Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-10-13

+ A. 1t has opened the eyes of the peo-
pie of Kansas to the enormous profits
accruing to the capitalists on $4,000
| Investment and has led to an inveSt1-
| owning its own stock yards for the ac-
co1lmoGation of its own people.
Q. Has not the action of the POpuliSt
| party in passing this law driven the
stock yards company out of this State
and into Missouri?
the plant is on the Kansas side of the
line. The quarantine ground and the
sheep and hog divisions are on the Kan
sas side All sales of hogs and sheep
and the delivery of such stock by rail-
roads are made in Kansas. and seven OF
the nine roads entering the yards are Oh
fhe Kansas side. The company canno,
move out if it would, and the howl thai
the stock yards have been driven out
of the State is simply raised to cast
dust in the eyes Of the voter.
=. But has the company not aban-
doDed its Kansas organization and taken
out new charter under the laws of Mis-
souri,?
. n. Yes but what of it? If the Kan
| sas Legislature has Jurisdiction pyer
corporation Of its own creation it has
equal il not create: jurisdiction over a
corporation in some other State seeking
| to do business in Kansas. Kansas gets
Just IS much .axess as she ever did, and
n1isso1rI no more. Kansas loses moth
irg By the organization and Missouri
gains nothing. The yards smell just the
same, no matter what the name.
Q. What is meant by an open public
market:
A. IL is place where any citizen has
the unrestricted right to go and buy or
sell
@. Is the Kansas City stock yards
such market?
A. It is not. The abuses that have
grow a UP around it make it impractical
BILE for a man to buy or sell his own
stuff. and he must necessarily employ
the services of a broker.
=. What are the matters of complaint
by stock shippers?
A. They are numerous-some as fol-
lows: First, overcharges for yardage;
second, OVercharges for feed; third, in
ability of shippers to sell stock except
through brokers; fourth, combination
! among buyers that effectually prevents
them from even looking at stock after
bid has been made and refused; fifth,
| discipline enforced by the buyers upon
shippers who refuse Kansas City bids
and then ship to other markets
Q. What do you mean by discipline?
! A. That shippers who offer stock at
Kansas City and refuse the offered price
| AMI then ship to Chicago or St Louis,
| commonly find the market for that par
ticular lot especially bad; and this con-
dition is so common that many shippers
believe that such cases are prearranged
between the buyers of the different mar
| kets.
@. In that case how can a shipper ex-
pect those buyers to buy or even look at
my stock in State stock yards?
A. That would be matter of indiffer-
| ence to a shipper, so long as competing
buyers were on hand wanting stock
| Q. Where are those competing buyers
| to come from, then?
| A. Plenty of men and money are anx-
iously awaiting any opportunity for
profitable business and will be on hand
| al any market, public or private. Butch
ers by hundreds, and probably thou
! sands, in the smaller cities of the coun-
| try are prevented from buying live stock
in open market by the same ombination
! OF buyers that so successfully controls
sellers.
Q. How can you prevent this combi-
i nation from controlling the market at
| the State stock yards?
A By giving the shipper and bxyer
| be done by yard regulations.
Q. Where do the butchers referred to
obtain their stock now?
| A. They are forced by market eondi-
| tions and unfair competition to buy
dressed meats of these same packers
who by combining have excluded them
| from the principal stock markets That
is to say. these packers have success
: fully interposed themselves between
buyer and seller to their own profit
| q. Are there any examples of an open
market in this country:
A. Yes; nearly every city has its own
market house.
| @. Wherein would stock yards mar
ket differ from these?
A. Only in the character of the stuff
| offered for sale
| @. What would be the advantages of
| such a market?
A. Assuming that the State could op-
! crate such a market as cheap as the
/ Kansas Stock Yards Company, the first
advantage would be an annual saving
| of the $646, S.7S which the special mas
| ter found was the profits of the Kansas
| City company in 1896 after they had
| paid all expenses. repaired their plant
and contributed their share of the State
| taxes; second, another advantage would
be that the shipper could go into the
open market and buy his feed or bring
1T with him, as best suits his sconven-
fence, thus making a saving on each
| shipment; third, the great advantage
would be the opening of the market to
competitive buyers.
Q Would not the packing houses dis
cr1mlnate in price against stock sent to
the State stock yards?
a. Ii the packers would not patronize
the State yards, that would open a fine
opportunity for others to compete with
them The State could not get its yards
ready for stock before packers would be
on the ground ready for business AS
matter OF fact. one-third of the cattle
handled in the Kansas City stock yards
are Stockers and the packing houses