The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1904-04-07
To Save the Shorthorn King.

10 save tUt oUOTtuOTU MIX.
New York POST.
Mr.. John w. Springer, the cow
boys candidate for vice.president,
asked ut n recent cattlemen's con-
vention why 1.-THE producer of
meat, who feeds the world, )"
should be singled out for financial
destruction. 1t was only right
and proper, he said, that Wall
Street gamblers, "who coddle
their peewee brains that they can
buck the tiger on the stock mar
ket," should lose, but that the
capable shorthorn king of the
prairies should fall before the Beef
Trust was pitiable. Speaking Of
the experiences of the cattlemeh
in the past year, Mr.. Springer
said: "Without apparent reason,
prices began to drop, and they
have gone from bad TO worse. 5"
At the Texas State convention Of
cattle growers which has just
closed it's sessions at Fort Worth,
the same story was heard, with
variations. Men buttonholed one
another in the hope of making
IDEALS" in cattle, but there were
few who cared to buy at any
price. Offers Of Sl7 a head for
two-year-old steers were the best
to be had, though before the
packers perfected their combina-
ton the same class of stock sold
readily for $50. More enthusias-
tic detractors of the Trust declar-
ed that the decline in prices paid
to the grower had been as much as
so per cent, involving total loss
to the country of considerably
more than $500, 100000.
Whenever charges like these are
uttered by the stock growers, de-
mails are made by the packers.
But it is difficult to convince che
man of the prairies and stock
farms that it is simply the law of
supply and demand which regu-
lates prices of live stock. The ex-
perience of ranchman in Indian
Territory, who besides owning
some thousands of cattle, runs II
general supply store, is, however,
full of Significance for the plains
mans reasoning. This man sub
mitted figures to prove that the
price of cattle had decreased to
such an extent that he no longer
found it profitable to raise them,
and at the same time, as u store
keeper, he knew that the prices
charged by the packers for canned
meats and refrigerated products
are higher than when steers were
bringing better rates at the Chi
cago stock yards. The story of
the ranchmaE who went to Chica-
go with u trainload of fat steers is
familiar through having been told
before n Congressional committee.
This shipper found at the stock
yards only one buyer to bid on his
cattle, and the price offered seem
ed absurdly low. lie waited u
day, at considerable expense, in
the hope of getting another offer,
but none came, and he was COM
peeled 10 accept the original bid.
Watching the herd after the sale,
the ranch-owner saw it divided
and partitioned among number
of Chicago packing houses. The
ranchman, therefore, concluded
that competition among the great
packing houses had ceased, and
that he is, literally, at the mercy
of Trust.
The general public shares the
quarrel, too. With the prices of
live stock far below the normal
level, why does the price of meat
to the consumer remain at the
high level of three years ago,
when cattle brought nearly twice
as much in the Chicago markets
rs they do now? Yet, again,
whenever the consumers make
this complaint in too loud voice,
the packers retort that the blame
is not theirs but the wicked re-
tailer's The retailers, whether
of New York or Chicago, point, in
turn, to the prices they are
charged by the packers. And
when the Investigators again
crowd the packers, and figures are
produced to convict the latter, the
fault is skilfully shifted to the
farmers. 1t is asserted-as mem
Der of the firm of Swift q Co.
stated in Chicago newspaper
that the farmers found corn too
expensive to feed to cattle, and as
II consequence an unusual num-
| Der were sent to market. Tint is