FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 493 



and the other a friend of his. They came np to Chicago and we 

 were going to carry them for 100 cattle. They both got drunk — 

 this was fifteen years ago — and went to buying cheap cattle, so 

 that one of the yard men told me if I didn't get them out of there 

 they would buy all the cattle in the yards. So I got busy and wired 

 a friend to see the young man's father and see if he would take 

 them, and he said he would. They carried them along from Novem- 

 ber to January. Those cattle came back in April, May and June, 

 and never stopped making money. 



In regard to. these heavy cattle, Mr. Blumenthal said they used 

 to use these big hides for automobile tops, and the Ford people 

 were the largest buyers of the big hides in the world; but some- 

 body got busy and discovered something else to take their place in 

 the shape of cloth, and they have got the tanners up in the air. It 

 seems to me that will hurt the heavy cattle — the decrease in the 

 demand for those hides. He spoke of the fat that comes out of these 

 big bullocks, and that recently they had discovered a process of 

 using this fat. They would take the oil out of it, and the other 

 they would call stearine, and put cottonseed oil with it and make 

 what they call lard. It comes in competition with lard. Since the 

 tariff came off they are shipping this stuff in free every place, and 

 that is hurting that trade. I don't want to get into politics, be- 

 cause I don't mix in either politics or religion, but I was telling 

 what this man told us at this lunch. 



I was very much impressed Mdth Captain Smith's remarks about 

 the low cost of producing his cattle. "We had the pleasure of hav- 

 ing his two cars of yearlings at the International last year, and they 

 made a record, but I didn't know that he was able to produce all 

 that beef for so little cost. I think it would pay you gentlemen to 

 get his secret. I know everybody here wants to do the best he can. 



Before I left Chicago I looked over our records to see what the 

 cattle receipts were in 1877, the year I went to the yards, and I 

 will give you some of the figures. In 1877 we had an average for 

 six days in the week, barring Sunday, of 3,308 cattle; last year it 

 averaged 10,088 — over 300 per cent increase. I was sent to the 

 Council Bluff's yards before they were transferred across the river 

 to Omaha and stayed there one summer with my father. In 1883 

 the receipts at Chicago were 1,919,167, and'in 1884 1,870,050. The 

 Omaha yards were started that year and had 88,603. The Denver 

 yards were started in 1886, and they had 54,229 head. So we have 

 a total for the three markets, Chicago, Omaha and Denver, for the 



