Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-07-05
MEAT SCANDAL WILL
HURT STOCKCR0WERS
CONSERVATION Kite Among the
"Cow Men" OF Western
South Dakota.
WILL BE A GREAT LOSS
Packing House Scandal Has Caused
Market to Fall OFF and Many Of the
Large Dealers Will Go Under
in the Crash.

Deadwood, S. D., June 2o.-AmonS
the cattlemen and large stockmen OF
this r~Sion CONSERVATION is rife, as
the hrunt of the loss on account OF
The packing house scandal will fan
upon them. Ii is estimated that a 2s
per cent. loss in the cattle trade for
this season is not an overestimate, and
that the bulk of this will touch the
cattlenlen there Is no question. Against
h proposed Beveridge amendment
they felt especially bitter. as they icy
that If the cost of inspection was
charged up to the packing houses II
would really be paid by the stock rails
er. AS conditions now are there viii
be a notable falling off in the demand
both at home and abroad. for Amer
lean meats. The packing house people
Will not feel this SO much, as they Will
buy less stock and dc business on q
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 a consequence of these conditions
stockmen throughout the west are feel
ing distinctly antagonistic towards the
administration. When the Ncent or
ders for he removal OF fences went
into effect there was considerable an
tagonism to the president then noticed;
when the government agents made ar
rests for these and other infractions
OF the law by stockmen the feeling
grew. and when packing house condi-
lions 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. II have
often been through the various packing
houses OF u country said n we'll
known cattlcnan. and they are as
clean as any such institution could
possibly be; they are in every way SUI
perior to h small shops throughout
me land" AS the market has already
fallen Oft about 90 cents, the stock
raisers feel sure that they will be
obliged to market their stock his
coming fall for from SO to 81 less per
mead than last year. AS prices have
been low for two seasons past, this
VIII be disastrous to many.
There seems TO be no doubt but that
the day of the large stockman. who
A eiOc~oAido VI IlttiQ OF cattle over
Uncle Sans domain, is about to come
to an end. This packing house inyes-
igation Is only the last blow to an
already we'll 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 nov.
with the fall in prices that is sure to-
come. there is nothing left for the
large dealer but to go out of the bust
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 this northwest will
out of business this fall; some 9th.
ers will conine themselves to sections
where they w land and feed cattle.
and still Others will have no course left
to them but to go broke"
The cattlemen have no quarrel CONF
ing with the matter OF inspection: in
deed. they are eager for it. Knowing
that it will protect their interests as
we'll as those of tho people. Further.
there has never been any trouble in
this section with tubercular cattle.
They do object. however, to the pos
sibtlity of the inspection fee being
charged up to the packers, who will in
turn take it out of the pockets OF the
raiser.