FIFTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IX. 587 



gate the cause of the high cost of beef, will come to Iowa and spend six 

 months in the feed lots, they can readily acquaint themselves with the 

 cost of making beef cattle, and ascertain whether or not the feeders are 

 receiving an undue profit on the business, or holding up the public on 

 the price of beef. 



Another most serious situation that confronts our stockmen is the 

 very radical fluctuation in the selling price of fat stock on the Chicago 

 market. There is positively no justification in a condition or system that 

 says a bunch of steers is worth $10 a hundred on Monday, and only $9.50 

 on Tuesday; or that a load of cattle on Thursday is worth $9.75, and the 

 next Monday only $9 per hundred. There is absolutely nothing that 

 could justify such fluctuations in prices except the desire of the AnJ-^rican 

 packer to take advantage of the situation and bleed the cattle feeders to 

 the very limit. If the run is light on Monday, they bid up a little, and 

 then the shippers decide to ship for Wednesday; but, when they reach 

 Chicago, they learn that the run is a little heavy, or that there are no 

 Eastern orders, or no export demands. The buyers sit in their saddles 

 until eleven o'clock so that the cattle have lost practically all their fill, 

 and then they start out bidding fifty cents per hundred under Monday's 

 market, and the cattle are bought at a price that means a net saving to 

 the packers and shippers of many thousands of dollars on the day's busi- 

 ness, while the Iowa feeder comes home sore and utterly disgusted with 

 the whole business. There is no logical reason why our live stock market 

 should not be as stable as our grain market, at least; or for its fluctuating 

 more than ten cents per hundred on account of a little heavier run than 

 was expected. If it were possible for this organization to work out some 

 plan or system that would insure a more uniform and dependable market 

 for our live stock, I would consider it one of the greatest benefits that 

 could be secured. I am not quite sure as to what would be the proper 

 and best course to pursue, but I do feel that this matter should have 

 serious consideration. It is a well-known fact that dressed meats fluctuate 

 but slightly in price. The market changes will very rarely be more than 

 one-half cent per pound, and often for weeks the wholesale price will re- 

 main the same, while the market for live stock, which is the raw material, 

 will make radical changes every day. In my judgment, there is no oc- 

 casion for this difference. 



Now, just a word in closing about the work of your association in the 

 past. Our members must ever be reminded that it was the strong arm 

 of the Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association which has secured for them 

 so many important benefits in the past eleven years. Yea, I am almost 

 led to exclaim, "There are more than I can number." But, lest we forget, 

 and our minds grow dim with the lapse of time, let us once more enumer- 

 ate some of the things that have been accomplished by and through it, 

 so that the younger generation may know whence came all these bless- 

 ings: 



1. It returned the stockman's pass to the shipper. 



2. It improved the running time, service and accommodations on stock 

 trains. 



