130 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



on alfalfa largely, -weighing 1,250 to 1,400 pounds), they would naturally go 

 th-ere for such supply as they could lay down most profitably in New York 

 and other eastern cities, and refuse to pay the cattle producer here a ma- 

 terially better price for the same quality. As the figures I submit show, 

 they go there for their English supply, except the corn-fed steers not 

 yet produced extensively in the Argentine. 



That condition of supply and demand have forced up the price of cattle 

 in spite of the packers and other buyers this fall, can not be doubted, nor 

 can it be doubted that if they had access to Argentine beef, free of duty, 

 present prices would not long prevail. But that would not necessarily mean 

 that meats at wholesale would be much cheaper in New York, but it woula 

 niiean that it would change the source of supply until our cattle prices came 

 down to that level. This would be certain to happen. Free meats woula 

 certainly reduce the price of cattle below what it otherwise would be, 

 without probably cheapening beef at retail, materially, if at all. 



Once the base of supply and stream of commerce is established from the 

 Argentine, we could not stop it, and gradually, possibly rapidly, their beef 

 would take the place of ours until our prices of cattle go down, so that it 

 would be as profitable to use our cattle. That price would curtail our pro- 

 duction when once it is regarded as permanent, and the shortage in beef 

 could not bring up the price materially as long as it could be supplied from 

 the Argentine, wliereas if they could not bring the beef here free, a short- 

 age will always tend to restore the price, in spite of the wish of the buy- 

 ers to keep it down. Brazil and other South American countries would in 

 short order seek our markets under free trade, and the production of cheap 

 cattle there would increase and our business of cattle production would be 

 practically ruined. This is saying nothing of Mexico, which is a very Im- 

 portant factor in the production of cheap cattle, and would be of grass beet 

 under free trade. Even if this in the end would reduce the wholesale price 

 of meats one and one-half cents per pound, the present methods of supply- 

 ing retail trade would in no sense warrant the supposition that the con- 

 sumer would get that reduction. That would be problematical and exper- 

 imental. But suppose it should reduce wholesale and retail beef one and 

 one-half cents, and that would be the limit, is it best to destroy beef 

 raising by forcing the sale of cattle at unprofitable prices in competition 

 with cheap labor and cheap land. No one has a right to require the pro- 

 ducer to work for nothing or at a sacrifice of fair returns for labor, skill 

 and capital. To do this would impoverish all stock raising, farming, mer- 

 cantile, banking and other industries of the west and southwest, and even 

 the replenishing of soil fertility by cattle raising and feeding. 



So far as curbing the beef Jtrust is concerned, it is plain that their posi- 

 tion would enable them to take advantage of free meats without suffering 

 Loss that is not imposed of necessity on the producer. Many things must be 

 considered. We have no foreign fresh meat trade to speak of except to 

 England, and that trade has been taken by the Argentine. If they can do 

 that, they can take our own markets. I submit herewith the figures to 

 show our decline since 1916, and the increase in the Argentine trade in 

 England and foreign countries. 



Now, the strictly farming communities are vitally interested because 

 permanently cheap cattle means cheap corn, hay, pasturage, cottonseed 

 and cheaper land. 



Lessened production would follow permanent low priced cattle, so stoclt 

 yards, commission men, railroads, banks, merchants and all sorts of busi- 

 ness of the west would decline when the volume of cattle business is per- 

 manently reduced by reduced prices. The power to purchase manufactures 

 and consumption would decline all along the line. 



Once the people are aroused to this certain disastrous result, there can 

 be little doubt that they will command the attention of their representa- 

 tives. The most important thing is to get the press to take it up. 



