Evening star., 1902-04-23
SUPPLY OF CATTLE
BEEF STOCK SHORTAGE ovEREs-
TIMATED TO DECEIVE PUBLIC.
High Price Of Meats Not Due to Nat
ura1 Causes - Trust
Vaccinations.

Kansas City Dispatch to New York Herald.
There is general impression in the coun-
try. produced by the height to which the
beef trust has raised the prices OF meats,
that the available cattle supply is extraor-
dinarily small. That it is smaller than It
has been for several years is unquestion-
ably true, but the amount of money lent
upon western cattle, the receipts at west
ern stock yards during the first three
months of this year, compared with the
receipts of the same period last year; the
reports Of the live stock agents Of the
various railroads, the shipments Of stock
ers and feeders and the statements Of
the travelling representatives Of the live
stock press, prove almost beyond question
that this shortage has been greatly over
estimated. There is good reason for the
belief that the representatives of the beef
trust have deliberately set about arousing
the impression that the available supply
was much less than it really Is for the
purpose Of enabling the packers to keep
their profits far above a legitimate level
after the present stringency in the meat
market has passed away.
According to a table compiled from Of
fetal reports, wherever available, from the
averaged estimates of cattlemen and from
live stock statistics the beef-cattle supply
of the west on April Is, 1902, was ap-
proximately 5.3S3,959 steers two years old;
4,127,5S1 of three years; 1,902,0oS OF four
years, or total of II, ,413,o0S.
There are parts of the country where the
number of cattle on feed is smaller than 1t
has been before in many years. Ihere are
ether sections in which the number is not
far below the normal and there are still
others where there are more cattle now than
there ever were before. There Is good rea-
son for believing that the high price of feed
of all kinds is exerting more influence In
. ST nOy 10 q
shortage of cattle, and that within few
months, when those that shall have been
fed upon grass begin to come to market,
prices will come down more rapidly than
they have gone up. 1t does not follow,
however, that meat prices will fall with
equal rapidty, for there is good ground for
believing that the beef trust has raised
them so high at this time, not because con-
time as especially opportune to get prices up
to a high level, with the purpose of main
tanning them hereafter.
On the Breeding Grounds.
Texas, New Mexico Arizona and the other
states and territories of the southwest are
the breeding grounds for thousands Of cattle
which are shipped to the states of the west
and middle west, to be fattened for market.
A large proportion of such cattle passes
through the Kansas City stock yards. These
are called "stockers' or feeders"
Drought in the territory tributary to the
Kansas City market caused the demand for
them to be smaller than usual last fall. The
drought made feed of all kinds scarce and
the farmers, instead Of buying more cattle
rushed those that they had upon the market
half fat. The result was that great many
more aged steers than usual were left on
the ranges. This circumstance has made the
shipments from the ranges this spring ex
traordnary large. The railway agents es-
timated that the spring shipments from
Texas would be between $4,000 and 100000
head. How much greater the number Of cat
tie Is than was thought is proved by the
fact that the shipments already exceed 130,-
900 head. This means that the high price
of live stock has induced the farmers to this
spring put on feed between 10000 and 40 900
more Texas cattle alone than they would
have done under normal conditions.
1t is known that the shortage of cattle
which will be available for market during
the next six months is proportionately
greater in the territory directly about Kan
sas City than in any other in the United
States. In this territory is embraced all of
Kansas Indian territory and Oklahoma and
parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Mis-
souri,, Texas. Arizona, Mexico and the
northwest, and the extent of the shortage
in this scope Of territory, especially in that
near Kansas City. is shown by a COMPARE
son of the receipts Of cattle at the Kansas
City market during the first three months
of 1901 and the first three months Of 1902
In 1901 these receipts were 417,0G2, and in
1902 only 345 153, difference Of II 500
head. But that they will be proportion
ately heavier during the next six months is
almost certain. The calculation that they
will be Is based upon the fact that the ship
ments of feeders to these parts Of the
country have been almost normal since the
first OF this year. These cattle have got to
come back to market. They may not re-
turn full fed; in fact, 1t is estimated that
the number of full fed will be no more than
80 per cent as great as last year. But the
rest will return three-fourths or one-half
will hn1 To y1t,Il INr H.
Big Year for Loans.
That the number of cattle being fed In
this section is being generally underesti-
mated Is proved by the fact that the COM
mission merchants and banks of Kansas
paper, as against S25OO0,OO0 in the best
years.
In the territory directly tributary to the
Chicago and st. Louis markets the situa-
Of cattle out of the full feed in Illinois,
Ohio. Michigan. Wisconsin, Minnesota,
North and South Dakota and all but west
ern Missouri is about 20 per cent Of what
it was last year. 1t Is an extremely signifi-
cant fact that the receipts at the Chicago
and ST. Louis markets nave been so heavy
since January l as to more than balance
the decline at Kansas City. The aggregate
reports Of cattle at Chicago, Kansas City,
Omaha and st. Louis since the first of the
year have been !. $50, 100 head, as against
an aggregate Of .451 800 during the same
period Of last year, an increase over last
year Of 1880. In the western markets
other than Kansas City the increase over
last year up to March 1 was 149 800 head
In Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee
there are more cattle on feed now than
ever before. Last fall. when corn was going
so high that the northern farmer quit buy
Ing feeders from Texas and the southwest,
southern men seized upon the opportunity
which offered itself and shipped thousands
of head Of cattle to their section, where
they began fattening them upon cotton seed
meal. Finding themselves unable to sell to
the northern feeders. the stock raisers of
Texas also turned to cattle feeding as a
business, and the number OF fat cattle
along the railway lines Of the lone star
state Is extraordinarily large. In the ex-
treme west and northwest-Montana, wy
oming. Idaho. Nevada. Oregon. Utah-the
number Of cattle being fed also is extra
ordinarily large. Thousands Sf those which
were rushed upon the market last fall by
the farmers in Kansas City territory were
bought by men from the northwest, where
the drought had not reached.
The Order of Elks has purchased the
Hotel Bedford property at Bedford City,
Va. and will convert the place into a ma