Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-23
TO CATTLEMEN.
Official Call for a Convention to be
Held in Fort Worth Jan. Z, 1890,
At Which Questions of Vital Importance to
the Cattle Interests of the Entire Coun-
try Will be Considered.


lestigation into the existing troubles of
the cattle trade of the United States, the
undersigned officers of associations, and
individual owners, of live stock in the
state of Texas do most urgently call upon
all parties interested in this most import
ant industry to meet at Fort Worth,
Tex, on the eth day of January next
tor the purpose of discussing such feat
ures as may be deemed OF interest, and
as far as possible aid IN restoring conf
dence to the millions who are dependent
on this great industry for support. The
most important points to be considered
are:
l. The statistical position cattle oc-
cupy as compared with the demand for
beef; and
2. AS to the ACCESSIBILITY of demanding
a restoration of the tariff on hides and
other by-products Of the stock.
1t is claimed by the purchasers of our
product that there is an enormous over
production in cattle which, they say, is
made apparent by the large daily ship
ments into the markets for sale We
think this a mere subterfuge on their
seem that all cattle sent to mar
ket find a ready sale at some
price or other, and it stands to reason
there must be demand for the meat,
or the butchers would not consent to
purchase them at all. If an over-sup-
ply existed there would be no demand
for the surplus; and they would be I'M
salable at any price. If they can DE sold
at > cents pound they can just as well
command 4 cents, for the simple reason
that the price realized by the retailers
of beef is the same, and has not been
changed since the days of the ''boom, -
when it was not uncommon for us to re-
ceive cents per pound and sometimes
more.
Another indication that no over-pro-
ductiOn exists is the fact that very large
percentage OF cattle being shipped to
market are females and unmatured
stock, and it is quite evident that many
shipments are being made by parties
either financially involved, or are tired
of waiting for an improved condition of
their business. Entire herds are being
driven to the nation with view Of piac-
ing on. the market as soon as possible,
and there is little doubt that many of
the shipments are at the expense of the
mother stock, which should be kept on
the range for breeding purposes.
This state of things may continue for
many years to come unless some action is
taken to ascertain the true situation of
affairs, and learn what the real merits
of the trade are. If an over production
exists we want to know what the extent
of it is, and perhaps we may be able to
remedy the trouble by spaying heifers,
killing old cows, and by such other
means as may be deemed expedient, but
if it should be learned that there are no
more cattle in the United States than are
required TO furnish food for the 50 ,000,-
600 inhabitants of our country, all
this talk about over production Will be
dissipated and removed. In this con-
nection it may be of interest to refer to
some remarks made by the Washing
ton Bureau of the New York Herald'
which appeared in print only a short time
ago:
t'The statistics in cattla raising and
pork packing in the new census will be as
full and exact as superintendent Porter
can make them. He is thoroughly i'm
pressed with the Importance of the sub
ject, and will give it special attention.
He has received letters from DR.. AZel
Ames, who was here last year looking
after the matter, and he has been in
communication with Ny. J H. Saunders
of Chicago. Mr.. Porter has not yet Sc
lected a man TO supervise this work. It's
not unlikely he will take Mr.. Saunders if
that gentleman is not in Europe when
these statistics have to be taken. Dr.
Ames, when he was here last winter, laid
special stress on the Importance of these
statistics on the ground that the beef
supply per head of population was be-
coming less from year to year, and that
it might soon become serious problem
where beef enough could be got TO feed
our own people, to say nothing of eX-
pOrtation. Exact statistics would help
IN solving this problem In 1866 DR..
Ames stated the number of cattle in this
country was SI+ to 1000 population; in
1855 it had fallen to 722 to 1000, and the
drouth and famine in Montana III 1887
made such inToads on the herds that the
proportion, he estimated, was reduced to
700 to 1000 population. -
In confirmation OF the above estimate
of DR.. Amas it may not be amiss to refer
to the report of our agricultural Blu
reau, - and, as far as possible, draw a
conclusion on this report of an cover
production in cattle.
Comparing the number of cattle owned
in different years, as given by the statis-
tican of the agricultural bureau, we have
the following exhibit: