Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-10-05

the New England company, at Somer-
vile, as to what shall be paid the state
| for the condemned animals. It is sun
posed that every condemned animal is
subject to a post mortem examination at
the same time of its slaughter at Somer-
Vile. 1t appears that reports of this
post mortem could be secured but the
commission have not taken the trouble M
secure them except IN a very few in
stances and there is no record. and no
way to tell from anything which the com
| mission have, as to what the post mortem
| showed in the case of any animal or any
| herd.
THE New England company makes
| its return to the drover in a lump sum
for each lot OF condemned cattle: that
| iS II parts of several herds are con-
demned in locality, they are all Skinned
together by the drover, with no at
tempt to identify the cattle from each
particular herd and IL is supposed that
these condemned cattle are separal ed
from the drover's own cattle when they
| reach Somerville, by means of the "X'
clipped in the hair. or some other identi-
tication, 10 mark the condemned cattle
but whether the separation of the con-
demned cattle from the drover's own
stock Is correctly done, depends upon the
care and honesty of the persons handling
the stock at Somervile and not upon
any care or supervision of the officers
evidence to show that the matter has
been otherwise than correctly and honest
ly handled, and there Is no reason for
charging that the persons doing the bust
ness have been other than square and
honest, but there Is nothing which the
cattle commissioners have done to give
us light upon this question one way or
the other.
THE returns are made in a lump sum
to the drover who takes out his commits
sion and freight of SO per head, and sends
his check for the balance to the com
missioner who condemned the lot OF
cattle in question"
Sales Direct to Drover.
This in general terms, is the way the
business has been conducted when con-
demned cattle have been sold for ship
ment to Massachusetts. though instances
were found where cattle were sold di-
rect to the drover. One of these in
stances cited by Mr.. Fits Is the sale by
Commissioner Victor l. Spear of two
lots of cattle condemned at Richmond, I'm
November, 1905. to NJ. c. Rowell of Ran
dolph. These cattle belonged to Charles
White and NJ. S. Whitcomb
THE state paid on the condemnation
of the Whitcomb and White cattle APP
proximately $2S head. Commissioner
Spear approached NJ. c. Rowell of RAN
dolph, one of the drovers, who had pre-
for the state in the manner above set
forth, and asked how much he would give
for the Whitcomb and White cattle Spear
saying that he had been offered $40 per
head for Them, though IL doesn't appear
who made the offer. or whether such an
offer was made Rowell replied that he
wanted to see srA cattle first and he
thereupon looked them over ann told
Spear that he would give 81 head for
them and Spear accepted the offer. Com
missioner Spear must have understood
that Rowell was buying cattle with the
expectation Of using a considerable por-
ton of them at least for food purposes.
for they were not worth anything like the
sum paid II they were to be used only for
fertilizer.
'Rowell assorted these cattle, put those
in good condition in one lot, and the
poorer in another lot, and shipped them
to Massachusetts. mixed in with other
of his own stock. One carload of % head
was shipped to Haverhill; these were of
the poorer stock. II doesn't definitely
appear as to just what purpose this stock
was expected to be put, other than they
were shipped to the slaughter house at
Haverhill. which is a, market for cattle
called Gamers" a term meaning poor
stock used for canned beef. 1t is sup
posed that this stock was subject to the
inspection of the Massachusetts state
officers, though 1t doesn't very clearly
appear. The last seen of this herd of %
COWS at Haverhin was in lot near the
slaughter house there. There is no evil
dence 10 show what became of them. The
other ia head which Rowell purchased
he shipped to the New England company
at Somerville, where they were disposed
of as other stock consigned to that COM
pany is as above set forth. I have not
been able 10 find just how much Rowell
received for this stock. He testifies that
he cannot himself tell just exactly. fur
Their than that he made a good profit out
Of it, He was asked to furnish me with a
return from the New England company.
and has furnished one return covering so
OF the cattle. OF these. one animal was
used for fertilizer and the other 40 were
used for food purposes, prices varying
from 2% to 3h cents a pound. Rowell
testified that out of the ia head taken
to the New England company, not more
than 20 were put into fertilizer. the bal
ance being sold for food. This sale of
stock by the commissioners to the drover
is in my judgment in violation of the
law"
The Sale Of Cattle TO the Burlington Rem
derIng Company.
"Shortly after the shipment Of cattle
to Massachusetts, commenced, in the
manner above cited, the manager of the
Burlington Rendering company at Bur-
lington approached DIR. F. A. Rich OF the
commission and asked him to turn some
of the state cattle into that concern,
saying that they, the Rendering company,
would give what they were worth and
thereupon the commission commenced to
ship some of the condemned cattle to the
Rendering company at Burlington. The
commissioners testify that so far as
they know, there was no trade made as
to how much the Rendering company
should pay for the cattle; they simply
Trusted the Rendering company to pay
what was right, and took the returns of
that company without question. The