398 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



men even though not 'undue'? They may deny it, but these facts can 

 not be denied, viz., that every animal they buy in the country v^'ithdraws 

 from the open markets just so much competition, and every measure of 

 competition, however small, withdrawn from a competitive market, is 

 instantly reflected in fluctuating bids, resulting in unstable live stock 

 prices. 



"Governor Stuart, of Virginia, the largest stock grower in that state, 

 hit the nail squarely on the head in testifying before the house commit- 

 tee on judiciary, considering the Borland resolution (Record, p. 309). 

 Governor Stuart said: 'I say it is that lack of stability in the market 

 that hurts the producers worse than any other feature of it. I would 

 rather work for a little less, if I if could work with a little certainty; 

 but these violent revulsions and these violent attacks that are made on 

 the market, without just cause, are what I am opposed to.' 



"That is the whole thing in a nutshell, and all of the explaining that 

 the country-buying packers can do will never remedy the situation nor 

 better market conditions in the least. If Swift & Company or any of 

 the other country-buying packers are in the least inclined to treat fairly 

 with the producers, they will cut out this 'beneficiai'y' talk and get down 

 to doing business in a manner which will require no long explanations. 



"Mr. Country-Buying Packer and Mr. Seller to the country-buying 

 packers, if you want to wreck the greatest and finest marketing system 

 in the world, keep right on as you have been doing; but if you want to be 

 fair to yourself, your competitors and the producers of your raw material, 

 then 'right about face' and help to restore the full competitive strength 

 to the live stock market, by patronizing the open, competitive markets 

 exclusively. 



"The National Live Stock Exchange Committee." 



In conclusion, what we want is fair price for finished im,eat, based 

 as nearly on the cost of production, including feed, labor and reason- 

 able profit, and what I condemn as unjust is when a feeder reads the 

 average market report, then prepares, loads and ships to his commis- 

 sion man, his cattle or hogs, and in the one day will appear the state- 

 ment of heavy runs or poor eastern demands, etc., with a cut in prices of 

 anywhere from 5 cents to |1 per cwt. This is not a surprising thing 

 to happen. 



LIVE STOCK IN THE ARGENTINE. 



BY PROFESSOR C. F. CURTISS. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Corn Belt Meat Producers' Asso- 

 ciation: V/e have some good neighbors over on the other side of the 

 equator, in South America, whom we don't know very much about. In 

 fact, they have a saying down there among themselves that the people 

 of the United States have only discovered South America within the 

 past tour or five years, and we have not discovered a very large part of 

 it yet. But some conditions and circumstances have brought about a 

 closer relationship between the South American countries and the peo- 



