Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1896-01-15

some reason In thiS. II - true. bOt per
haps they I'D not look into the great
"cooling rooms'' OF the Big -Four at
the time These cooling rooms are
where the big Four store their pur-
chases. aud 1t depends altogether upon
how much stock they have stored
away. as TO how the shipments OF any
one day will eject them.
II their supply is small. and the
shipments Of cattle are small, guar.
antee you will see an advance in prices.
But II their supply Is large, and the
shipments are ever so small. they VIII
be indifferent, and viii wait another
day or two before paying an advance.
We must know what this big Four
are holding before we can decide how
many cattle to send to market.
Before we had these ~ eat cooling
rooms 10 contend with, and when the
small butchers were our only custo-
mers, the daily arrivals In market
were a fair index to the course Of
prices, But II is not so now. and we
must introduce measures to counteracl
this modern innovation In our business
n we expect to compete with II sue
| cessfully.
The question for us to consider is:
How many head OF cattle can be con-
sumed In Chicago. Kansas City. st.
Louis. and such other markets as We
| ship to every week, and then supply
them with that amount and no more.
But, you say. It is impossible to do
| this. because we can not tell what
number our fellow cattlemen are ship
| ping from other states,
| Then the trouble lies right there.
We must first find out what our fell
| low cattlemen are doing, and when we
ara finding this out. We can learn how
I much stock is being held in other
/ states, and thus be able to determine
whether there Is an oyerproduction In
! cattle or not
! at ~ NOT
be arranged through which we can get
at this very desirable Information.
Suppose the United States govern
/ ment were TO establish in each state
/ that does a live stock business with
either Chicago, Kansas City. st. Louis
I or Omaha, "a bureau for information
1 and statistics concerning live stock"
/ and appoint a competent man to re-
main there and collect all necessary
! Information relating TO the live stock
business from day to day. don't you
think he could do III
! Take our own state OF Texas. for In
stance; 1t Is great deal larger than
any other. and II II can be accom-
] plished here. there can certainly be no
doubt about being able to do 1t in
3 other states.
Now, If We know every morning at
say o'clock, how many head Of cat
7 tie had passed TO Denisou on the NJ
y. & T. II. r. TeNarkana, on the Iron
! Mountain railroad. Rnggold on lac
Rock Island railroad. and Gainesville
. aud Paris, on the Santa Fe railroad.
billed TO the different markets, we
would certainly know that Texas had
shipped that many cattle yesterday,
and how many were billed to each OF
the markets.
II each state secretary would ar
range with the railroads leaving his
state 10 wire to him every morning a
report OF the live stock shipments for
the previous twenty-four hours, there
would be nothing In the way of in
Exchanging this Information with each
OF the state bureaus. and thus con-
centrate In each one the shipments
from all, whether Il be cattle. sheep
or hogs.
II you were arranging to ship some
cattle to Chicago, and you We're told
through this system of Information
lhat the combined shipments, from all
the states yesterday would create a
glut ON that market. DO you think
you would ship yours and glut 1t more
1t Is possible you might be in such
n position as to be forced to ship. but
doubt II this would b.. the case with
very many. Indeed, | hardly think
there Is n shipper of live stock In
this, or any other state, that can not
hold hack his shipments a week or
more II II was to his interest to do 80.
Let us examine now and see what
as this would be.
In tho frst place. the commission
mon who represent our Interest in mar
Ret would be forced TO send an agent
TO the bureau In order to communi-
cate with us when we were preparing
to make shipments This would resuii
In bringing together all the commits
sion men, who do business FOR the cat,
lemen In our state, which would prao.
tcally mean that the producers ant
dealers would be placed in close toucl
with each other.
Suppose now, you had n lot of stcei
cattle that YOU wanted to sell Woult
IL not be very desirable To be able tt
offer them TO every ranchman anC
dealer In your state (nnd in fact tn,
ranchmen and dealers OF other states
as welD. for they would naturally b,
represented on our state bureau, II they
contemplated purchase OF Toxa,
stock. rather than the one or two loCa
buyers in you own Immediate neigh
porhood
You must admit, " there was an,
demand for steer cattle at all, youl
agent would he able to Ind you I
buyer IN a very few moments.
Imagine, now. what an enormous
volume OF business would be repre-
scented II all the transactions in catil,
and other li5e stock were recorded
daily at one central point In the stat,
OF Texas. The prices that sales wor,
made at could be published in tn,
Associated Press. which would inform
every one of the exact tone OF ou
market and condition OF values from
day to day. and this would sumuiat,
trading, ana speculating. In the SAINT
degree that the concentration OF an!
other business does,
Whom cattlemen have great convcn
tlon. and are together for a few days
is II not common for many trades to b.