Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-06
SELLING BY SIGNALS.

iiow Cattle Arc Dealt in at the Chi
cngo Stock Yards.
From the Chicago Post
The Chicago stock yards is unioue
among the great marts of the world In
no other place. say those who are most
familiar with its daily routine. is so large
an aggregate of business transacted in the
language or gestures and without the
scratch of PEN as in the noisy pens of
the stock yards. A whip is held high in
ar, across sea Of gathering horns the
signal is answered by the momentary up
ifting OF hand, and a bunch of cattle
worth thousands of dollars is sold.
mere Is something splendidly picturesque
and even spectacular in these wordless
transactions They ignore the artificiali-
tes OF the complex system upon which
modern business relationships are almost
universally maintained. Trade in the cattle
pens gets boldly back to primitive SIM
picity 1t is dore on honor. not on paper
ana the undisputed transfer of millions
Oh dollars worth of the property here dealt
In proves that a bargain sealed with the
wave oil the whip ard an asserting ges-
lure oil the hand is quite as safe and
sacred as IL the whole transaction were
recorded in black and white"
Inc trader in the wheat pit is armed
with his tally card. upon which he pauses
to note the names of those with whom he
the commodities bought and sold. The
broker upon the floor of the stock ex-
change places equal reliance upon the
quickly penciled memoranda made at the
moment when the details of each transact
ton were upon the lips of those concerned
In Its fulfillment. But the buyer and seller
OF the yards carry whips. not pencils and
their deals are recorded in memory liz
stead of written upon trading cards As
well try to picture the old knights making
iaporious written memoranda of their cha!-
ienges as to think of the rough and ready
traders OF the cattle yards pausing in their
saddles to jot down upon paper their pur-
chases and sales. Such procedure would
BID defiance TO the very nature of things
and do violence to the magnificent uncon-
Ventionality OF every environment.
is there never any trouble in this kind
OF dealing?' leading commission man
was asked.
IF you mean. do the men go back on
their bargains made by whip and handg
L can answer never" was the traders
answer, as he brought his trim black horse
to halt in the cattle alley ard leaned
forward in his saddle. There isn't an
other place in America. or the whole world.
for that matter. where so much business
Is done on the basis of personal integrity,
without written word to show for the
transactions. as right here he continued.
And the method beats all the bonds on
earth. The days business IN these pens
will run about million and half. And
how IS 1t done? Little talk, a considerable
waving of whips and hands and no
change of written documents between buy
ers and sellers!
Here is bunch OF cattle that will fig
ure up about $4,000. Over there in the
other alley is buyer who this morning
Offered me a price of $40 for them.
thought that / could do better. but the
market has been a little off and have de-
ciaed to let the bunch 60 at his offer. Up
to the present moment We have exchanged
about dozen words in this subject. Now.
If he is willing to pay the price which he
A $4,000 bunch Of fat steers is sold without
word of mouth or a scratch of writing at
the time the bargain is really made"
The commission mar then straightened
UP in the saddle and waited for The distant
buyer to look I'm his direction. a moment
later this representative of a big packing
house wheeled his horse about and faced IN
the direction of the seller. Instantly the
commission man lifted high his Wilde
.iding whip and held ii aloft. His attitude
was as striking as that of a cavalry colonel
uplifting his saber to concentrate the atten-
ton of his regiment before making q des-
perate charge. The pose. however. was fun
of natural grace and freedom, and showed
tat the man was more AZ ease in the sad
die than he could have been out of it.
Only a moment elapsed before the alert
eye of the buyer caught sight of the up
raised whip The next instant he raised
his hand a little above his head. held il
motionl4s: a moment and then dropped il
with a forward movement Quickly the
seller repeated the motion of assent with
his whip, ard then, turning to his caller,
said:
That's all there is TO Il. To a stranger
this kind of a performance looks like a
long-range sign talk between deaf mutes
but we understand each other perfectly.
We both know how many cattle there are
in the bunch and the Drice at which they
have been sold. Had We been within speak
ing distance of each other the transaction
would probably have been a verbal one
just for the sake of sociabiity, but not be-
cause it would have made the bargain bet
tar ,sl.ay- nod -