Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1909-11-20

/ &, Lewis. w. w. PerciVal and r. j.
Fryer were each sent copy of this
letter: at Corvallis, o. Letter, w. M.
! Jones, e. r. Brown, J. N. McFadden,
1 c. w. Taylor, Pom Avery, Geo. M.
Brown. McFadden & Brady, P. A.
Kline and Dick Kieger were each
sent copy of this letter, under a
I two-cent covering. You will note in
the third paragraph of this letter
/ that feed charges would remain the
same as at the old yards, but that
yardage charges would be changed
to conform with the schedule in ef-
feet at the other livestock centers in
the United States Permit me to say
: i'm this connection that in 1908 there
/ was marketed at Chicago, Kansas
City, st. Louis, Omaha, st. Joseph,
/ Fort Worth and Denver 719,453 cars
/ of livestock, and the yardage charges
on this entire amount were just the
/ same as those in effect at Portland.
"In the second paragraph of the
! article regarding these yards, you
state that, owing to the limited num-
, Der of buyers in the Portland mar
ket, there is chance that the mar
ket will be cut to pieces. l attach
hereto a letter which shows the
business done here in 80 days, from
the time of opening until October
lis. You will note from this that
nothing has remained unsold, and
/ if you will take the trouble to COM
pare the market prices with those
| in effect at all of the points above
referred to- you will conclude that
Portland ranks higher in nearly
every class of live stock offered for
sale, without considering the quail
ity.
'In the third paragraph you speak
of a shipment which arrived in Port
land shortly after p. M, or just
after the fixed time of the Union
Stock Yards for handling stock. Re-
gardless of the time of arrival, live
stock is received and cared for at
the Union Stock Yards, but the
scales are closed at O'Clock, in or
der that the days transactions may
be terminated. At all of the east
ern markets, the scales are closed at
an earlier hour, and it is seldom
that anything arriving later than
noon is offered for sale on that same
day. 1t is distinctly to the advantage
of the livestock shipper to give his
animals a chance to rest and get
good iced before they are offered
for sale There was an example of
the wisdom of this here this week.
A shipper of cattle who sold a part
of his consignment on the day of ar
rival. suffered a shrink of ten
pounds per head as compared with
the weights at which he bought in
the country. Cattle that we're held
over until the next day showed a
gain of fourteen pounds over their
country weights, thus making a diff
ference of twenty-four pounds for
his days holding in the stock yards.
Tin the same third paragraph you
speak of the meeting of the stock
yard exchange for regulating the
prices of the Union Stock Yards.
The Live Stock Exchange does not
hold any meetings in the mornings.
The Union Stock Yards Company
does not buy or sell live stock and
the Live Stock Exchange has no
more to do with the fixing of the
price of live stock than you have.
"While we are on the matter of
prices, | want to call your attention
to the fact that Chicago and Omaha
quoted the cattle market yesterday
10c lower-the market here was
steadier to higher, and, weights and
quality considered, cattle brought a
better price here than at either Of
the markets named. The hog mar
ket yesterday was steady at Chicago,
Kansas City and Omaha; the top at
Chicago was $7.S5 the top at
Kansas City was S7.65; the top at
Omaha was $7.45; the top at Port
land was $500. With the exception
OF the quotation on lambs. prices
paid for sheep at this market COM
pare favorably with any of the East
ern markets. and the quality OF
1 lambs and sheep sold on the East
ern market, on which the higher
prices are quoted, is quite superior
! TO the offerings here You will no
/ tice that Chicago quotes Western
/ lambs at from $4.25 TO $40; Kan
sas City quotes yearlings from S4.25
/ to S5.25. Taking the market by and
large, l am quite safe in making the
statement that it viii run higher
than any of the Eastern markets.
Near the top of the second col
umn of your article, you state that
the Union Stockyaards charges are
| Commission SIG each car of stock
sold in the yards; for the privilege
of stock standing in the car at the
yards. for cattle 20 cents a head.
maximum SIS per ear. The real
truth of the matter is, that the Stock
yards company does not charge any
commission as Il is not In the COM
mission business. The commission
firms make charge for selling live
stock for the account of shippers.
but there is nothing that viii pre-
vent a shipper from selling his own
stock. Long experience has proven
however that IL Is distinctly 10 the
shippers advantage 20 give himself
the benefit OF the commission mems
knowledge, skill and experience in
the sale OF livestock
You were again misinformed as
20 the price OF hay charged by the
yard company. This charge is l-2
cents per pound and inasmuch as the