TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VU 529 



office forces; some firms absolutely refused either to furnish it or to 

 make available their account sales from which it could be taken. As a 

 general rule, the larger the firms and the more of these kinds of cattle 

 handled by them, the more kindly was the reception and the easier it 

 has been to get the information. At the start it was thought that each 

 firm could be induced to make out a daily slip of the previous days busi- 

 ness, and that all that would be necessary would be to go around and pick 

 up these slips. In practice, it was found that this would not work, and 

 that the only way it could be secured was for a representative of the 

 bureau to take it himself directly from the account sales. And with one 

 or two exceptions this is the manner in which it has been secured. 



This information had to do with native steers and yearlings. The 

 slips called for lot sales — that is, the number sold and weighed at a 

 given price — and covered the number of head, the average or total weight, 

 the sale price per hundredweight, the state in which the shipment orig- 

 inated, and the name of the buyer. The conditions under which it was 

 secured made entire accuracy impossible, but in the light of the knowl- 

 edge of the size of the business of the firms who have furnished it or made 

 it available, and of those who have refused or have made it difficult or 

 impossible to get it, it is probable that it is from 90 to 95 per cent correct 

 on the better grades of cattle — the good and choice and prime — and be- 

 tween 80 and 90 per cent correct on the poorer grades — that with regard 

 to the cheapest kinds being the least accurate. 



But at best this method of getting this kind of information is not 

 satisfactory; it should not be necessary to depend upon the willingness 

 of individual commission firms as to whether it can be secured or not. 

 The great live stock markets are public markets, and what takes place 

 there is a matter of public concern. The commission firms who have a 

 monopoly of the selling there have established themselves in a strategic 

 position in the bottle neck thru which live stock goes from producer to 

 consumer. It is not at all true to say that they are simply private indi- 

 viduals carrying on an exclusively private business, which they can con- 

 trol to suit themselves. In a matter like the present one, that of getting 

 information which the producers of cattle consider as vitally necessary 

 for them in order to know and to conduct their business, it is not a fair 

 situation that they must depend upon the volition of a group of men situ- 

 ated as these are as to whether they can get such information or can get 

 it accurately. There is only one way in which such information can be 

 secured as it should be, and that is by putting this business under some 

 sort of governmental control that can require each firm engaged in it to 

 furnish the Bureau of Markets a duplicate copy of all their account sales, 

 v/hich shall be open for inspection by interested persons duly authorized 

 by the head of the local bureau — or, better yet, for the bureau itself to 

 be adequately financed that it can undertake this work. 



Another activity undertaken by the speaker has been that of spend- 

 ing a couple of hours each day in the cattle market, watching the actual 

 progress of the market, and studying the character of the receipts. An 

 attempt is made to visit all sections of the yards and to see the actual 



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