Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-22
EMANCIPATION.
+ LOOKS AS If sTocKMEN WILL
BE FREE
In Short Time from the Clutches of the
Big 4-Deep Water at velasco
WIN Bring It About.
Special to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette.
LELAsco, TEX, Feb. Cot looks now as
though the stockmen of Texas were soon to
be eInancipateu from the bondage of the
''Big ~ and place themselves in position
to compete with any combination in the
beef markets of the world. They have
suffered long and patiently from high
just discrimination in quarantine regula-
tons, and at last the moment has arrived
for the blow to be struck which VIII forever
sever the commercial shackles that have
bound them. Although the number OF cat
tiefaised each year has not decreased, 1t IS
growing very monotonouS to cattle men TO
raise stock upon which they have no more
to do with fixing a valuation than with q
school of Goldfish on the New England
coast. Prices on their live stock have been
fixed by a combination of manufacturers Of
beef products who never fail to take adj
vantage of the great distance Of the Texas
cattle shipper from market, and this price
is based upon the shippers necessities.
This order of things is about to be changed,
and by the Texas cattle man himself;
because it is now in his power to do so.
The opportunity to throw off the yokeoS
the Northern dresSed-beef men has long
been sought by our stockmen, and it has
now arrived. Present conditions are ripe
for revolt and it will undoubtedly come if
lLe CdIlltulcu True W LutulSClkGS anu
consult their best interests. This change
in their fortunes will manifest itself in re-
frigerator packeries on the gulf coast,
located at the point where there is water
deep enough to float vessels engaged in in
ternational marine commerce as well as in
terstate coast trafic-Velasco.
The stockmen of Texas have accepted an
invitation to visit Velasco on March 10 and
many of them will come in q body from
Fort Worth. where they will be in attend
ance at the Northwest Texas cattlemen's
association, which conyeneS on March S.
They will come to verify the statements
which have been made concerning Felasco's
depth of water and figure on the feasibility
of the early establishment of dressed beef
plant at this point. When they become
satisfied on these points the thing is virtu-
ally done.
They know that with their active CO.
operation all the Northern capital necessary
to establish such an industry will be forth
coming. They know that there are nearly
a quarter of million head Of cattle in
Texas to-day being grain fed and made fit
for export beef, and that the feeding of
cattle for market is actively on the increase
in many portions of the state. They know
that cattle can be raised and fattened
cheaper in Texas than in any other state,
because our lands are equally as productive
and cheaper than the lands of any other
-8IOWlllg. CdllIC-lSGuiLB Slile. Iucy
know that the cost of transportation from
the refrigerating rooms of a dressed beef
plant at Velasco to the ports of Europe is
twice as cheap as transportation to Chicago,
thence to the Atlantic seaboard. They
know they would not only save the cost Of
transportation TO Chicago, but also the
shrinkage necessarily involved in the long
haul to that city. They know that a con-
sentative estimate of that saving would be
s. per head if shipped to Velasco by rail,
or Sc per head if driven on foot to the rich
grass prairies in sight of the stock yards
Of Velasco. They know that on the
1900, 600 head of cattle now in the state that
stat least $40, 100000 would be saved to them
in freight bills.
For these reasons and because heretofore
the Texas cattleman has been compelled
to accept the lowest prices for his stock
and has been completely out of the race on
export meat, Velasco is destined to be-
come the first great slaughtering and
packing center of the Southwest.
c. A. E.