The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-05-10
ABOUT RINGS.
Speeches of Senators Vest and
Plumb on the Alleged Chi
cago Cattle "Trust."
It's Power Painted IN Startling
Colors by the Missouri
Statesman.
FIFTIHTH CONGRESS.
SENATE.


cussion of the land bill, participated i1
by Senators SpOOner, Berry, Palmer
DOlph, Teller and Call, the bill was laid
over, and will be taken up to morrow al
the c'oJe of the, morning business. The
senate then resumed consideration of the
bill for the establishment of bureau OF
animal industry, and to facilitate the ex-
portation of livestock and their products
Senator Palmer addressed the senate in
support of the bill, a ad had read various
communications to show the animus of
the opposition to the bill. The general
idea conveyed was that the opposition
came from the existing bureau of animal
industry. Ia conclusion he expressed the
hope that the bill would pass,
Senator Vest said that if one-half
of what was said in the cor
re3pondenoe which he had just
heard was true, the commissioner
of agriculture should be hurled out of
official life, disgraced and dishonored.
If the commissioner had used his official
position to defeat or advance legislation,
he was unworthy to be a messenger in,
much less than the head of, great de-
partment. But hs, Vest, could not believe
the statements. He had been interested
in search of truth all through the labyrinth
of speeches and literature on this
ject. He could not support the
bill. He proceeded to speak
of what he called "the cattle syndicate,
and said that the people were helpless and
within its power; that it was the most
terrible tyranny ever exercised. There
were five men, or five firms in the city of
Chicago, which regulated the price of
cattle every day. They met every night
and decided prices for the next day. lhe
Missouri farmer who learned from the
market quotations that cattle were or =
cents pound, shipped his cattle to Chi
that the cyndicate had put beef down to
2 or 215 cents. He could not store his
cattle, as they would be diminished every
day in weight and quality, and so he was
forced to sell. He went to an agent of
Armour's, and was told that the price was
215 cents, SO he went to another agent
and got the same answer. He was met
all over the city with the unvaryipg
response, 212 cents per pound and he had
to take it. So that these men owned the
cattle raiser's property and confscated it
as if they possessed the right to take it
from his farm without paying him one
cent.
"Talk," said Senator Vest, "about
trusts; talk about pools! The cattle pool
of Chicago is the most infamous
~ amy that ever existed in the Unite
States. They have got their collar on
the cattle producers of the entire
west, and know no remedy for it. The
statesman who would invent the remedy
would deserve monunant more enduring
than capital. He would perform the
highest benefit to the people and of cattle
raisers of the country.
Senator Plumb also had something to
say on the same subject. In his opinion
the worst combination in the country was
the combination of beef and
pork packers, having Its head
quarters in Chicago. There was no
other combinnation-the Standard oil
trust, sugar trust, coffee trust, or any
other trust that had had so powerful and
so baneful an influence as that combins-
tion. For years the price of cattle to the
producers had been going down. They
had gone down, he thought, so per cent.
At the same time the prices of meat to
consumers had gone up and every
single dollar of difference had gone
into the pockets of that combination.
So perfect was their control that they ao-
solutely not only knew how many cattle
were to arrive each day in Chicago, but
over what railroad lines they were to
come, where they had been shipped from,
their character, and the men who shipped
them. When the cattle reached Chicago
the syndcate's representatives were sent
to see them and to put price on them,
and that was the price at which
they had to be sold, unless it
was lower. No cattle commission
man dared to set up for himself in Chlca-
go; his occupation would be Immediately
gone. Under the operation of this trust,
the price of cattle had declined unneCes
sarily and destructively. 1t was safe to
say that op every steer of three years old
and upwards, raised west of the Missis-
sippl river, during the past five years,
the market value had been by
this combination reduced not less than
$40 head. The damage TO the state of
Kansas alone during that period had been
more than $4O,0OOO00, and the wealth of
the syndicate had grown proportionately.
They had committee now having in
their pockets the money of this "stock
ring" to get congress to give them con-
troll of the question of cattle quaran-
tine. With that control Chicago
would be made "open water" and
st. Louis could be quatantined against
Practically, there was the same influence
in st. Louis and in Kansas City. This
combine" had allies in railroad mana
gers. They had made railroad officials
partners in their stock yards, partners in
their feeding stations and had given them
sops out of all the profits derived by them
from the time the cattle were
shipped until the cattle reached
New York or elsewhere. Step
by step they had come TO the final con-
dition where they actually fixed the
prices of cattle just as though they were
the men who raised them and were the
only persons in the world who did raise
them. When it was considered that they
proposed to have congress rivet the final
chain on the cattle industry 10 their be-
half, he was lost between ad
mfration and indignation at their
audacity. He believed that the
commissioner of agriculture would do as
well, with the powers given in the bill, as
any body else = He had great confidence