Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-01-02
Market Situation at Saturdays
Closing Very Unsatisfactory
to Cattle Sellers
HURTS DAY MARKET PROJECT
Quality Has Continued Poorer and lit
tie Inquiry Has Been Made For Choice
steers-Dressed Beef Houses Were
Poor Buyers and Storms Have Had
Their Effect.

Chicago Jan. 2.-Sellers We're great
ly disappointed in the closing trade of
last week, all of the gain noted In the
early days having been lost, and sales
of late difficult to effect, even on a
basis of the previous weeks closing
prices. Demand slackened down to al
most utter Indifference on the part of
buyers, and a considerable amount OF
the storm belated stock arriving here
on Thursday and Friday had to be held
over for this weeks market.
Buyers claimed to have loaded up
sufficiently heavy in the early days and
that they were in no need Of the heavy
offerings arriving in the past few days.
However, this explanation has not sat-
isfied the selling interests, which claim
that buyers enthusiasm in the early
days did not warrant their cooling ar
dor later and by their lack of interest in
the liberal offerings o thursday and
Friday it Is believed tnat considerable
harm has been dealt the five day mar
ket project, which sellers have been
encourag ing and have worked diligent-
ly to bring into satisfactory effect
Receipts in the past few days were
liberal enough to swell the whole
weeks total to larger proportions than
arrived the previous week, numbering
56163 against arrivals of 52,211 week
before last, 55,74S a year ago, and 3d.
271 in the corresponding week two
years ago. This volume of offerings has
been too liberal for the general de-
mand, tho the fact that receipts We're
quite evenly distributed over the first
five days should have caused buyers
to take more interest in the market on
Thursday and Friday, rather than
hammer down values In the manner
that has been noted, while leaving sew
eral thousand steers still unbought.
Opening arrivals met generally sat
isfactory sale, and on Wednesday when
the run was cut to meager proportions,
bulk of selling ruled 15@25c higher and
a considerable number of instances
were noted wherein sales showed as
much as Acc advance over the Monday
range, though last selling OF some
steers has ranged at this big loss, and,
figuring the whole weeks trade, there
at present appears small change IN
values as compared with those current
week ago.
Quality has continued poorer, and
this brought down the average. price
of beef steers to point zoe below the
previous week, while tops sold l5c un-
der best steers, going at $3.50, against
$3.50 two weeks ago, when the last
of the urgent orders for Christmas
beeves were being executed. However,
there was no very active inquiry, for
strictly choice steers during the past
week, and most ready sellers were the
EXPORT grades, demand on foreign ac-
count ruling still larger than week
ago, while shipments for export cattle
at 1900 show the largest total noted
in months.
Dressed beef houses and the eastern
shippers have taken offerings very
slowly in the past few days, eastern
buyers having claimed the general beer
trade to be in poor shape, While local
consumptive demand has ruled dull,
BUYERS claiming coolers to be comforts
ably filled from purchases early last
week, and that the poultry trade has
still affected sales of beef.
Storms have greatly delayed stock
during the latter half of the week, and
had it not been for the blizzard of
Tuesday. offerings on Wednesday
would likely have totaled much larger
and thus held prices down to more
reasonable advance, and allowed bet
fer outlet for the usual volume of
Thursday and Friday arrivals.