Omaha daily bee., 1917-09-25

LIVE STOCK ADMINISTRATOR.
State Food Administrator Wattles,
who has just returned from Washing
ton, says th-t within 2 short time he
will appoint live stock administrator.
do you mean that speculation in
live stock will be stopped at the yards
as speculation in wheat has been
stopped at the Grain exchange" Mr..
Wattles was asked.
Absolutely" he replied. "The pol
icy of the administration, both state
and national, is not to interfere with
the Legitimate business Of those en-
gagged in the business of handling
food products, but. to shut out en-
tirely the ruinous speculation in food
and fuel during the war.
viii License Dealers.
1T will NEAR that we will license
all live stock dealers, coal, dealers.
packers and people handling meats
and food products generally, in order
to break down the speculation in
food, fuel, and the necesstieSef life
which has been going on for years" "
Besides something over fifty CON-
mission firms which deal in live stock
on strictly commission basis on the
South Omaha exchange, there are a
great many companies ofieing in the
Exchange building which never sell a
consignment of live stock on CON-
mission, but thrive from year to year
merely on the business of "sca1ping," "
or in other words. buying stock cheap
in the morning, and selling it high at
noon, or buying cheap one day and
selling high the next.
Speculator Makes Fortune.
One hog speculator on the South
Side has built up a fortune variously
estimated at between $500,00O and
Sl,000,000 by y.merely buying hogs low
and selling them high. He has been in
the business for many years at the
yards. He maintains an Office in the
Exchange building, and employs a
string of yard men and salesmen tc
carry on his business of speculatine
in live stock.
For many years the packing houses
have fought him. Theys have tried
: to eliminate him from the yards, bu
hs1has built up fortune so large tina
his credit is unlimited at the banks
and there are days when he buys mos
Of the hogs offered on the market ane
leaves practically none for the packers
There are days when he buys as man,
as thirty or fifty carloads of hogs
Often he sorts these, throws the 800
Founders together. making severa
carloads of fine looking heavies, ther
throws the 200-pounders>> together
making other carloads of fine evei
herds, and then reserves few car
loads Of culls. The finest ones h
often ships TO eastern markets ant
. the others he sells on the local nlarke
the next day.
Packers Fight Speculator.
So hard have the packers Tough
him for years that it has long beef
impossible for him to. sell his hog
to the local packers personally. H
has found it necessary to turn then
over to a commission man. who vii
yard them in his pens and then offe
them to the packers the next day. rep
resenting them as fresh loads from th
country. He accomplishes This yer.
successfully, however, and succeeds il
getting his hogs, sold day after da.
to local Backers.
When they crowded him hardest a
times, solidly refusing to buy any o
his offerings and keeping track of hi
herds in order to refuse them persis
tently, he has been known to shil
I them out as far as Millard, only t.
have them shipped in the next day
freshly consigned to a commission
company to be sold to the packers. a
the consignments bf farmers at Mil