Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-12-25
SELLING BY SIGNAL.
HOW CATTLE ARE DEALT IN AT THE
CHICAGO STocKYARDS.

oIude q Transaction by Raising Their
whips over Their Heads.
The Chicago stockyards are unique
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 transact
ed in the language Of gestures and with
out the scratch of pen" as in the
noisy pens Of the stockyards. A whip
is held high in air, across sea Of clat-
tering horns the signal is answered by
the momentary uplifting Of hand, and
n bunch Of cattle worth thousands Of
dollars is sold.
There is something splendidly pic
turesque and even spectacular III these
wordless transactions. They ignore the
artificialities of the complex system up
on which modern business relationships
are almost universally maintained.
Trade in the cattle pens gets boldly
back to primitive simplicity. 1t is done
on honor, not on paper. And the undis-
puted transfer of millions of dollars
worth of the property here dealt in
proves that a bargain sealed with the
wave of the whip and an asserting ges-
ture Of the hand is quite as safe and sa-
cred as If the whole transaction were
recorded ''in black and white.
The trader in the wheat pit is armed
with his tally card, upon which he
pauses to note the names OF those with
whom he deals and the amount, nature
nd wi &c the hO11nbf
and sold. The broker upon the floor of
the Stock Exchange places equal reli-
ance upon the quickly penciled memo
randa made at tho moment when the
details of each transaction were upon
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
well 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 i'll this
kind of dealing?" leading commission
man was asked,
If you mean do the men go back ON
their bargains made by whip and hand,
] can answer, never, was the trader
answer as he brought his trim black
horse to q halt i'll 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 a 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 $1,000, 900. And how is it
done? Little talk, 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 i'll
the other alley is buyer who this
morning offered me price of So 10 for
them. / thought that could do better,
but the market has been a little off, and
l have decided to let the bunch go at
his offer. Up to the present moment
we have exchanged about dozen words
ON this subject Now, if he is willing to
pay the price which he named in the
morning I'll show you how $40, 900
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.
Only a moment elapsed before the
alert eye of the buyer caught sight OF
the appraised whip. The next instant he
raised his hand 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:
That's all there is to it. To stran-
ger this kind of a performance looks
like long range sign talk between deal
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 verbal one, just
for the sake of sociability but not be.
cause it would have mae the bargain
better understood or any more binding. y
Chicago Post.