The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-21
SELLING BY SIGNALS.
Quick Methods at the Chicago Stock
 yord


 Yards.
 The Chicago stockyards are unique among the great marts of the world. Tn no other place, say those who are most familiar with their daily routine, Is so large an aggregate of business transact ed in the language of gestures and without the scratch of pen" as in the noisy pens of the stockyards. A whip is held high in the air, across a sea of clattering horns the signal is answered by the momentary uplifting of hand, and "bunch'' of cattle worth thou sands of dollars is sold.
 There Is something splendidly picture esque and spectacular in these wordless transactions They ignore the artifici- alities of the complex system upon which modern business relationships are almost universally maintained. Trade in the cattle pens gets boldly back to primitive simplicity It 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 assenting ges- ture of the hand is quite as safe and | sacred 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 | and price of the commodities bought and sold. The broker upon the floor of | the stock exchange places equal reli- ance upon the quickly pencilled memo randa made at the moment when the | details of each transaction were upon 1 the lips of those concerned in its full filment. But the buyer and seller of the yards carry whips, not pencils. and | their details are recorded in memory ir- stead of written upon trading cards As | we'll try to picture the old knights making laborious memoranda of their challenges as to think of the rough and ready traders of the cattle yards paus- | ing in their saddles to jot down upon 1 paper their purchases and sales. Such procedure would bid defiance to the very nature of things and do violence to the magnificent unconventionality 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 hand? can answer, never" was the traders answer, as he brought his trim black horse to halt in the cattle alley and | 1a, f1r n,,I tx,l ,to srTyt. 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 transaction, 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 a half And how is it done? Little talk, considera- ble waving of whips and hands, and no exchange of written documents between buyers and sellers!
 Here is a bunch of cattle that will figure up about $10,000. Over there in the other alley is a buyer who this morning offered me price of $5.10 for them. I thought that could do better, but the market has been little off and I 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 $10,- 900 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 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 strik- ing as that of a cavalry colonel uplight- ing his sabre to concentrate the iatten- ton of his regiment before making a 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 upraised whip. The next instant he raised his hand a little above his head, held it motionless moment and then dropped it with a forward move. ment. Quickly the seller repeated the motion of assent with his whip, and then, turning to his caller, said:
 That's all there is to it. To a stran. ger this kind of performance looks like long-range sign talk between deai 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