Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-02-03
PACKERS HAVE PRICE GOING
DOWN WHEN sHoRTNEss OF
SUPPLY BOOSTS IT UP.
CALLFOR GOOD CATTLE
Hlah Priced Varieties Sell Easily but
Cheaper Grades Go Begging:
Free Trade Cutting Down
Production.

A slump in the weekend movement
of hogs at the Union Stock 1ards'
checking the bear raids of the packers
and scoring full recovery to last Sat
urdays level looms up as the feature
OF the week. After dime advance mao
been scored last Monday, packers be-
came decidedly bearish and were part
Nv successful in forcing a decline or lo
G15c the day following and still fur-
Their drop Of ten cents on Wednesday,
In cattle, demand centered on the
good stuff and anything above the ~
level found ready buyers though tne
ton of $3.50 the same as last week still
stands, Beef under the 50 level con-
tinues a mean seller and declines IN
general have been recorded TOR the
week with the possible exception OF
some butcher stock of choice variety.
Bull trade showed some strength carry
in the week but the final quotations are
stockers and feeders so conspicuous
last week has been checked and prices
on the close are 15m25c under the pest
level OF last week. The calf market also
continues on it's downward course
prices being off full half dollar this
week on the best grades.
In the live mutton market Tor the
week there has been occasional spo.s
where quality was paramount and stun
not too weighty brough "ady prices
while fat grades are full. peio" tle
best price of last week.
Weather Affects Markets.
Weather conditions are undoubtedly
making 1t difficult for beef distribution
and with the unreasonable heaVy
movement Of cattle in east is doing us
part to hamper the selling side: the
Industrial situation too. might De
counted as against broader consump-
r t>$. ~f OF 1an1a
Is attributed to free market1ngs by
Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The form
or has been running a considerable
number of decently fat cattle to Phlla-
delphiar the January squirt In prices
having furnished incentive to let mold
ings 10 earlier than usual: Eastern
feeders filled up with cattle last fall,
and az the feed bill is high are Keeping
their OPTICS peeled for opportunities to
unload. The middle south shows dis
position to increase winter feeding In
stead of merely roughing cattle through
to fatten on grass.
The preponderance Of half-fed cattle
on the Chicago market is also factor
towards checking the upward tendency
Of the cattle market. Commission houses
protesting ELECTS the reply that they
have no confidence that present prices
of fat cattle will be enduring and are
determined to cash in while the oppor-
tunity Offers False reports concerning
prospective foreign supply are eXertlng
q repressiVe influence on domestic pro-
duction and in this respect free trade
is exerting Numerically opposite Ell
fcct to that for which it was designed
So far it has not offered reIet TO the
consumer nor is it likely to- Imports of
beef so far, since free trade went into
effect, have not averaged to exceed the
product of 5000 cattle weekly and 5000
is expected to be the limit. An evidence
Of growers determination to cash cat
tie is furnished by winter feeding IN
Kentucky and Tennessee Of stock usu-
allv roughed over into the following
grazing season. The grower is fearful
of a deluge of foreign beef next summer
and is not disposed to take chances.
At the moment market sentiment is
not optimistic concerning the immedl-
ate future of the rank and file of short
fed cattle That the spread between these
and the few long-feds now available
market has shown decided disposition
to act that way this week. A short
corn crop never did fill the market
with fat bullocks and precedent is
worth something.
Ahead of the market is the moving
season and Lent. a period of partial
abstinence from meat consumption by
a considerable element of the pOpula-
ton that undoubtedly hurts trade, al
though usually unduly magnitied by
Stock Yard buyers. That the Lenten
argument will be worked to the limit
is reasonable to assume and although
the abstinence period does not begin
until Feb. 25 this year, coming events
invariably cast shadows ahead and the
"rotten-b beef market argument is usu-
ally pressed into service well in adj
vance Of the actual time.
An impression is developing that the