Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1889-04-11

l nIiS III 1901 ~ tiusti NstNc VI liO>Ici
ity swept over the land from one ex-
treme boundary to the other. carrying
every class of business to its acme.
Everybody had money and all wanted
beef. The demand was so great that
prices rapidly advanced to IL point
where the yearling heiier that brought
but four dollars and hall in northern
Texas in the spring of 1881 was eas-
erly sought for in 1884 ut twelve dol
ceding she cattlefOrmed Il liberal share
Of all shipments to market, and the
local butchers Of the whole country
depended to a great extent on this
class of cattle for their supplies. Be
ginning in the latter part of 1881 and
continuing up to 1856 the heiier por-
ton of each herd had changed places
with the steer pOrtion-had II higher
market value. The local butchers
everywhere were forced to buy steers
for slaughter, and the shipment at
cows to the market centers was con
fined to barren ones. Less han > per
cent of the receipts mt the great mar
kets was she cattle from sS2to 1856.
Ranchmen i'm the west and farmers in
the east saved every animal that in
the remOtest degree gave promise OF
drOppinga calf
This Withdrawal of previously mar
ketable animals stimulated the ad-
vance in beef and was n prime factor
in holding up prices. Add to this the
other fact that cattle raisers were all
making money rapidly. and in conse-
quence thousands of new men were
anxious to get into the business on the
basis OF the high prices, offering "A bet
ter market than the consuming cen
ters, and it Is readily seen why beef
values held up after all other aaricul-
tural products went down.
| Time, however, which eJualizes all
things, brought IA change, and when
the mechanics stopped buying beef he
cause OF the lack OF employment. beef
cattle cheapened. Holding heir breat Ia
during 1856, large and small pro,iuc-
ers discovered that there were too
many cattle and that values must re
cede. As n result in 1887 they began
the process OF unloading. Ranchmen
from Texas to Montana commenced
to ship COWS, heiiers, two-year-olds
and calves to market. They had
bought in at the top, and when the
turn came We're crazy 10 get ont at any
sacrifice. Everything must go, and
everything went. Day after day, week
ter week and month after month all
| through lSS1-sS. and thus far 1889.
4 lt(l A a l.ar ....,t nf ft,a home, L. A
cattle on the Kansas City. st. Louis
and Chicago markets were she cattle.
saying nOthingof the hundreds of year
lings offered.
| An actual count OF the cattle bought
and slaughtered IN Chicago 10y the -four
large dressed-beef and cannin. operat-
ors for two weeks in November, lSsS,
and January. 1859, shows over JOper
cent she cattle. The purchases 10y 10
cal butchers in that city during the
same time show 3S per cent shecatt le,
and very large percentage oi the eat
\ tie shipped TO eastern butchers were
fat COWS and heifers The same con
ditions are more than true of Kansas
City and st. Louis, while at Omaha
the percent age l. nearly ~ great.
November and January arr. iair rep
resentative months for the year show
ing, II any difference. II less number oi
COWS than the average tor the oi hel.
months. Here, then, including the
local butchers stun and the eastern
shipments, Il over - per cent of the
Chicago receipts for 1857 and / lSSS
she cattle. or 2,241 ,O91 cows out of
the total receipts of I.o93, ,55l head.
During the period over ~ per cent ol
all the cattle killed by the local butch
ers IN the states west of Chicago have
been cows and heiiers. II fact no person
from Texas to Manit oba who l. famil-
lar with the butchers work will dis
pillc. 10 comullle he ullnher III cnl1.,
| thus disposed of il beyond our ability.
but that 1t reaches way over a million
head there can be no doubt. Adding
these local slaughterings to the she
cattle received at the great markets.
and II must be true that somewher,
between 80 and 40 per cent OF all the
cattle killed during the past two and "A
fourth years, west of Chicago. have
| been cows.
| These COWS have not all gone from
the open ranges of the west. The far
mers of all the states have sent IN
theirs for the reason that they could
see no money in holding on. Look
over any farming community in Hi
uois. Missouri or OF her OF the western
states and you will find the number oi
cows reduced. generally, from 30 to
- per cent. In fact, the selling of tins
class of cattle has been confined to no
section, but Is as wide as the stock
raising area.
1 fIsla ,.a.,,lt Of al Ill, h,.. = l..
placing on the consuming markets oi
the country an increase of l6i, ercent
of beef during the years 1857 and SIS
over and above the increase of popu-
lation. As consequence values de
clined until the margin of profit in pro
duction has been wiped out and pro
ducers are sick at heart.
Now look at the other side. While
the increase in marketing has been l6i,
per cent each year, the increase in per-
centsge of COWS has been over 80 per
cent. Deduct the one from the other
and We see that had the marketing
been confined to the steer product :
there would have been an actual de
cline in receipts of 53l per cent. The
truth, then, is that to-day there are
not she cattle in the United II ates suf-
ficient to produce within 33l, per cent
OF the beef being sold on our markets
In other words, ii she cat tie were
wholly withdrawn from the beef mar
kets for thirty days it would he dis
covered that there was a decline in re-
ceipts OF 33i, per cent, and III conse-
quence Of this AN advance of two a
hundred in market values Immedi-
ately the local butchers would be I'M