384 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



an extra haul by the railroad. Accordingly, the fore part of September 

 we started out to try to improve this situation by laying the whole matter 

 before the regional director of railroads and his assistant at Chicago, and 

 interesting them in the problem of giving Iowa shippers an extra day 

 each week on which they could ship stock direct to Chicago without un- 

 loading. Mr. M. J. Gormley, assistant regional director, began working 

 on the proposition at once, and after several conferences on different 

 phases of the service with your president, the new train schedules were 

 finally prepared and issued about December 10th, and the new live stock 

 service has just been inaugurated when I was called to California on ac- 

 count of the Illness of my brother, and as I have just returned I am not 

 at all familiar as to whether the new service is satisfactory or not to the 

 farmers and shippers. However, if it is not, we should like to know what 

 the trouble is, and no doubt it can be corrected. 



The officers of your association were also consulted on various occa- 

 sions and at different times by the officers of the Federal Bureau of Mar- 

 kets, in regard to the taking over of the different stockyards, live stock 

 commission merchants and exchanges. A number of conferences were 

 also held in regard to the working out of the rules and regulations which 

 should be put In force for the protection of the live stock interests, and 

 we feel that on account of these exchanges of views that a more satis- 

 factory and practicable set of regulations was adopted, and that the men 

 in charge of these public utilities have a much better knowledge and 

 understanding of the real needs of the business. 



Different conferences were also held with the live stock traffic com- 

 mittee of the Railroad Administration at Washington and other points, 

 and much correspondence passed between your officers and the chairman 

 of that committee in regard to the various rules and practices affecting 

 the stockmen in the shipment of their live stock, among which was the 

 working out of uniform live stock contracts, uniform rules for governing 

 care-takers, maximum amount of feed per car to be fed to live stock 

 at the different feeding points, and many other important regualtions 

 affecting the shippers generally, which are of importance to the farmers. 

 We feel that out of this will come lasting benefit, as we believe that the 

 commingling of your officers with these men in the different departments 

 and the exchanging of views on these various subjects will give them a 

 much better understanding of your needs and bring them in closer touch 

 with the real producers of the country. 



Many other matters of interest and importance to the farmers and 

 stockmen of the country were taken up at various times and in different 

 ways by your officers, and, in fact, they were constantly on the alert in an 

 endeavor to protect and safeguard your interests. As to how well they 

 have succeeded, we leave it to you to judge, realizing that mistakes were 

 made, and that we did not secure all that we had hoped for. 



The question of what disposition to make of the railroads now that 

 the war is over is a most serious and vital one, and is attracting the atten- 

 tion and sober thought of many of our ablest men. Whether these roads 

 should be returned as soon as practicable to their owners for operation 



