Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-30

ducers and Butchers Association? If
they were duly elected by the voice of a
majority of the cattle industry of the
| United States there is no doubt of their
authority in taking theSstep they have in
employing the best legal ability they
could find to push any measure that their
| Judgment prompted would be best. If
am not mistaken the association had its
origin at the late St. Louis convention +,
| which has been recognized by all the
leading papers of the land as a perfect
fiasco. Now does it seem right or proper (,
that a few gentlemen should delegate to
themselves the power to vote on a mat
ter that involves the interest of every
| farmer ard stock producer in America on
such slight authority?
l have not the least doubt of the sim
cerlty of the gentlemen who organized
this association, nor will L question their
ability, for I happen to know several of
them have almost national reputation
for business sagacity. L believe feel
justified in saying, however, that their
zeal to defeat the big Four of Chicago
has caused them to lose sight of the
effect such victory would have on the
cattle producers of the country. We are
| the ones to be considered, | think, and |
believe the leading spirits in the said as
ISOLATION are Texas producers, and the
organization was started mainly i'll the
| interest of Texas, Colorado and the
Western territories.
will ask now: What is a state in
spection law? What does it mean, and
what is it supposed to accomplish?
As understand it, such a law means
that every animal slaughtered in the state
| in which it is sold to consumers must be
| inspected alive.
This is the best scheme have ever
| heard advanced for the benefit of the To-
cal butchers; but what is it supposed to
do for the producers? 1t means that no
animal can be slaughtered in the Western
| states or territories and be sent to market
| in q refrigerator car and sold in any other
state than the one it WAS slaughtered in
1t is not my province to speak of the
constitutionality of such a law, but L
venture to say it would be very arbi-
trary law that would interfere with a
man IS right to sell his live stock in q
slaughtered condition if he chose to do SO J..
THE REFRIGERATOR SYSTEM
is one that is well known and has been
recognized for many years rs one of the
| great improvements of the nineteenth
century. The most delicate fish, caught
in the Gulf of Mexico in the middle of
summer, are now sold in the city of New
York in the midst of winter. The rarest
| game is kept i'll Il frozen condition until
| sold to consumers, and it is considered
superior and more palatable than if eaten
| when it was first killed. Mutton shipped
from South America and Australia finds
| Il ready market in England almost every
| day of the year, and is eaten with as
much satisfaction as the mutton that is
killed the day before. Is it, then, to the
interest of live stock producers to have
the refrigerator system abolished? l
think it is not, and believe nine cattle
men out of ten win say the same thing.
Another bearing this estate inspection
| law ; will have on the cattle industry IS,
it strikes a death-blow to our export
trade. How is it possible for the United
States to expect a foreign nation to pur-
chase refrigerator meat when they are
unwilling to eat it themselves?
What is the matter with the cattle
| trade? and how can it be corrected?
l recognize the fact that something
should be done to improve the condition
| of the cattle producing industry, but
permit me to say think we have no part
or parcel, in aiding the butchers to cor
rect the troubles in theirs. Because
| Iu6 Dig are LiIs5 IIc llIIlC
butchers all over the land, it is no worse
than the 'Flittle butchers'' have been
doing to the gentle housekeeperS for these
many years, and l see no reason why we
should sympathize with the ''little
butchers any more than we should with
the little hardware dealers that are being
driven out of trade by the big hardware
dealers, or the little manufacturers that
are rud off by the big manufacturers.
Competition is the life of trade, - and,
as long as 1t is done legally l think the
widest latitude should be granted to each
and every individual engaged in business.
The greatest evil, [ see, i'll the cattle
trade is not in the "Big Four,'' and in
support of this opinion 1 beg my readers
to recall the period of 1883 to 1884, when
| these so-called monopOlists were paying
us $40 head for our steers that they are
now getting for twenty. Surely there
must be some other fault. And, right
here, l want it distinctly understood l am
no apologist for the "Big Four. - l be-
| lieve, however, in giving every one his
due, and I venture to say there is not a
single member of the so-caIled ''Na-
tional Butchers and Producers Associa-
tIon'' that would not be quite willing to
do Just the same as the much-abused
"Big Four' do if they only
had the chance. The greatest
evil I see in the cattle business
is, that we do not allow the law of "sup-
ply and demand'' to operate with free
dom. We try to force things, and ex-
pect to find a demand for 20 200 animals
in one day, when, perhaps, the legiti-
mate needs are Gully 10 200 head. The
law of ''supply and demand is, l think,
a well recognized one, and if may be
permitted to say so, 1 think it is even
more absolute in the livestock business
than in any other branch of trade. In
merchandise, if dealer happens to glut
the market by too many shipments in one
day, he can order his stuff into
warehouse, and hold it for
more desirable market; but
the cattle, or livestock, shipper
is not so fortunate, and is compelled to
sell his stock whenever he reaches mar
ket.
Two other features have operated to
| depress the value of cattle, viz: The
decline in hides, and the passage of the
oleomargarine bill. And still another is
| the changing of the old range system to
that of fenced pastures. Since this
change was begun there have been thou
li+tla n 70 fha