452 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



or less normal demands for different grades of steer beef and to observe 

 the effects of competition of other kinds of beef and of other kinds of 

 meats on the consumption and prices of these particular grades. The 

 only way that any control can ever be exerted over the price of these or 

 any other cattle is by some control of the production and the distribution 

 of the production on its way to market, but before any such control 

 can be successfully undertaken information showing what has been the 

 past production and distribution must be available. Information such as 

 has been here obtained is the start toward that end. 



The history of the production and distribution of these grades of 

 cattle during the past year as these tables and graphs plainly indicate 

 compels the following conclusions: 



First: The production, if left to individual initiative and uninformed and 

 undirected as at present, and largely influenced by changing prices, will 

 not result in such a co-ordination of supply to demand as to insure a 

 price approaching the cost of production. 



Second: That the supply as produced and available for market within 

 a determined period, is not apt to be marketed in a manner to bring the 

 highest total price or the highest average price. 



Third: That there is no possibility of stabilizing prices without some 

 method of controlling the market movement so that the available supply 

 shall be fed into the market in a fairly uniform stream. 



Fourth: That the production of choice cattle is that of a luxury product, 

 the consumptive channels for which are comparatively limited, but which 

 will take a limited amount at a high price. Production of more than this 

 limited amount is apt to result in prices financially very unsatisfactory, 

 and such production is certainly industrially uneconomic, for it involves 

 the use of large amounts of concentrated foods to produce a quality and 

 not a quantity product which has only a very limited market apprecia- 

 tion as a food for epicures; and it would be much more desirable that 

 those feeding stuffs be devoted to a more staple and more efficient pro- 

 duction unless the consumptive demand will amply justify in financial 

 returns their use in this luxury production. 



In making this study of the cattle situation, the speaker has devoted 

 some time to viewing at first-hand the activities in the alleys, trying to 

 be out for an hour or two every morning during the busiest trading period. 

 An attempt is made to visit each section of the yard, to talk with both 

 salesmen and buyers, and to keep in close touch with the trend of the 

 market. This is done for a number of reasons. No one is justified in 

 trying to pass judgment on marketing conditions unless he knows the 

 practical and technical operations of the market, as well as the general 

 and theoretical, and the only way the former can be learned is by com- 

 ing in close daily contact with it and watching it in actual operation with 

 enough knowledge of the situation to know what is taking place. It is 

 only in this way that one can form a judgment as to the practical efficiency 

 of the method, whether it is accomplishing its purpose in the most direct 

 and most economical way. One interesting problem is to try to determine 

 the comparative tactical situations of sellers and buyers under changing 



