The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-12
ARE IN A COMBINE.
Charge Made by CattIemen
Against Packing Houses.

Kansas City, Aug. 12.-Afieged elimi-
nation of competition in the cattle mar
ket is given as the cause of an unpre-
cedented number of failures among cat
tlemen which are predicted to occur be-
fore January 1 next. 1t is claimed by
prominent cattlemen in the city yester-
day that there has been for several
years combination among the pack
ing houses of the United States to alb
solutely control the price of cattle and
keep it at figure low beyond any rea-
sonable excuse when compared with the
cost of the packing house product TO
the consumer
One man in Chicago every morning
sets the price of cattle for the day, and
mat price Is law to the buyers in all of
the stock yards of the country" said
cattle raiser from the southwest, yester
day This is known to all cattle rails
ers in the country. 1t is a condition
which they have seen come upon them
and have been unable to prevent The
present year is worse, if possible, than
any former year. for the combination of
the packing houses is stronger
The National Live Stock association
has never been of any practical benefit
to the cattlemen of the United States,
and they have drifted from bad con-
d1t1on to worse one so rapidly that
they are now in the power of the pack
ing houses.
fixed by the packing houses without re-
gard to the cost of production, and the
packing houses being practically the
only market in the United States, the
result to the cattlemen may be readily
foreseen. The cattlemen see it now. 1t
is inevitable ruin. Before the 1st of
January there will be more failures
among the cattlemen of the range sec
lions of the southwest than has ever oc-
Cured in one year before. Last winter
was n hard one on the cattle, and the
packers are already calling in their
loans to the cattlemen and fixing the
price on their stock so low that they can
never come out of the~deal with cent
after paying the loan. There is no rea-
sonable relation between the 23z cent
steer and the Is cent meat The diff
ference is the profit of the packing
house, which in part should go to the
cattle raisers.
The cattle raisers are disorganized.
They have now no chance to get to-
gether. 1t would be a very difficult
matter for them to unite to contest the
claim of the packers to all of the profits,
even if they were not now irrevocably
in the grasp of the latter They are
crippled by the losses that have been
forced upon them in the past few years
by the combination that fixes an infieX-
ible price regardless of demand or of
cost
E. w. Wellington. cattle raiser of
Ellsworth, Kan, said yesterday at the
Baltimore hotel that there is no pros
perity in sight for the cattle raiser
There is no competition in buying cat
tle,' said he. mo buyer can be found
who will go above the price set by any
other buyer. The cattle are never lost
sight of after they have once been bid
den upon, and if they are shipped to an
other market they bring much the same
price that he was offered in the first
market He has to take the first price.
There is no difference in the markets
and the added cost of freight and yard
age is a penalty for not having sold at
the first offer"
Several representative cattlemen from
the range country are in the city and
were asked about the combine charged
by cattlemen. All replied that there
was no doubt about the packers being
in a combination to fix prices on cattle.
They also asserted that the cattlemen
are in precarious condition and the
range business ruined by the sitting of
competition. They say it is proven
fact that one market is Just like another
and that no man can get an increased
price on a shipment of cattle in one
yard after they have been hidden on In
another yard
A meeting of cattlemen is being ar
ranged for in Kansas City for this week
about which little can be learned. The
object of the assembling is to devise
some way of squaring accounts with
the hacking houses