Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-09-11
SHIPPER LOSES $1,000
A. F. Powell, of Seattle, Wash,
Denounces Present Feed
and Water Law
TwENrY.FouR HOUR LIMIT
This Shipper, Who Six Years Ago Lost
$40 Horses From Neglect Enroute,
Proposes Plan For Compelling the
Railroads to Observe tho Law - No
Appeal in Case Of Abuse.

! LES MolneS, sept. ia. u. POWell
of Seattle, Wash, was IN Des Moines
and having pocketed loss of $1,000
on shipment of horses, declared y.:-
terday that the twenty-eight hour feed
and water law ought to be repealed
and a twenty four hour law passed in
its stead.
| He declared that the railroads, by
| failure TO obey the law requiring stock
in transit to be ,ln!oaded and fed and
watered every twenty eight hours, SO
damaged his shipment of seventy three
horses from Washington that when he
had sold them to- a Grinnell buyer he
| stood loser to the extent Of $1,000.
| Six years ago Mr.. Powell undertook
a shipment Of 585 horses from Seattle
through to this country over the
Northern Pacific railroad. They were
| not watered or fed for 107 hours When
| they were unloaded and got to water.
$40 of them died In quarter Of an
hour. The suit which he brought
| against the company to recover for
this loss Is still pending In the courts.
But he expects TO start q new one to
recover on the shipment just complet-
ed. and on which he claims to have
lost $1,000.
II have been shipper Of live stock,
including horses and cattle, for twenty
five years" said Mr.. Powell yesterday.
my experience teaches me that the
law requiring stock TOT be taken from
trains and fed and watered every
twenty-eight hours ought to be chang
ed to compel them to be taken or
every twenty-four hours. 1t also ought
to compel the railroads to provide
proper places for feeding and water
ing the stock, and inspectors OF the
agricultural department or of the gov
eminent should be established at
proper points to observe the attention
which the railroads pay to the law.
There is No Appeal.
AT present there is no federal au-
thority to appeal to In case Of abuses
except the United States district at
torneys, who may be far remote from
the center Of the difficulty. If the de-
partment should establish agents. as
Secretary Wilson contemplates doing
at Denver, as understand his inter-
view in The Register and Leader, 1t
would be Of immense advantage to the
shippers of the west.
I'm the case OF the shipment of hors-
es six years ago. when 340 of 565 died
a quarter of ar hour after they were
unloaded, there was no water at the
first stop; at the second the yards were
filled and the horses could not be UNI
loaded; at the third stop the railroad
refused to unload and water the ami
mails. Every one knows that ashorse
cannot stand to go 107 hours without
water.
"And that was In the month Of Au-
gust, too"
The hearing ut Chicago recently be-
fore Secretary Wilson developed the
fact that the twenty-eight hour law
does not affect Iowa, for Iowa stock,
as a rule, gets to market within the
twenty eight hours 1t does affect the
stock in the middle west, which reaches
the market in from thirty-four to forty
hours 1t was the shippers of this
stock who complained of the law and
insisted that they would prefer to have
their stock left on the cars until they
got to market than to have them un-
loaded and an effort made to water
them. They commended that the stock
was much less subject to damage ana
it was less cruel to keep them on cars
the extra four to ten hours than to
unload them.
Cattle Are Better Providers.
Moreover, their stock is not like the
tame cattle Of Iowa. For instance,
having some wild traits, the cattle are
far better able to carry their own wat
err supply than the Iowa cattle. Cattle
have four stoinachs and can go two
DAYS without water without difficulty.
Horses have but one stomach, however,
and It is a little one, so that they re-
auire water oftener.
1t was also disclosed that the rail-
roads in an effort to comply with the
law counted the twenty eight hours as
beginning with the first car loaded.
AS q result, often the last car Loaded
was unloaded and the stock made to
drink after being but ten hours In the
cars. The unloading is harmful to
cattle at all tirnes.
The rule as to proper loading OF cars
was especially distasteful to the ship
pers. 1t provided that if they were to
be fed and watered in transit and were
on the road longer than the twenty
eight hours the cars should be loaded
so that one third Of the stock could lie
down. In practice this was bad. The
cattle were thus subject to harm when
the train jerked. The minimum weight
was $4,000 pounds west Of Chicago and
the shippers were compelled to pay for
the %. 900 pounds even II there was but
$4,000 weight Of cattle In the car. This
rule 1t is understood was established
by DR. Salmon and it quickly was with
drawn when the real situation was pre-
sented 10 the secretary Of agriculture
Secretary Wilson. here Friday, did
not indicate his intention to ignore the
law, but he said that consideration now
was being given to the question Of get
ting the stock crop to market this
year. In the meantime the claims OF
the shippers with reference to the adj
vantage of keeping stock on cars
few hours longer rather than trying to
unload and load them, and similar con-
tentions would be given careful inves-
tigation And the special expert agent
will be established In Denver to con-
slider the questions as they arise.
a New Jersey Editors Testimonial.
M. T. Lynch. editor Of the Philips
burg, N. J., Daily Post. writes: Il have
used many kinds OF medicines for