The Dickinson press., 1894-06-23
The Packing Industry.

Ulk NuuoVS t'N' nsh6 Ps0sss "e Oali0sass
was in Minneapolis to-day and to the
Journal he gave some interesting
gossip about the Importance of the
stock business to u city, and suggest.
lions as to the possibility Of making
the Minneapolis stock yards of great
Importance to Minneapolis. ''There
is no business in the country today
that employs more men IN the CAPT.
tai invested than the packing husi.
ness" he said. "There is ~ good
deal of comment among outside
stockmcn other than the large pack.
ers that Minneapolis does not wake
up more to her opportunities along
this line, for with the Montana con.
nections she enjoys in the Great
Northern aud Northern Pacific roads,
and with connections with the new
stock country of North and South
Dakota, it would seem as if IL little
careful work would give to Minneap.
oils a packing business second only to
Chicago.
"Let me give you u few figures
about this industry. Tho packing
business was hardly in its inception
in Omaha 10 years age. The largest
plant there nov is Cudahy's and he
employs $500 men, Swift comes next
with 1000 men, the Omaha Company
with 500 men, and the Stock Yards
Company 500 men. Here are $500
men employed in Omaha, many of
whom have families, thus making up
a total Of many thousand people to
feed and clotle through local bust.
ness establishments. The packing
houses are located ut South Omaha,
where there is Il population of over
10000. built up entirely Ivy the pack.
ing business. New Brighton would
he the same to Minneapolis that
South Omaha is to Omaha. The
yards have been connected with ON.
aha by an electric line, and now a
good many of the yard employees live
in Omaha. 1t would he the same
here; the city would receive an i'm.
mediate accession of people in the
Northeastern part of your city, and a
large number would become owners
of homes. With All electric car ser.
vice they could 10 at their work in
the morning and home early in the
evening.
The packing business grows very
rapidly. The Omaha firms have re.
Gently added large pepsin, butterine,
beef extract and canning depart.
ments, all of which employ a good
many men: The buildings have been
doubled in size from the original
plan. The largest hog houses will
kill 5000 hogs in 10 hours. l am not
able to discover any reason why Min.
neapolis shouldn't do as we'll as this. !"
do the railroads have a leading in.
tluence in building up the packing
Industry" 49,.
"Certainly they do; because they
want business, and they will work
for it wherever there is a chance, so
Minneapolis a do no better than to
interest the roads by getting them to
pull together for the yards. A unit.
ed effort by the railroads would in
itself make a tremendous power for
the stock yards here. You would
by such u course soon attract one of
the large packers, and when you once
get started the development will take
care of itself almost. You have the
northern Montana ranges tributary
to you directly; the Milwaukee oal
pull stock from the Missouri in South
Dakota, and the surprising fact to
outsiders is that the railroads them
selves have been blind to this oppor.
tunity so long. The Milwaukee, the
Omaha, 500, Great Northern, North.
ern Pacific, the Minneapolis & St
Louis are all in position to make q
tremendous packing industry here, az
practical men on the outside view it
1 imagine local railroad jealousies
alone stand in the way of such q
movement, but once in the scheme
the roads would be the hardest work
ers for the development of the bus
ness. The roads saw their opportu
nifty at Omaha and all differences
were settled. We have the North
western system, also Burlington &
Missouri. the Milwaukee, the Rocl
Island and the Union Pacific running
into the yards. The roads of tn,
Northwest should be doing the sam,
thing ut thssl(inneapolis yards. an,
they would soon have a tributar,
business that would mean almost a
much as the hauling of grain. Thi
is a business proposition and it mean
money for those who engage in tn
work on a right basis. There hav'
been some mistakes made in tn,
handling of the Minneapolis yards
but this is always the case with
matter of so much Importance. lex
pect to see a change in this regar,
within year. From the gossip
hear l imagine the right line has a
last been struck. minneapolis Jour
nal.
Crossing the Atlantic.