TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 639 



seven days amounted to from $7,000 to $10,000. As to the cause of 

 such losses, I do not want to express an opinion, for the reason that I 

 am not a qualified veterinarian. But I do want to give the railroad's 

 explanation, because there is probably some element of truth in it, and 

 if taken with a grain of salt — as I know you can take il — may prove of 

 some value. Of the losses at East St. Louis just mentioned, the rail- 

 road claims 90 per cent of the carcasses showed death resulted from 

 acute congestion of the lungs, which is suffocation from overheat. The 

 hog, they claim, is fattened to the limit and usually in a small feed lot, 

 so that in order to get his feed and water he need take little exercise. As 

 more weight is put on, his muscles become increasingly flabby and the 

 heart and lungs weak. When he is driven to the railroad more than an 

 eighth of a mile in hot weather, or hauled a long distance in the hot sun, 

 the exertion begins to then throw off the poisons of the system and a 

 heavier load is put upon the lungs and heart than at any time during 

 the process of feeding. If the animals are then loaded in that condi- 

 tion, the close contact of their heated bodies gives no chance to cool 

 and death from suffocation results. The railroads consequently advise 

 to never load hogs when in a heated or panting condition. Give them 

 time and opportunity to cool off after arriving at the pens before loading. 



Another point of advice the railroads give in their propaganda to 

 reduce claims is never to apply water to the head or bafck of a hot hog, 

 but rather upon the floor of the car that a cool place may be provided 

 in which he can lay. To prevent overheating, they also advise hanging 

 six ice bags containing about fifty pounds of ice to the roof of the car, 

 two at each end and two in the middle, to serve as a cooler for the air 

 and keep the floor cool and damp from the melting ice. It is maintained 

 that during the summer of 1918, not a single case was found at the stock 

 yards in Chicago where hogs died from overheat in cars that were 

 properly iced. Of course, the ice can not be found conveniently at many 

 country stations — and it seems there is some dispute as to the value 

 of such a method — but I pass the suggestion on to you that if these things 

 can be conveniently done they can do no harm, and may do a lot of 

 good. 



Having considered some possible ways of reducing the number of 

 claims, let us now consider the more efficient method that has been es- 

 tablished to handle your live stock claims. In the past, all too often these 

 claims have fallen into the hands of shyster lawyers, who have taken 

 railroad vouchers payable to their own order, and remitted only a small 

 part of the amount obtained to the shipper. The Chicago & Northwestern 

 Railroad will not receive a claim for one such lawyer operating in Chi- 

 cago unless he has a signed power of attorney, which on verification, is 

 found to have been signed by the shipper. In many cases they have 

 found, on investigation, that the power of attorney was forged and that 

 with duplicate supporting papers having been obtained, an attempt was 

 being made to collect without any knowledge on the part of the shipper. 



Or you may have filed the claim yourself, or through your commis- 

 sion merchant, or his agent. You may have secured payment in many 

 cases, but often you have had to take 50 or 60 per cent where you 

 should have had 100 per cent, and frequently have had to wait a year 



