The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-24
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER

States, and they are now having cattle sales here whose daily proceeds run into the tens of thousands of dollars. l see advertisements of auctions to be held on the estancias that specify that the thousands of animals sold will go to the highest bidders. Such auctions are usually held upon Sundays, and they are attended by people from miles and miles away. There are also regular stock sales on the edge of Buenos Aires. where the blooded animals bring quite as much they do in our country.
 The cattle mature more quickly here than in the United States. The most or the animals I saw waiting for killing were from three to five years of age The $35,O0O bull I have referred to was a 2-year- old. and it weighed a ton. Of all the stock in the pens whose aver age weight, as l have said. was 1300 pounds, not one had ever eaten a grain of corn. They had been fattened on grass alfalfa. Not one of them had ever been inside barn, and all had had to hustle for themselves since they were calves. Notwithstanding this they were as quiet as any show cattle I have ever seen in Chicago, and they had every evidence of having been carefully han dled.
 Leaving these pens of waiting ani- mals, I was shown through the fac tory, passing through room after room and watching all the processes of turn ing the live stock to beef. The cattle l.rS>- on their way to the killing room. As they wade through the water they re- ceive a shower bath. They next go into the rooms where they are knocked on the head at the rate of two cattle per minute, and then pass through the processes of cleaning and cutting up in just the same way in our great establishments at Chicago, Omaha and Kansas City All this is done under careful government inspection. The veterinaries examine the stock before they go to the killing rooms, and every animal is again tested as soon as It IS killed to see that it has no disease. Then a piece of the meat is cut off and labeled and sent to the laboratory to be further examined Every quarter or beef has to bear the government stamp showing that it is fit for human con sumption, and the sanitary arrange ments are fully equal to those or the United States.
 After killing and dressing the beeves go into cooling chambers, where the temperature is about 90 degrees Fahren- heit. They are hung up in halves, each half weighing 400 or 800 pounds. These cold rooms are lighted from above by electric lights, and as I stood In them I could look down the long lines of pink and white beef. The walls are White, ana the floors are covered with sawdust, and the combination of white and red hesn IS beautiful under the light.
 I next entered the freezing rooms, where they were preparing tongues, hearts, tripe and liver for export I picked up one of the tongues. It was frozen SUIT, and was as cold as ice and hard as a bone. I was next handed a frozen OK tail. It had a knob on it's end as big as my fist and reminded me of an Irish shi- laleh I struck the board floor of truck with it. and the wood cracked. l was then shown frozen tripe intended for the United States This also was as hard as a bone It was like a great white sponge or piece of coral.
 During my stay at La Plata. saw them loading a 10.0OO-ton steamer with beef for the states. That ship will start out tomorrow and 20 days later it will land 6,O00O0O pounds of prime beef on the wharves of New York. It will carry enough to give pound to every nail' woman and child in that city and leave an equal allowance for every citizen of Phil adelphia. It will have enough to supply dozen cities of 500,000 each with all the meat they could eat in one day. And that is the cargo Of only one steamer.
 The beef is shipped in quarters, clad in white cotton dresses. The quarters flow by means of pulley running on an overhead trolley, from the factory right into the hold of the steamer. The mutton is loaded in much the same way.
 While was at these factories the trains were coming in with fresh supplies of live stock. The Argentine cattle cars are better than ours. They are wider and the doors are at the ends instead of in the sides as with ours The cattle go into the car as men do into our passenger cars; and there are platforms between the cars which can be raised and lowered. It Is