SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 429 



FEDERAL MARKET REPORTS ON LIVE STOCK AND MEATS. 



BY S. W. DOTY. ASSISTANT SPECIALIST IN MARKETING LIVE STOCK 



AND MEATS, OFFICE OF MARKETS, UNITED STATES 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Funds which were appropriated by congress in the agricultural appro- 

 priation bill for the present fiscal year, for the purpose of starting a 

 market information service pertaining to live stock and meats, have 

 made it possible for the Department of Agriculture to furnish to stock 

 men and to the live stock markets and meat trade, current information 

 along lines which this association and other organizations of stock men 

 have recognized as an urgent need. 



It has been impossible to bring about any material improvement in 

 some of the serious conditions which exist, such as violent fluctuations 

 in market prices and very uneven receipts of live stock at the markets, 

 owing, in part at least, to the lack of the necessary information. 



The item in the appropriation bill, which has been referred to, is as 

 follows: 



"To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to gather from stock men, 

 live stock associations, state live stock and agricultural boards, common 

 carriers, stock yards, commission firms, live stock exchanges, slaughtering 

 and meat packing companies, and others, information relative to the 

 number of different classes and grades of marketable live stock, especial- 

 ly cattle, hogs and sheep, in the principal live stock feeding districts and 

 growing sections; prices, receipts and shipments of the different classes 

 and grades of cattle, hogs and sheep at live stock market centers; prices 

 of meats and meat food products, and the amounts of such products in 

 storage; to compile and publish such information at such frequent In- 

 tervals as most effectively to guide producers, consumers and distributors 

 in the sale and purchase of live stock, meats and other animal products, 

 and to gather and publish any related information pertaining to the 

 marketing and distribution of live stock, meats and animal by-products." 



Before deciding upon the preliminary plans which were drawn up 

 for the beginning of the news service specified in this item, representa- 

 tives of the Office of Markets conferred carefully with officials of the 

 principal organizations of stock men, including the Corn Belt Meat Pro- 

 ducers' Association and the market committee of the American 

 National Live Stock Association, also with representatives of the 

 commission men's national and local exchanges, railroads, stock yards, 

 packing concerns, and other interests engaged in the live stock and 

 meat industries, for the purpose of learning what .classes of informa- 

 tion, not now available, are most in demand. It was found to be the 

 general concensus of opinion that more accurate and more prompt 

 reports on the meat trade are most immediately needed. In fact, no 

 satisfactory reports ever have been issued whereby market prices of live 

 stock and of dressed meats can be compared from day to day or 

 from week to week. Neither the supply nor the market demands and 

 prices of meats have been made public in such a way as to be of use 



