502 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 



filed by your association and others, the working out of a more orderly 

 plan for the marketing of your live stock, and various bills pending in 

 congress. These matters were all taken up by your ofiicers as the work 

 progressed and their best efforts put forth to protect your interests. 



Freight Rates 



The first hearing on the complaint asking for a reduction in interstate 

 rates on live stock was held at Denver the fore part of June, and lasted 

 for some three days. At this hearing, you were represented by Judge 

 Henderson, commerce counsel of Iowa, and myself. Here, the western 

 range men and producers presented their case, and the hearing was then 

 adjourned to Chicago, where the Com Belt feeders were heard, your organi- 

 tion being represented by your president and secretary, and Judge Hen- 

 derson. 



At this hearing a mass of undisputed evidence was submitted by differ- 

 ent feeders and by a large number of statements secured from represen- 

 tative feeders over the state, showing the terrible losses sustained by the 

 stockmen and the deplorable conditions of the industry as a whole. The 

 taking of testimony was conducted at the Chicago hearing, and the case 

 was argued before the commission in Washington in July, and all felt 

 that the live stock interests had made a very strong case, and confidently 

 looked forward to a favorable decision which would give to all a material 

 reduction in rates. 



In this, however, we, in the corn belt sections, were doomed to disap- 

 pointment, as reductions in rates were only granted where the rate to a 

 certain market exceeded 50 cents per hundred. We next tried to secure 

 reductions through a conference with the railroad ofllcials, and in this we 

 were also unsuccessful, and the final move that was made was to secure 

 the reopening of the case. It was reargued on November 8, and at this 

 writing no supplemental decision has been rendered by the commission. 



I did not feel that I was justified in taking up so much space to go into 

 this case as fully as I should have gone into it in my printed address, so 

 that I will just give you a little more information on this case than is 

 brought out here in this report. 



This hearing was held before an examiner for the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission. After the examiner had gotten all of his facts together and 

 analyzed the whole situation, he came out in an open statement to the 

 effect that the live stock industry was in a deplorable condition — there 

 was no question about that; that while the earnings of the railroads might 

 not justify a reduction at this time in these rates, he said the condition of 

 the live stock industry absolutely demanded it and justified a reduction in 

 rates, and just as much as said that a substantial reduction in rates should 

 be made. Of course, after this statement went out to the public through 

 the press, why, we felt confident that a substantial reduction In rates 

 would be made by the commission, because we didn't believe that the 

 commission would permit a representative of that body to make such a 

 public statement through the press, as he made, if the commission had 

 not practically O. K.'d that statement before it went to the press; but 

 when the decision came out, we found that it simply said they would rec- 

 ommend to the various railroads that they make a reduction in rates of 



