The daily sentinel., 1914-01-17
MUTTON FAMINE
THREATENED IN
UNITED STATES
CONTINUED from Page IL

vision of food supply for the sheen.
and that the government had done
much to help nature in heaping ben
'efits on the sheep grower.
AN organization composed of the
meat retailers. has ennuUciated some
hat persistently, the same chimera. 3"
said Mr.. Poole. During the compil-
alton of the present tariff bill its rep
resentatiyes made themselves dis
tinctly audible in Washington de-
manding that the western grower be
deprived of his bonanza by legisla-
tive enactment and the markets OF
the United States thrown open to the
producers of the world Admit Cam
adian sheep and South American and
Australian frozen mutton, they clam
ored, and cheap meat will be assur-
ed
But results show that this meas
ure merely defeated the object aim
ed at. Instead OF increasing the
prospective supply, ii precipitated
liquidation of a wholesale character.
Both east and west of the Missouri
river, timid growers. needlessly
alarmed at threats of invasion of the
domestic market by Canadian sheep
and frozen mutton from the Anti
podes, sacrificed their holdings.
"All through the summer of 1912
a procession of breeding stock troop
ed to the stock yards, glutting the
market and demoralizing prices. un-
I'll at the inception of the free trad
ers, the native sheep industry has
been almost as effectively crippled
as it was by the Wilson bin. Mean
while Canada, instead of mitigating
the consumers condition. has been
actually purchasing mutton in the
United States as 20 per cent of the
sheep killed in western Canadian pro-
vinces last year We're grown south of
the international boundary.
Cheap abundant corn mutton has
proved an iridescent dream and all
of the free traders have ACCOMPLISHED
Is to put crimp in domestic pro-
duction.
"A prediction not open to serious
dispute is that mutton supply is di-
mintshing and consumption increas-
ing all the world over. For years the
process of liquidation has been in
full swing both in North and South
America"
Revise Freight Rates.
Delegates were advised today to
petition the Interstate commerce
commission for a revision of the val
uation clauses in railroad contracts
for the transportation of sheep
Charles A. Butler of Chicago, in an
address on the legal relations of
sheep shippers and railroads, declar-
ed that all the live stock contracts
he had seen carried provisions con-
trary to the federal law.
1T is invariably set forth in these
contracts that each successive car
rier will not be liable for any dam
ages" said Mr.. Butler, except on
its own road, which provisions, ex-
cept so far as they concern the in
itial carrier issuing the contract, are
contrary to the Carmack amendment.
Another very important feature
of these live stock contracts is the
provision which prescribes the valu-
alton of sheep at from SO to 81 a
head. 1t is contended by the carrier
that this clause prescribed the limit
for which the railroad company can
be held. This clause, together with
all other clauses in the livestock con-
tracts, are based upon the rate or
tariff paid for transportation sery-
iteo- iHtse rates. nave DttH given
to understand, have been substanti-
ally increased during the last ten
years with no corresponding in
crease in this valuation clause. This
is wrong and 1t is very essential that
the shippers present petition to the
interstate commerce commission to
correct this valuation clause by prop
er increase for as it it now stands,
it has been held valid by various
United States courts of appeal"
Mr. Butler also explained the re-
sponsibility of the railroads for the
stock in transit. The speaker ad-
vised each shipper, or agent. who ac
companied a shipment of live stock
to keep a complete diary of the trip,
giving time of each loading and un-
leading. feeding, etc, for the pur-
pose OF protecting his rights in pos
cihIn 1itiuatinn