The Grit-advocate., 1903-03-06
EEeasb
Why Cattle Prices Have Fallen.


From Farmers Review: have
made some personal Investigations
concerning the cattle trade and us
demoralized condition as to prices IN
the face of plenty of feed. and nnd
that very great many bought catlle
early in the fall to feed. thinking AT
the then high prices for fat cattle II
would be good paying business to feed
cattle cheap corn, and there was
seemingly no choice for the many
farmers with frost bitten corn except
to feed 1t to cattle. Now under these
conditions there was an unusual
amount Of cattle put into the feed iots
with the expectation of marketing
them before the first Of the year,
judging by the class of feeders used,
which was invariably the 1000 to
great many young feeders forced into
the business on account Of soft corn,
1t was necessary to borrow the money
to buy the cattle. This money was
borrowed only for short time. Now
these cattle all had to get to market
at about the same time, as the men
could not hold them after their corn
was fed out and money due. So, not
being fixed with shelter, etc, the cat
tie were sent to market. This ex-
plains for the soft corn cattle. Now
for the men who could hold their cat
tie. They encounter a still harder
proposition. The close of every week
finds the market lower and as yet no
advance even under moderate re-
ceipts. This means that the continu-
Gus depression in cattle prices has
caused even the most long winded and
experienced feeders to lose faith and
ship cattle, as it is impossible to hold
cattle after they are ready to go. in
the face of the above facts.
This trade has all been manipulated
to such degree as to shut the feeder
out of his just profits and instead
cause practically all to lose money.
and yet the consumers have almost
the same prices to pay as when cattle
on foot were bringing two to three
cents per pound more money. To
prove this you have only to ask your
retailer the prices for your table
supply. Furthermore you can see by
present quotations that the English
markets are paying almost exactly
the same prices for cattle on foot as
they were one year ago, and the price
on this side is about cents per
pound less for export steers. fou
may then ask why the feeders and
shippers do not go into the export
business. l can tell you it is not be-
cause they are not smart enough or do~
not care to take the risk, as you may
suppose. The reason is the space in
the cattle ship is all taken by IA
vored few and an outside man cannot
get space to export his cattle. know
this to be true, as have tried and
have been turned down with the
statement, mo space to be had" or
Space all contracted" Then l have
had men of national reputation, and
men who have exported, use their in
fluence to assist me to get boat priv
ileges and they, too, have failed. This
will prove my first statement that the
trade has been and is manipulated.
Until the feeders wake up to the situa-
ton and attract the public's attention
through the press and every other
channel there will be no stability to
prices. But when all facts are gener-
ally known then the cattle men may
depend upon at least steady market
for some time to come.-H. F. Pinnell.
Edgar County, Illinois.