NINETEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 443 



live stock. He has explained that fully, how they are handled in 

 the market. To go back: Thirty-five years ago I shipped over the 

 B., C. R. & N., out of Traer, loading there at 4:20 in the afternoon, 

 arriving at Chicago at 6 o'clock the next morning. When the 

 Northwestern Railroad came thru there, in 1900, the time was 

 deferred two hours. We loaded then at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 

 arriving in Chicago the next morning at 6, in time for market. 

 Later on, I think it was in 1906, the time was delayed until we had 

 to load in the morning at 11 :20, and arrived at the stock yards at 

 just about the former time. That was not so bad. But this is 

 what I have to say on the zone proposition : The zone proposi- 

 tion changed entirely the scheduling of stock trains. It took off 

 the assembling trains from our division. We load today at 2 

 o'clock p. m. in place of 11 o'clock. Our schedule is to arrive in 

 Chicago at 10 p. m., when we do. We run to Belle Plaine, thirty 

 miles, and we lay in the stock yards until we get a train the next 

 morning; we travel all day, and unload in the chutes, and all the 

 trains behind are held on the side track, blocking everything, be- 

 cause they can not get out. You know the situation in Chicago, 

 because every stock train has to come in thru the stock yards, thru 

 the neck of that little bottle. 



In regard to unloading the trains : In 1907-08, the Union Stock 

 Yards unloaded 2,250 cars. Every car was unloaded at 8 o'clock 

 in the morning. If they can do this at one time, they can do it at 

 another. This has not been the most clogging run we ever had. 

 In 1886, when all these western cattle were coming in there from 

 the range, there was just as big a run and as big a burden placed 

 upon the transportation companies as there is today. There is 

 no excuse for the transportation company taking forty-eight hours 

 to carry a trainload of stock from the central part of Iowa to the 

 chutes in Chicago, and not to the outskirts of the city. 



I think we ought to have a train scheduled in such a way that 

 we can use it economically. For instance, at Mason City, on the 

 Northwestern Railroad, let that train pick up all the stock on that 

 line, irrespective of zone, and take it down to the end of the divi- 

 sion, and take that thru train from there to the market. You can 

 run those trains in that way, just as you used to, on passenger 

 schedule time. It does not take such an enormous amount of 

 gray matter to figure out the thing. I think most shippers who 

 ride these stock trains have a reasonable conception of what is ex- 

 pected and what you can expect the trainmen to do for you. We 



