, 1919-10-09
DISCRIMINATION is CHARGED
Cattle Raisers Believe They Are En-
titled to Government Assistance in
Stabilizing Live Stock Prices.

Many cattleman over the country are
finding just cause for complaint against
present conditions ut live stock mar
kets, which they claim has been
brought about in great measure
through their efforts to conserve the
meat supply according to food admin
istration requirements during war time.
Now that the reaction has come. they
feel that they should be entitled to some
protection at the hands of the govern
ment, along the lines followed for the
assistance of other national industries.
However. this stabilizing influence
has not been exertcd and the stockmen
say they are now beginning to suffer
from the effects of their patriotic eff
forts of a year or TWO ago.
A prominent Platte valley stockman.
who is "A member of the local asSocia-
ton, hands us II copy of a letter recent
ly written by II southern stockman to
Secretary of Agriculture David s.
Houston. and reproduced in the current
issue of THE Cattleman." which. he
says, is a fair presentation of the con-
ditions being faced by western cattle
men at this time. The letter follows /:
Dear Sir: As one of that class of
unfortunate men known as live stock
producers. / desire to call your atten-
ton to a few facts.
The live stock industry. especially
the cattle-raising end of it, in which l
am engaged, has passed through n ser
les of bad years. u principally to the
severe M prolonged drouth. the scare
ity and abnormal price of feed stuffs.
and the extreme fi~uctuation III the live
stock market. Last fall our situation
was especially difficult. and the best
thing to do seemed to be to market our
immature cattle and get rid of our bur
don until conditions improved. How
ever, at h earnest appeal of the Gov
eminent to exert every means to pro
duce as much meat as possible to feed
our armies and our allies. we ook Il
long chance and mt n tremendous @
pense, carried our cattle through the
winter and matured them for the mar
ket. There never vas a chance to make
much profit out of the operation but we
did hope to avoid IA loss.
Now we are confronted with the re-
markable spectacle of h very govern
ment that appealed to our patriotism
to produce this meat, assisting in every
way possible to demoraliZe the mar
ket fop our product and bring about
our financial ruin. When | say finan
cial ruin l am not exaggerating, for the
present condition of the live stock mar.
Sttr III tit hiitiit SttiiH ~
take delight in making worse by every
means in its power. will ruin mt least
one-half of the livestock producers who
engage strictly in the business as such
l ear give o names and addresses of
many who have already given up every
dollar they possessed-the, hard earn
ed accommodations Of years. and who
face the world with their families
penniless, because they endeavored to
perform a patriotic service for their
government. n this same government
has given them this for their reward.
IF the same treatment was being
accorded to all, we would not even o
complain, but we see the owners of rail
roads and other industrial enterprises,
the members of labor unions, h rails
ers of grain and cotton and many other
classes of business and labor, resting
securely under government protection
with n fair return guaranteed them In
advance, while the live stock industry
alone, which requires n larger outlay
with a greater hazard and returns less
profit, one year with another, than al.
most any other enterprise, seems to be
singled out for destruction. The value
of our property has been arbitrarily de
%preciated 30 per cent in a few weeks,