Cottonwood Chronicle Newspaper, October 10, 1919, Page 4

a toe DO STOCK YARDS HAVE A STRANGLE HOLD ON OUR MEAT SUPPLY? Buying and s pene are the ones who must termine what he is worth. Are the great stock yards of Chi- tago, Kansas City, Omaha and else- where hotbeds of monopolistic control which succeeds {n mulcting the farm- er on the one hand, and the consumer who buys meat, on the other hand? This will be one of the questions threshing over in the discussion of the Kenyon bill now before a committee of the Senate. If these big markets, where millions upon millions of dollars change hands, have any sort of a strangle-hold on our food resources, few there would be who would not say, rout them. Yet equally few, perhaps, could give you any sort of a vivid word-picture of what takes place in these markets through which flows much of our farm wealth, Separate From Packing Plants, The “stock yards” are synonymous in the minds of many people with all packingdom. This is error number one. They are operated as corpora- tions wholly distinct from the packing plant companies that cluster around them, The stock yards perform two func- tions: they are unloading, feeding and resting stations for live stock; and markets for buying and selling. As buying and selling places, they are among the most interesting spots in the world—places where one may see a@ nation at its bartering. Huge auc tion stations where a fraction of a point counts, and counts big. The Chicago stock yards, as the most notable example, will receive in a day anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 cattle, not to mention hogs and sheep. These would represent shipments by many farmers. Each farmer puts his cattle into the hands of a commission firm who acts as his agent. The “stock in trade” of the commission firm is a satisfied clientele among the farmers —the better bargainers they are for a leng price, the more the farmer is dis- posed to patronize them. A Game for Experts, It is a titanic game, and one for ex- perts, On the one side are arrayed the commission men, and on the other the buyers representing packing con- cerns, brokers and others, Both sides know their business, which {s to say that they know full well what the re- ceipts of the day are and their rela- tion to the requirements, and they know cattle. The big auction begins. Not from a block, but an auction for all that. Buyers, mounted on ponies, scurry hither and thither, making a bid on ene lot here and on another lot there. The commission man will hold the bid in abeyance, dickering for a few points higher price and awaiting the arrival of another man on a pony who may make him a better offer. Every com- mission man is a competitor of all the other commission men; and every buy- er is a competitor of all the other buy- ers, We say that all of these men know cattle. A steer Is not a standardized commodity. Nature makes him what he is, The contour of his haunches, the build of his body and his make-up IIng cattle In Union Stock Yards, Chicago. The men in the a: judge each steer and de- what he is worth as a beef animal. No one can determine his value but the men in the pens,—the commission men ; and the buyers. Buyers Represent Many Firms. Many think that these cattle are all purchased by the big packers, which is far from being the case. Besides the buyers for the big packers there are always in the Chicago yards from” a hundred to a hundred and fifty other buyers on the scene, many of them representing firms that are not located near the stock yards or even in the same city. All told, the large pack- | ers do only 44 per cent of the meat | animal slaughtering of the entire com- try. The penalty which awaits the buyer who will not bid up to true values is that the other buyers take the cattle away from him and his firm will be without its requirements. On the oth- er hand the commission men cannot stick it out for an exorbitant price; for the buyers would cut down on the amounts of their purchases. There are some people who will buy meat at any price, but the majority of peo- ple reduce their meat purchases pre- cisely as the prices mount upward. The buyers in the stock yards reflect this attitude of the general public al- most as accurately as a thermometer indicates the temperature, The Arena of Supply and Demand. In other words, the stock yards are the meeting places of two tremendous powers of the economic world,—Sup- ply and Demand. Any one who vis- its one of these places, even as the most casual observer, and watches what occurs there, will give up any illusion he may have about monopoly or control. Too many buyers and sell- ers are involved, and judging the value of an individual steer or a pen full of steers is altogether too compli- | CVT TT Down Puts a Thor in Your Home During the Month of October Easy MONTHLY Payments on Balance THORS MUST BE GOOD SPECIAL OFFER \ e Don’t Miss This H ERE is an opportunity to get one of these wonderful Thor Electric Washers on very unusual terms. Just think of getting a week’s washing done at an expense of but 3 cents for electricity. Don’t let this chance slip by, be sure to get your THOR before this offer expires. BUY THE MACHINE YOU KNOW IS RIGHT WHY A THOR? —Mechanically right. —No belts to break or slip. —Clean cut and simple of operation. —Costs but 3 cts. for electricity per hour. —Is built to last for years—and does. —Give complete satisfaction wherever it goes into a home. —Costs much less than washwomen or laundries. Cottonwood, Idaho eated a matter to cover by any sort [AEIIMITTITIVAUNUHNVAUAUALVAEGE AETUAUAGAUARAAUTRAEAEEAEGECAEUGEUA UAE of agreement in advance. The Kenyon bill would make it ille- gal for any packers to have financial holdings in stock yards corporations. | Common sense rightly asks, “Why?” | How such holdings, which, where they exist, are nothing more than financial backing of a worthy enterprise, can centrol the men in the pens who are hired to use their judgment, is too deep to be seen at a glance. The ad- vocates of the bill should be forced to explain, And how a lack of suth hold- ings would prevent control or monop- oly, if such things were possible, is an- other thing which the proponents of | the bill should be able to elucidate. SIGNOR TITTONI SMALL PACKERS OPPOSE LICENSE | Cincinnati meat packers in drawing | resolutions against the licensing of all packers doing interstate business, brought attention to the fact that the proposed legislation embodied in the Kenyon and Kendrick bills, if enacted, would have a tendency to drive hun- dreds of small packing firms out of the field of interstate operations. This would be the preference forced upon them as against operating under a l- (in general have everything to do with censing system which would be a con- tinued menace of interference, Signor Tittoni is the Italian minister WQit7 HOW THE PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF A STEER ARE DIVIDED \for foreign affairs in the new Nitti cebinet. First Thrift Day. The first “Thrift day” in America was August 11, 1915. That was the first time one special day was ever officially set aside for the purpose of encouraging attention to thrift. The day was celebrated in California as “Thrift day” in response to a procla- Distribution ciety for Thrift.—Thrift Magazine, Who gets the money that you pay the butcher for beef? This interesting diagram will help you to see. It is made up from figures secured by the Fed- eral. Department of Agriculture who followed a number of groups of steers through the packing plant and through the retail market up to the time the | meat was in the hands of the ultimate consumer. The live animals were | bought from the farmer; in addition to the meat there was, of course, the hide, | visceral fat and other by-products. These were sold by the packer and this sum added to what the retail market man received for the meat gives the total | proceeds. Out of this total amount the farmer received 66 to 75 per cent for | the live animals. Three to 4 per cent were required to ship the live animals to | Two Sides to It. Mamma—Now, Freddy, mind what I say. I don’t want you to go over into the next garden and play with that Binks boy; he’s very rude. Freddy (heard a few moments after- ward calling over the wall)—I say, Binks, ma says I'm not to go in your garden because you're rude, but you Grangeville Electric Light & PowerCo. : The Sguare Deal is Born and Bred Into Fisk Tires Back of Fisk Tires there’s a concern whose one ideal is: “To be the Best Concern in the World to Work for and the Squarest Concern in Existence to do Business with.” It is that backing — that Spirit of doing the square thing — that puts into Fisk Tires the extra miles and the complete satisfaction in using them, Next Time— BUY FISK For Sale By All Dealers re wi Z mation of Governor Johnson, The oc- To the Packing | ension marked the opening of the . Q and Pi be thrift congress, held at the Panama- Stockman Wholesale. Distribut | Pacific exposition by the American So- ee a ar tc en ee " A | come into my garden—I ain't rude— $ Vetroooneeroeeeeeeceseeeteseoneneteseneenseeseetses | Patronize home industry by A stock yard efore they were | Ff, dH . | iy Q r + a on ” « slaughtered. The packer received 5 to 6 per cent of the total proceeds, and | ene wee L. B. HILL, FLORIST, LEW ISTON, IDAHO = buying Tip Top” and “Idaho Ds this covered the cost of slaughtering, refrigerating, shipping in refrigerator cars to the local branch houses, selling to the local butcher, and also profits. Fifteen ito 20 per cent was received by the butcher, which comprised his selling cos his profits. The illustration indicates the proportions of these amount: ‘hy the relative sizes of the moncy A Real Ambition. “Is he ambitious?” “I should say so. He says he'll never be content until he can drive @ golf ball 200 yards every time,” Gold” flour. They are manu- factured from your own wheat under the most sanitary condi- tions, and guaranteed satisfac. > ; tory. 24+f Flowers for all occasions. Artistically arranged. Direct to you by parcel post or express. Paper White Narcissus bulbs to grow in water are ready now, 10c each $1.00 per dozen DOM ee .