The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1906-06-28
MEAT SCANDAL Will
HURT ST0CkGROWE:RS
CONSERVATION Rife Among the
"Cow Men, Of Western
South Dakota.
WILL BE A GREAT LOSS
Packing House Scandal Has CAUSED
Market to Fall Of and Many of the
Large Dealers Will Go Under
in the Crash.

Deadwood, S. D., June 25.-Amonr
the cattlemen and large stockmen az
his region CONSERVATION is rife, as
the brunt of the loss on account Of
the packing house scandal will fall
upon them. 1t is estimated that a 25
per cent loss in the cattle rade for
this season is not an overestimate, and
that the bulk of this will touch the
cattlanlen there is no question. Against
the proposed Beveridge amendment
they felt especially bitter, as they knew
that if h cost Of inspection was
charged UP to h packing houses il
would really be paid by the stock rails
er. AS conditions now are there will
be a notable falling off in the demand,
both at home n abroad, for Amer
lean meats. The packing house people
will not feel this so much, as they will
buy less stock and do business on a
smaller scale, but the cattleman him
self, who has stock that he must sell
and who is obliged to sell on a poor
market, will shoulder the trouble.
AS q consequence Of these conditions
stockmen throughout the west are feel
ing distinctly a~ntagOnistic towards the
administration. When the 2ccent or
ders for the remova of fences Went
into effect there was considerable an
tagonism to the president then noticed:
when the government agents made ar
rests tor these and other attractions
Of the law by stockmen the feeling
grew, and when packing house condi-
tons were suddenly made public, with
disastrous results to these same men,
the hitherto repressed feeling among
many OF them took the form of active
opposition.
They claim, in the first place. that
they are familiar with conditions in
packing houses, and that affairs have
been much exaggerated in the reports;
further, as this public scandal has re-
acted upon the legitimate business Of
an entire country, they are embittered
over what they consider the unneces-
sary publicity Of the matter. Il have
often been through the various packing
houses OF our country" said one we'll
known cattleman, and they are as
clean as any such institution could
possibly be; they are in every way SUI
perlor TO the small shops throughout
the land AS the market has already
fallen off about so cents, the stock
ralsers feel sure hat they will be
obliged to market their stock this
coming fall for from SO to 81 less per
head than last year. AS prices have
been low for two seasons past, this
will be disastrous to many. .
There seems to be no doubt bu that
the day of the large StOckman, who
ran thousands of head of cattle over
Uncle Sans domain, is about to come
10 an end. ms packing house lnVeS-
tigatiOn is only the last blow to an
already well shattered system. The in
crease in the number Of settlers has cut
up the range SO that but a small part
Of it is available, the order to remove
fences on government land was an
other blow to the industry, and now,
with the fall in prices that is sure to
come. there is nothing left for the
large dealer but to go out of the busi-
ness or else to own his land and to
become a stock raiser instead Of a
Cow man." Many large firms that
have been operating for the last quar-
ter of a century in his northwest will
go u Of business this fall; some 9TH
ers will confine themselves to sections
where they own land and feed cattle,
and still others will have no course left
open to them but to go broke"
The cattlemen have no quarrel COM
ing with the matter of Inspections; in
deed. they are eager for it, knowing
that it will protect their interests as
well as those of the people. Further.
there has never been any trouble in
this section with tubercular cattle
They do object. however, to the pos
sihility of the inspection fee being
charged UP to the packers. who will in
turn AXE it out of the pockets Cf the
cattle raiser.