New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1897-12-01

the lips Of those concerned in its fulfill
ment; but the buyer and seller Of the
yards carry whips, not pencils, and
their deals are recorded in memory in
stead of written upon trading cards. As
we'll try to picture the old knights MAX
ing laborious written memoranda Of
their challenges as to think of the rough
and ready traders Of the cattle yards
pausing in their saddles to jot down
upon paper their purchases and sales.
Such procedure would bid defiance to
the very nature of things and do vio-
lence to the magnificent unconvention-
atty Of every environment.
. ''Is there never any trouble in this
kind Of dealing?' a leading commission
man was asked.
eff you mean do the men go back on
their bargains made by whip and hand,
can answer, never" was the traders
answer as he brought his trim black
horse to halt in the cattle alley and
leaned forward in his saddle. ''There
isn't another 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 81, 50O,0OO And how is it
done? Little talk, a considerable wav-
ing of whips and hands and no exchange
of written documents between buyers
and sellers.
Here is bunch of cattle that will
figure up about $40, 900. Over there in
the other alley is buyer who this
morning offered me price Of SIS. 10 for
them. I thought that I could do better,
out the market has been a little of, and
I have decided to let the bunch 20 at
his offer. Up to the present moment
we have exchanged about dozen words
on this subject. Now, il he is willing to
pay the price which he named in the
morning I'll show you how a $40, 1000
bunch Of fat steers is sold without
word Of mouth or scratch Of writing
at the time the bargain is really made. -
The commission man then straighten-
ed up in the saddle and waited for the
distant buyer to look in 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 rawhide riding whip
and held it aloft His attitude was as
striking as that Of cavalry colonel up
lifting his saber to concentrate the at
tention Of his regiment before making
desperate charge. The pose, however,
was full Of natural grace and freedom
and showed that the man was more at
ease in the saddle than he could have
been out of it. b
Only q moment elapsed before the.
alert eye Of the buyer caught sight Of
the appraised whip The next instant he
raised his hand q little above his head,
held it motionless moment and then
dropped it with forward movement.
Quickly the seller repeated the motion
of assent with his whip, and then, turn
ing to his caller, said: SIS
That's all there is to it. TO stran-
ger this kind Of performance looks
Ikea 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
price at which they have been sold.
Had we been within speaking distance
of each other the transaction would
probably have been q. verbal one, just
for the sake Of sociahility, but not be-