526 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



act as an information bureau or an investigator as to market conditions 

 and market practices upon request of the officers of the associations or of 

 individual shippers. 



Secondly, that the speaker should act as representative of the two 

 organizations affiliated in the work to attend various meetings, confer- 

 ences, hearings, investigations, etc., to keep in touch with what should 

 take place, and to speak for the interest of Iowa producers or of live 

 stock producers generally when those should be involved. 



And finally it was decided that effort should be concentrated on the 

 making of a thoro study of some particular kind or class of stock; and 

 because of the large part Iowa plays in the production of corn-fed cattle, 

 and also because of the generally unsatisfactory conditions existing in this 

 industry, it was decided that this special study should be made of the fed 

 cattle situation, but being limited to consideration of steers and yearlings. 

 This study was to include the gathering or securing of all available data 

 as to receipts, prices, centers of production, purchasers, disposition of the 

 animals and the product, the channels of distribution thru which the prod- 

 ucts go into consumption, the channels of consumption, the forces and 

 conditions that influence the consumption, the relations between the prices 

 of the cattle and the resultant products, and to try and develop a statis- 

 tical basis for future use in studying the production and distribution of 

 tliese cattle. Included with this was the making of a first-hand study in 

 the actual market of the efficiency of the present marketing system in 

 the marketing of such cattle, whether there might not be some changes 

 or modifications in methods or practices desirable, and as to how these 

 could best be brought about. 



Inauguration of the Work. 



Preparations for the work were started about April 1, but because of 

 the inability to get office space immediately in the Exchange Building, 

 an office was not opened until the latter part of the month. However, 

 the then head of the local Bureau of Markets, Mr. Doty, and afterwards 

 his successor, Mr. Baker, very kindly allowed the use of a desk and a 

 corner in the office of the bureau at the yards until an office could be 

 secured. 



The project was accorded a variety of receptions — from a very cordial 

 and apparently sincere one to a cold and semi-hostile one by men con- 

 nected with the various activities of the market. From the officials of 

 the Chicago Live Stock Exchange it was of the former kind, and the re- 

 lationship maintained with the officers has continued pleasant and mutu- 

 ally helpful, and this occasion is taken to express the gratitude of the 

 speaker to the men who are at present at the head of the exchange. The 

 same thing can be said of the officials of the Stock' Yards Company, 

 who have given at least a receptive ear to suggestions and have shown 

 willingness to furnish such information as has been requested or have 

 made available the records for securing it. The relations with the Bureau 

 of Markets of the Department of Agriculture have been always pleasant, 

 and the great value of the work being done by the bureau at the yards 



