Arizona republican., 1917-01-19
General Conditions

While general conditions of the.
livestock business throughout the ma
tlcn have been satisfactory during
the past year. and prices for range
cattle nave been remunerative, there
has been an exceptionally wide range
of prices on cattle butchered at the
six principal central markets. Owing
to drouth. many grass fed cattle We're
sold at bargain prices; and, owing
10 the high price of corn, many from
the corn belt were marketed before
they were really finished
An ILLUSTRATION of the great range
in quality of cattle killed at the cen
tral markets is presented by the fact
that the price for cattle killed during
tire past year has fluctuated from
$3.50 per hundred to s13. There
seems to have been, during the year
influenced, I presume, largely by
huge European orders for meat, an
unusual demand for cheap cattle of all
! kinds; and while the range producer
has had fairly satisfactory year and
the packers an exceptionally prosper
Gus one, | understand that many feed
ers have come through the season
with but a very small profit, and
some feeders, alarmed by their losses
of 1915, stopped feeding selling their
| feed instead.
THE hog market during the year
| has been an unusually active one.
| sargely caused by the abnormal
| European demand. Good prices have
prevailed. although eleven primary
points at which records of receipts
! have been maintained show a gain
in hog receipts over 1915 of four
| and a half million head
The market on sheep has been
good throughout the year. and it is
reported that the 1916 lamb crop
realized more money than any crop
ever dropped. One of the features
of the year has been the enormous
demand for breeding ewes.
There are i good many factors in
volved in the life history of a four
year-old steer. from what | may cal
the cradle to the plate First W,
have the breeder. either on the range
or on the farm Then we have the
Eeeier-feeding animals sometimes
passing through several hands, and
making several trips back and forth
across the country, before they reach
the point of feeding, every one hav-
ing to do with these cattle expecting
profit, including the Spectator.
who deal in feeders, before the ami.
nal reaches the final eed-lot OF
which he is to be finished. Next W,
have the transportation companies
and then our friends, the commission
men. The steers history often has
strenuous chapter in the stock yards
after which the packer takes charg
OF him, scientifically develops his by
products, turns the dressed meat owe
10 the retail butcher, who, | an
glad to say, in an increasingly SAM
tary way distributes the final produc
to the consumer. We can, therefore
ic foy ha
man on the range, who drives tn
steer into the branding corral, t
the retail shop of some small but
cher in the crowded hives of east
ern industry.
To my mind. what we need is tn
proper balancing of this entire in
dustry, so that each group of me
engaged therein my receive the jus
reward for the energy, efficiency, an
thoroughness with which they conduc
their branch of the business and tn
consumer obtain thoroughly whole
some meat at price based solely O
the economic law of supply and de
nand. and free from speculation
waste. manipulation, or inefficienc
III management.
Cooperation is what we want
the live stock industry today-jus
as much as we need it in every othe
INDUSTRY in America, and in our soci;
and political life. Cooperation
deeds. not CT words; cooperate
which spells just distribution of ii
proflts of this great industry, an
not cooperation which spells hue
profits to one planch of the industr
and actual losses or constant uncel
ta1nty 10 those engaged in anotht
branch. As one of the biggest me
in the packing business has recent
said. however. we must recogni;
that the market price for cattle is d.
termined. not by the cost to produt
them, but by the supply available, an