The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-01-10

than the most sanguine prophet would
foresay. For the first time in our his
tory there is man in the White
House who knows and understands
and viii help US. Whether we can
rise to the occasion and do our part
remains to be seen. Another such OPP
portunity may not occur in genera
tons.
During the past year the efforts of
your president and executive officers
have been largely devoted to reor-
ganization of your association The
condition of your treasury, the inefti-
cheney of your efforts and the general
lack of interest shown in your asso-
citation by the allied issues, some of
which went so far as to withdraw
from mem bership, had demonstrated
need for radical treatment 1t has
become evident that your association
though national in name is not SO in
character. The constitution which
binds you is too narrow in its scope,
and does not provide sufficient CEN
tralization; your financial scheme IS
uncertain, 1mprOV1denJ, and not DaSed
on business principles. In a word,
you are attempting to draw a thou
sand-ton load with a hundred-ton en-
CINE.
Edmund Burke has reflected: HE
that wrestles with US strengthens our
nerve and sharpens our skill. Our
antagonist is our helper" This truth
we might supplement by adding;
Men learn best through their errors;
mistakes are not in vain if not re-
peated. I believe that the concur
renee of the majority of my fellow
two broad statements: First, we have
suffered from our own errors as well
as the blunders of others; second, we
are facing an era of changed physical
and commercial conditions
Our own mistakes have been many.
Through a short sighted and unguard-
ed policy our grazing areas have lost
large part of their value. Where two
blades of grass grew before but one
grows now. Is the rangeman, as a
whole, breeding much better cattle or
sheep or horses than he bred a decade
ago2 Is he caring for and feeding
them so as to bring out the very best
that nature intended? think not. is
this progress? Do not cattle and sheep
go to market in the perfect form they
should presend-wen bred, well fed,
well nigh perfect in shape and condi-
uon2 Or do we often send scrubs.
which the feeder is afraid to touch and
which the tanners only can use? Have
we not set quantity as the god we Wor-
ship and forgotten quality? After do
ing these things do we lay the blame
for poor cash returns at the doors OF
the railroad and the packer, cenSnring
the one because in the process OF trans
portation he did not transform our scrub
into a Well-cOnditioned thoroughbred
and accusing the other of manipulate
ing the markets because our half-bred,
half-fed trash brought US nothing? Is
this progress? Is our work shorn and
packed and graded and marketed In
scientific manner?
Nor are our own mistakes the only
ones that have hurt US, nor have the
rangemen and feeders alone been short
sighted and unprOgresSive. Those who
have properly bred and properly fed
their animals, rejoicing that their
labors were done and the golden har-
vest about to be gathered, have con-
signed their stuff to the tender mercies
of ia a
have they seen the fruits of their
labor destroyed and their profits
shrunk and sacrificed on the countless
sidetraclxs of a, consciencelesS corpora |
ton. Though believing that many,
and knowing that some, railroad rates
are unscientific and unjust, yet / main |
tain that inefficient and many times !
negligent railroad service has cost the
live stock shipper dollars where the ex-
cess in freight rates has cost him cents. |
There may be some excuse for high |
rates, but gross ignorance or criminal
negligence alone can account for much |
of the bad railroad service which we
have suffered. Is this progress?
Then again our friend the packer has
fallen in the way of error. In the |
scientific development of his branch of |
the industry and economical marketing I
of his wares, the packer stands unique |
and alone; he has converted the waste /
of the slaughtered animal into gold. he, /
like the railroad, has been z Great force /
world, yet, and we presume just to /
prove that after all he is but human, |
the packers sometimes circumstances
perhaps of the head and not the heart, !
but none the less expensive TO others.
I will not dwell upon the two-day mar
ket which he has established, whereby |
the surplus shipment of one day is
used to bear the price Of supplies the
next. Others more competent will tell
you about that. The packer claims he
wants a steady market fed by steady
supplies. Market manipulations, SUCH
as have been practiced in the past, are
square deal when the feed prices are
bid for second cuts of fat stuff, when
such stuff is bought to kill and not to
feed? Does this treatment encourage
the breeding and feeding of first class
Is this progress?
Our government, the grandest in
stitution in history, has too made
mistakes-sins of omission and neglect
primarily due, perhaps, to our own
naction. Though millions are an
nually expended for the benefit of
agricultural and commercial inter
asts. the live stock industry has re-
lot afraid of fraternalism. Govern
mental interest in and direction of
scientific live stock advancement, is
carried on to e. less extent in our So
any other civilized country. Is this
progress?
Other mistakes have been made
which may not be charged to any
specific interest or branch of the bust
ness. For instance. our method of
marketing is unscientific and crude
Often neither time nor place of ship
nent is considered the result being
excessive or unequal distribution of
on the various markets. We
ship, as some railroads make rates,
~ instinct" This evil results from
ignorance on the part of the shipper.
<z~,+, inf,
nation for his guidance at hand, and
ships when he gets ready and where
lis instinct may determine. At GER
ain seasons of the year the great cry