglIshmen said,
that no beef could possibly be so
good as the roast beef 'hof hold
Hingland,' and the American article,
for time, had to be disposed of un-
der false pretense, so to speak. Tons
OF it were sold at high prices as
prime Scotch and butchers with
only American beef OH their stalls,
in many instances cOnspicuously dis
played signs: Only English beef
sold here aud English beef for Eng
lishmen.' But the butchers knew
what good beef was, and wss not
slow to perceive that we were send
ing TO them a prime article, just as
good as England could produce, and
gradually that knowledge spread,
until now the prejudice has been re-
moved and American beef actually
commands the highest prices in the
cattle yards at Depford.
line have been especially constructed
TO meet the requirements of this
trade. They each have three decks
fitted up with cattle stalls, and are
each capable of carrying 600 head
or over. One of them a year ago
carried 695 on one, trip. The partic-
ular requirements of the trade are
good ventilation, which is insured by
the heighth of eight feet between
decks and by mechanical appliances
for maintaining constant currents of
fresh air, extra power of condensors
to supply abundant fresh water, and
ample provision for carrying and
keeping in the best possible condi-
tion the food provided for the ami
mails during their voyage. Each
shipper supplies the hay and corn
upon which the cattle are to be fed,
and furnishes the men neces-
sary to care for them. The
company carry over tree and return
to this country one superintendent
aud five men for each one hundred
cattle shipped. 1t is the business of
these men to feed the auimals two
or three times a day, to water them
whenever necessary, and 10 keep
their stalls as clean as possible. The
water supplied is made by condens-
ing engines, is of the same quality
as that drank by the first cabin
passengers, and is practically un-
limited in quantity. For sick ami
mails hospitals are provided, large
roomy stalls under the open matches,
where they can get the maximum of
fresh air and can be conveniently
treated. ltis, of course, the interest
of the shipper to get his cattle to
market IN the best possible condi-
tion, and our interest to enable him
to do so, so that the cattle are well
treated.
"They are loaded ON board our
vessels at our docks by the Pavonia
ferry, jersey City, as they come off
the cars, and are discharged off
Deptford, a few miles below London,
where the great English stock yards
are. Very few of them come from
Texas, the Texas beef being a
stringy, tough, second class article,
unfit for expectation. Almost all of
them come from Ohio, Kentucky,
Illinois and Kansas, and are III the
very best condition. When corn is
low in price, and consequently fat
tening is cheap process, the ship
ments of beef are always large
other considerations being equal
aud the rates of freight are proper
toned to the demand. In 1873 as
much as 97 per head was paid
for carrying to England, and since
then the rate has varied between e
and e5. Just now there are no ship
ments worth speaking of, and a
nominal price oftransportiOn would
probably be about thirty shillings.
During the past month we have
carried about 5000 head of sheep,
but even the transportation of NUT
ton is diminished seriously by the
ruling high price of meat in this
market. The Guion and the Inman
lines carry large quantities of carcass
beef, but nothing in comparison with
the magnitude of the live-cattie
trade, which is growing rapidly year
by year. The time occupied by our
vessels in making the outward pas.
sage Is, on an average, twelve days
but we are putting on a new steamer
that will do it in eleven"
National Bar Association.