Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-01
ROUND-UPS.
The Prospects of the Cattle Industry
from an Arizona Standpoint.
Blooded Horse Breeding In Kentucky on the
Increase-The Cattle Haul Over the
H., K. and I. Railroad.

The cattlemen of Arizona appear to be
elated over the prospects of the cattle
industry. The Arizona Gazette has the
following editorial on the subject:
1.-THE cattlemen of Arizona view with
pleasure the upward tendency of the cat
tie market of this country, and those
who have staid with their herds through
the past five years of depression will in
all probability reap the reward of their
labor. Suspicion easily finds place in
the breast of men. The farmers are dis
posed to charge the middlemen with
manipulating the cattle market to the
disadvantage of the producer. There is
no doubt that the cattlemen have come
into possession of the bulk of the
stock of the country, and the
fact that the market begins to move up
ward as soon as the producer has I'M
loaded, makes the honest agriculturist
suspect that he is the victim of gigan-
tic conspiracy.
But it is easy to see that the upward
trend of prices at this time is the result
of purely natural causes. A few years
ago fortunes were made in the cattle
business. Capitalists fastened to stock
the Western plains, aud farmers in all
parts of the country turned their ener-
gies TO this industry. Everybody knows
the result of OverproductiOn. Disaster
follows upon disaster to the producer,
and prices were hammered down until q
year or so ago it would hardly pay to
ship the cattle to the slaughter centers.
Nobody wanted to hold stock in the face
further loss hurried to sell. To make
matters worse the range cattle in the
North could no longer be supported
through the winter without feed. So
much stock was placed there that the
grass was eaten off during the summer,
leaving nothing for the remainder of the
year. 1t did not require much experi-
ence to see that it would not pay to feed
cattle on the range through the winter,
and for several years the market felt the
depressing effect of the arrival after ar
rival of herd after herd from the plains
and mountains, the owners being glad to
take almost any price for the property to
get il off their hands.
OF course this condition of things
could not last always Hard wiuters and
heavy sales were bound to depopulate
these ranges, and turning point in
prices must come. Men who spent their
entire time in buying and selling cattle
and studying the markets would natur-
ally see the coming rise much sooner
than the farmers. Their knowledge of
the business told them few months ago
that bottom had been reached. The
farmer was still willing to sell, and the
dealer gradually came in possession of
the bulk of the cattle of the country.
Now the market is on the up grade.
The farmers know it because it is in
sight. Now they will refuse to sell much
of their stock for an advance market is
an inducement to build up their herds
again. Until few months ago there
was rush to sell. Now there is likely
to be a rush to buy. This will cause a
sharp increase in prices, and the cattle
dealer who has large herd on hand at
the turning point will make money. Be
cause he reaps fat profits while the
farmer is left to hold the bag, the mid
dleman falls under suspicion of having
combined to rob the producer. If the
farmer is robbed, it is only through his
lack of foresight and accurate knowl-
edge of the forces at work on the mar
ket. He cannot be blamed for not pos
sessing the information of the cattleman,
for he is busy with other things. So if
he loses money through a series Of years
while the market in falling aud sells his
herds to the cattleman just on the eve
of a season of prosperity, in
this industry it appears that
he is the victim of circumstances and not
q sufferer through the Vaccinations of
corrupt capitalists or scheming middle
men,