Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-05-10
HE CATTLE POOL.
Senator'S Vest and Plumb Speak Plain
Words About the Chica 20 Cattle Pool.


Senator's Vest and Plumb Speak Plain
Words About the Chicago Cattle Pool.
WASHINGTON. May 4-The Animal In
1ustry Bureau bill being under considera-
ton in the Senate yesterday Senators Vest
and Plumb spoke in PLAIN terms Of the out
rageOus power exerted by the Chicago
cattle syndicate.
Mr.. Vest said that if one-tenta of what
was stated in the correspondence which
had just been read was true, the Commits
sioner of Agriculture should be hurled out
of official life, disgraced and dlshonored.
If the Commissioner had used his official
position to defeat or advance legislation he
was unworthy TO be messenE IN, much
less the head of, that great department.
But he Vest did not believe these state
ments. He had been diligently searching
for the truth all through the labyrinth Of
speeches and literature on this subject He
then spoke of what he called ''the cattle
syndicate" and said that the people were
he pless and within its power. 1t
was the most terrible tyranny ever
exercised. There were five men or
firms in the city OF Chicago which regu-
lated the price of cattle every day. They
met every night and fixed the price for the
next day. The Missouri farmer, who found
from the market quotations that cattle
were 3 TO 81 cents pound, shipped his
cattle TO Chicago, but when he got there he
found that the syndicate had put beef down
to or "a cents. He could not store his
cattle, as they would be diminished every
day in weight and quality, and so he was
coerced TO sell He went to an agent of
Armour's and was told that the price was
20 cents; ne went 10 another ArmoIr
agent and got the same answer. He WAS
met all over the city with the Unvaryiuc
response, "a cents a pound" AID he had
to take il. Thus these men owned the
cattle-ralser's property and contiscated it
rs if they possessed the right to take it
from his farm without paying him a cent.
Talk" said Mr.. Vest, "about trusts;
talk about pools; the cattle pool Of Chicago
Is the most Infamous tyranny that ever
existed in the United States. They have
got the collar on the cattle producers OF
the entire West And / know no remedy
for it The statesman who would invent
the remedy would deserve a monument
more enduring than the capitol. He would
perform the highest beneiaction on the
people of the Northwest aud on the cattle
raisers Of the country.
Mr.. Plumb had also something to say on
the same subject. In his opinion, the worst
combination IN the country was the COM
bination of beef and pork packers, having
Its headquarters IN Chicago. There was
no trust or combination, the Standard oil
trust, the sugar trust, the copper trust, or
any other trust that had had so powerful
or so baneful an influence as that combina-
ton. For years the price of cattle 20 pro-
Gucers had been going down. They hal
gone down, he thought. fifty per cent. AT
consumers had gone up, and every single
dollar Of the difference had gone into the
pockets Of that combination. So per-
feet was their control that they knew alb
soIutely not only 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 vino shipped them.
When the cattle reached Chicago tie syn
dicate's representative was sent TO view
them and put 4 price upon them and that
was the price at which they had to be sold
unless il was made lower No cattle COM
mission man cared TO set up for himself in
Chicago. His occupation woul be imIne-
dlately gone. Under the operation of this
trust, the prices Of cattle had declined IN |
necessarily and destructively. II was safe |
TO say that on every steer Of three years |
old and upward raised west of the Missis- !
sippi river during the past five years the |
market value had been, by this comblna- /
ton, reduced not less than $40 head. The |
damage TO the State of Kansas alone dur |
ing that period OF time had been more |
than 10000 coo and the wealth of the |
syndicate had grown proportionately. !
They had a committee there now having i'll
their pockets the money of this stock ring
question of the cattle quarantine. With |
that control Chicago would be made
open water and ST. Louis could be qnaran-
tined against Practically there was the
same influence in st. Louis and in Kansas
City. This combine had allies in the rail
road managers They had allies in the
railroads. They had made railroad officials
partners in their stockyards, partners il
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 the abattoir in
New York or elsewhere. Step
by step they had come to the
final condition 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 he considered that they then
TO have Congress rivet the final
chain On the cattle industry In their behalf
he was lost between admiration and indig-
nation at their audacity. He believed that
the Commissioner of Agriculture would
do as well with the powers given in the
bill as nyboGy else. He had great
confidence in him. He would trust
him a thousand field before he would trust
any cue IN the ''conbne." He believed in
giving to the Commissioner of Agriculture
all the lowers proposed to be gwen to the
anc would not vote for any
that would detract from the power
and dignity OF that department.