The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-05-31
SENATORS VEST AND PLUMB DE-
NOUNCE WHAT THEY CALL
THE CATTLE SYNDICATE.
IN THEIR VIEW IT IS THE ECsT TYR.
ANICAL TRUST EVER ORGANIZED.
The Prices CT Live Stock Going, but
Consumers Pa ing More for
Their j eat.
Producers Said to be at Ire Zero. Of Few
Dealt !.

Producers Said to be At re s4ercs Of q rev
Dealt !.
The Senate reSuin;,.t- consideration
Of the bill for the F., of animal
industries and 10 f. .t..F" the export
Of live stock an! IT.. ~:p.t> t."luct".
NAV al. wue, s;tlfaar !. sf. M.
ious communication. - ~ii.. iiv ~.
imus Of the opposition Of the bill.
which was. he said. machine work
right through The general idea
conveyed was that the opposition
came from the existing bureau Of an
ilnal industry.
Mr. Vest said that If half Of what
had been read was true, the comniss-
Toner of agriculture should be hurled
out of office in disgrace and dishonor.
But Mr.. Vest did not believe these
statements. lie spoke of what he
called 1.-The cattle syndicate. and
said the people were helpless and in
its power. 1t was the most terrible
tyranny ever exercised. There were
five men or firms in the city of Chi
cago which regulated the price Of
cattle every day. They met every
night and set the price for the next
day The Missouri farmer who found
from the market quotations that cat
tie were or b cents ii pound shipped
his cattle to Chicago, but when he
got there lie found that the syndicate
had put beef down to ? or p cents.
He could not store his cattle, as they
would be diminishing every day in
weight and quality, and SO he was
coerced TO sell them. lie went to an
agent of Armour and was told that
the price was q cents; he went to an
other Armour agent and got the
same answer He was met all over
the city with the unvarying response
-. cents pound" and he had to
take it, So these men owned the
cattle-raiser's property and contiscat.
ed it US if they possessed the right to
take it from his farm without paying
him cent. Talk" said Mr.. Vest,
about trusts. Talk about pools
| The cattle pool OF Chicago is the
most Infamous tyranny that ever ex
i>ted in the United States. The.
have got their collar on the cattle
producers OF the entire west. and
know no remedy for it. The states
man who would invent the remedy
would deserve IL monument more Ell
during than the capitol. He woul,
perform the highest benefaction Il
the people of the northwest and t
the cattle-raisers of the country"
! Mr.. Plumb said the worst combina
ton in the country was the combina
ton OF beef and pork packers havin.
its headquarters in Chicago. Their,
was no trust or combination-th,
Standard oil trust. the sugar trust
the copper trust or any other trust
that had had 80 powerful or SO bane
full an influence as that combination
The prices Of cattle to producers ha
gone down 30 per cent: in the Sam
time the price Of meat 10 the consunl
er has gone up and every dollar o
the difference had gone into tn
pockets Of that combination. So pei
feet was their control that they kno,
how many cattle were to arrive il
Chicago each day, but over wha
road they We're to come, where the
come from. their character and tn
men who shipped them When tn
cattle reached Chicago the syndicate
representative was sent to view thel
and to put il price upon them an
that was the price at which they ha
to be sold unless it was made Iowel
, No commission man dared to set u
for himself in Chicago. His occup;
. ton would be Immediately gone. III
der the operation of this trust til
! prices Of cattle had declined unlece
essarily and destructively. 1t W;
safe to say that Oh every steer thrt
years old and upward, raised west ,
the Mississippi during the last fiy
years, the market value had been h
this combination reduced not lie,
than ten dollars IL head. The dan
age to Kansas alone during that pc
iod had been more than $40. 600. 90
and the wealth of the syndicate Ia
grown accordingly. They have
committee here now, having in the
pockets the money Of this ''stoc
ring to get Congress to give the
control of the question of cattle qua
antine. With that control Chicap
would be made open wafer and s.
Louis could be quarantined asains
Practically there was the same inf,
ence in st. Louis and Kansas Cit
This "camiins" had aliias in the mi
road managers and allies in the raj
roads. They had made railroad Off,
ials partners in their stock yard
partners in their feeding stations an
had given them sops out of all profit
derived by them from the time I'll
cattle We're shipped until they arrive
at the abbatoir in New York or els
where. They fixed the prices of ca
tie just rs though they We're the lie
who raised them and were the onl
persons in the world who did raj.
them. When .he considered that the
then proposed to have congress riv'
the final chain OIL the cattle industr
in their behalf. he was lost betwee
admiration ana indignation at the
audacity.
He believed the commissioner
agriculture would do as we'll with I'll
powers given in the bill as anybod
else. He had great confidence in hi
would trust him Il thousandfoll b
fore he would trust anyone in IL
| .tanYahinA Ha haliaval Il, s,;x,;,.,