BUEEAU OF MARKETS. 539 



t 



One of the most important achievements of the year was an ar- 

 rangement made with various press associations and news agen- 

 cies, by which the}' agreed to handle exclusively the live stock mar- 

 ket reports furnished by the bureau representatives at East St. 

 Louis, Kansas City, and Omaha. These reports replaced those ob- 

 tained from unofficial sources, and placed these markets on the same 

 footing with the Chicago market in this respect. An improvement 

 also Avas made in the style of the reports, and after the new form 

 was adopted the officials of the press associations and news agencies 

 agreed not to make changes in the copy furnished them. 



Constant effort was made to eliminate from the mailing lists all 

 " dead " addresses. The lists at the branch offices are circularized 

 every six to eight months, which prevents the accumulation of names 

 of persons who do not use the reports and eliminates an important 

 source of waste. 



For some time it has been obvious that some effective steps must 

 be taken to train the various persons reporting market prices and 

 conditions in the various markets so that they will have, for prac- 

 tical purposes, the same conceptions as to what constitutes the vari- 

 ous grades and classes of live stock and dressed meats. Only by at- 

 taining uniformity in this respect is it possible to make intelligible 

 comparisons and issue comparable reports. This question presents 

 many perplexing angles, and while satisfactory progress has been 

 made in working out the details, much further work remains to 

 be done. In order that the public may better understand the grad- 

 ing system in use, exhibits have been prepared consisting of trans- 

 parent photographs in natural colors of typical specimens of each 

 grade of live stock and the corresponding grades of carcasses and 

 cuts of dressed meats. These photographs were obtained at the mar- 

 ket centers by expert photographers and have been colored by expert 

 colorists. 



The monthly reports of raw stocks of hides and skins, begun during 

 the previous year at the request of the Tanners' Council and various 

 members of the trade, were continued and improved. At the close 

 of the year this work was transferred to the Bureau of the Census. 



FEDERAL SUPERVISION OF LIVE-STOCK MARKETS. 



For the fiscal year 1920, $75,000 was appropriated by Congress "to 

 enable the Secretary of Agriculture to carrj into effect until their 

 termination the provisions of the proclamations of the President of 

 June 18 and September 6, 1918, and the regulations thereunder relat- 

 ing to the stock-yards industry." Previously the work had been 

 financed by an allotment of $285,000 from the fund made available 

 to the President for emergency expenditures. This appropriation 

 of $75,000 was intended to provide the means for carrying on the 

 work for a few months, until legislation pending in Congress pro- 

 viding for the permanent regulation of this industry could be 

 passed. Owing to the fact that it was possible to carry on this super- 

 vision work largely with the force engaged on the live stock and meat 

 reporting service, it was continued throughout the fiscal year in spite 

 of the inacUniuate appropriation. On June 30, the fund appropriated 

 for the conduct of this work was exhausted, and it was necessarv to 



