426 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



ment of the company of September 22, 1916, shows an organization 

 charge for selling the stock at $27,930.10, in addition to the premium, 

 which means that $45,930.10 was actually spent in organizing this 

 company. They also spent $11,718.18 for real estate and improvements, 

 $116,926.97 on buildings, $29,601.07 on machinery and equipment, and 

 $1,370.33 in the digging of a well. This left only $62,453.35 for working 

 capital; and the statement of the board called for $140,000 in working 

 capital. Accordingly, the stockholders voted to sell an additional thousand 

 shares of the company's stock at $118 per share, and this sale is still in 

 progress. 



In all, 2, 017 stockholders had purchased during the year which has 

 just closed. These are mainly within a range of seventy-five miles of 

 Wausau. The volume of business during last year was $850,000. The 

 plant handled 4,539 cattle, 15,671 hogs, 5,868 calves and 750 sheep. These 

 figures were given me by Auditor C. H. May. 



Manager Hoopman told me that on the first of last November the 

 plant showed a net profit of $1,800. Since then he said there has been 

 quite a fall in prices of some of the meats which are in stock, and they 

 will not be able to make an annual statement showing a dividend. In 

 fact, they will show a paper loss, altho they are holding their stocks 

 with the idea that some change in the market prices will bring them up 

 in value and show a profit for the year's operations. At Wausau, they 

 claim to grade stock closer than at the Chicago yards. They say that 

 they do not bunch the cheaper grades with the better, thus lowering the 

 value of the lots. They aim to pay the farmer from 10 to 15 per cent per 

 cwt. more than Chicago prices will net him. 



The argument usually made in favor of a plant like this one at 

 Wausau is that if the majority of the stock is held by farmers, and if 

 the plant itself is able to make expenses, the farmers will secure enough 

 money at higher prices for their live stock to warrant their continuing 

 as stockholders. At "Wausau, people claim that the average prices they 

 have paid for this live stock have been from 10 to 15 cents higher than 

 the Chicago prices, and that this is on account of the difference in freight 

 rates and the saving of the country buyers' commission. I did not have 

 an opportunity to check on these statements, altho I talked with one or 

 two farmers who maintained that holding a share or two of this stock 

 they felt to be a wise investment, as they had, during the year, secured 

 a slight advantage in price for their animals at the Wausau plant. 



One of the big problems at a plant like the Wausau plant is to keep the 

 supply of stock regularized. It is necessary for this plant to run at maxi- 

 mum capacity in order to minimize the overhead charges; and in order 

 to aid in regularizing the supply, the Wausau management has organized 

 a co-operative live stock shipping association. The company maintains 

 the control over association managers, and pays them 6 cents on the hun- 

 dred for handling all the shipments. It maintains a very careful audit 

 system with regard to these shipments as they come in. It furnishes 

 statements in duplicate to the association manager, and to the farmers 

 shipping the stock. Each association has a regular day for shipping, and 

 each farmer has a regular number, which is furnished on metal tags. 



