Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-14

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| OFF1cEsoF THE BEEF Producers AND
| BUTCHERS NATIONAL ASSOCIATION,
| DALLAS, TEX, Jan. Il, 1888.
| To Western Cattlemen:
By direction of the executive commit
| tee of the Beef Producers and Butchers
| National Association we would call your
! attention to the fact that the conference
! of cattlemen and butchers held in ST.
! Louis last year has had the effect of
| bringing the beef question before the
| people of the country, and [ am pleased
| to see that discussion of the purposes of
| the organization, growing out of that
| meeting, has taken wide range, even
to calling in question the motives of the
| people inaugurating the movement, and
who.purpose carrying it on until the end
| is gained. The meeting was called be-
cause two facts were known, and were
| openly asserted. The first was that the
| price of cattle in the United States
| was controlled by a few packers in
| Chicago. The second was that the butcher
/ trade Of the country was rapidly being
| absorbed by the same men. In short,
| nearly the whole cattle trade of the coun-
| try was in the hands of gigantic pack
| ing house monopoly. At the meeting of
| the Northwest Texas Live Stock Associa-
| ton, held at Weatherford, Tex. in 1886,
] the representative of a Chicago commits
sion house stood up before the convention
| and made the statement, that practically
| there was but one cattle buyer in Chi
cago. He meant that there was but one
combination of buyers. So forcibIe was
| this statement, and so many believed it
| that Texas beef producers petitioned the
railroads east of Chicago to establish the
rates on live cattle in harmony with the
rates on dressed beef so as to check the
| growth of the monopoly. Since that
| meeting the power of the beef combine
has steadily increased, until to-day the
| so-called Big Four are in a position to de-
| eide whether there shall be margin of
| profit in the business of cattle raising
With an extensive acquaintance among
western cattle raisers, and having con-
YerSed with them freely on this subject
[ find with very few exceptions that
| they firmly believe as [ do, that
the competition remaining in the cattle
business is but a fraction of the healthy
business article of that name, and so far
as we, the cattleraisers of the West are
| concerned, all that the commission sales
men at the great st0ckyards can do in our
interest is to contend that the scale of
prices as announced shall have some re-
spect to quality. That is to say, there
cause special complaint. Cattlemen have
gone over this argument time and time
again among themselves, with a negative
result. All local attempts to ameliorate
our condition have failed. Texas, the
greatest cattle state of the Union, has no
seaport receiving deep draft vessels, so as
to permit live stock to be shipped to east
ern markets, and we can not raise the
means to establish packing houses nearer
home. We drift along sacrificing our
beef cattle on the markets and our
necessities compel us to market our
cattle regardless of prices obtained; I'M
til our sacrifices furnish pretext for ar
gument against us, that cattle must of
necessity be Of low value while our ship
ments continue on markets That realize
for our cattle less than the cost of pro-
ductiOn.
The butcher side of the question is very
plain. All newspaper readers know that
Eastern, Central and some of the West
eTn markets have come under control of
the Chicago packers, aud that butchers
who xii! beef for local consumption are
rapidly being ruined or forced to become
meat cutters for the Chicago combine.
The method employed by the beef COM
bine is simply and truly monopolistic;
they say to butchers, ''Sell our beef, at
our prices, or we will underselI you. -
This is the language of the agents of the
big four. The local butcher sur
renders to force, is held by force and
is no longer a competitive factor
in the cattle trade. Chicago
furnishes the cattle and dictates the
prices the producer shall receive and the
consumer shall pay. Congressional in
vestigation has developed facts showing
that these packers are INSCRIPTIONS in
their methods and that they enforce their
rule OF ruin policy wherever they do bust
ness. The remnant of the butcher inter-
est believed that there was no hope for
restoration Of their business independ-
ence without an offensive and defensive
alliance with the cattleraisers Of the
country, and they proposed an alliance
and a remedy that would at once raise
American beef products above the sus-
piciOn of disease, and at the same time
restore old time competition.
The remedy is state live stock inspec-
ton laws, which, while preventing the
concentration of the beef trade of the
nation into a few hands in Chicago, viii
not interfere with the canning factories,
or in any way decrease the consumption
of cattle in the United States or curtail
the exports to foreign countries. The |
joint conference at st. Louis to devise !
ways and means to counteract the effect |
of an immense four-headed monopoly |
did so and recommended state live stock |
inspection laws as the only remedy for |
existing evils, and the interest man.
tested in that meeting by the monopoly |
is evidence that the remedy was found |
and could be applied. The remedy as
proposed was submitted to the highest |
legal authority to be passed upon and |
was found to be constitutional. 1t was |
also found that national inspection laws |
would not meet the case and that they |
would be unconstitutional. The states |
have the power and right to enact sani- |
tary laws empowering inspectors to con- |
denim all meat that does not come from |
animals inspected by them and found |
to be healthy. The effect of such laws is
feared by some who are interested in
cattle raising, and this letter is to some |
extent intended to reassure those who |
doubt its beneficial effect. The subject |
is national one, and affects all pro-
ducers o. beef cattle in the United States.
The monopoly is no respector of persons