The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-02

cows the baaing of sheep and the shrill squeahng of pigs. There are thousands upon thousands of these animals all about us. Here great droves of steers are being unloaded from the cars, and tens of thousands of them are moving this way and that on their way. to be sold or killed. We climb to the roof of tall building at one side and look down. Pens filled with cattle, hogs and sneep reach far out in all directions The pens are arranged along streets Wmch cross each other at right angles. The city has its own sections and wards and each has its own class of four rooted citizens. There is one section devoted to cattle, where several hun drea beasts push each other about in each pen. Farther over is a section titled entirely with sheep, where thou sands of woolly creatures are bleating and baaing, and just here at our feet is an army of fat porkers, some gruntine contentedly and other squealing like mad.
 Notice the pensl Each has trough for water and another for food. There are hundreds of such troughs and many miles of drainage and water pipes. The water for the stock comes from artesian wells driven 1900 feet down into the ground, far below the level of Lake niASAiSdh ,dHu the 1000 IS the pest tnal can be procured. See the railroad tracks which extend out on each side. There are hundreds of miles of them in and about the stockyards, and long trains come in and go out every hour of the day, bringing in new animals and car rying away in their refrigerator cars the beef and other packed products for the markets of our country and for transshipment to France.
 There are high buildings rising out of the labyrinth of pens. The form the exchange where the stockmen and pack CTS come to buy and sell these four footed citizens These men handle tens of millions of hogs. cattle and sheep every year The animals in the pens are changed daily. Those that we see moving about below us will be dead by this time tomorrow, and another horde Will have taken their places. The daily business Of the stockyards amounts to more than $1.000.0O0, and I am told that Ss,O0o hogs, n,00o sheep and 5000 calves have been handled here in z+ hours.
 l went through the city of animals In the morning when the selling was at It's height. The streets were filled with cattle, hogs and sheep, driven by men from one place to another. Some of the drovers were on horseback and some on foot. They yelled at the beasts and cracked their great whips. The agents Of the big packing houses were moving about looking at the stock; they seemed to buy at a glance, and the sellers totted down the purchases in their note books
 When the, selling hours are over the animals are weighed, and the driven off to be slaughtered. They are care- fully inspected at every stage in their journey. AS soon as they leave the cars they are examined for hoof and mouth disease. The cattle are tested for tuberculosis and tick, the hogs exam ined for cholera and tuberculosis and the sheep for tick and scabies. These inspections are made by representatives of the government, and all suspected an- imals are tagged and sold at lower prices. Great care is taken to prevent the spread of any infection and the pens are kept thoroughly clean by an excel lent system of drainage.
 I walked about through the pens and watched them drive the cattle up the inclined roadway to the upper stories of the slaughter house, where the kill ing takes place. As they come up they are inclosed in pen. platform runs around this and upon it stands a bare armed man holding a long handled hammer. Only a few animals are let in at a time, but the pen is so small that they are damned close together. The man strikes them on the head, one by one single blow with his hammer killing them instantly. As the cattle and they roll out onto the cement pave ment below, the floor sliding back into place for the slaughter of others.
 Each of the dead animals is now hooked by the hind legs to pulley and