NINETEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 447 



that orders for cars had to be put in by 2 :30, and the cattle lay 

 there until loading time, whenever that may be, often all night and 

 often all the next day. Going out of Omaha, they probably will 

 not put any caboose on the train at all, and you ride on top of your 

 train over to Council Bluffs — sometimes without any light or fire. 

 That has teen my experience in the last year, getting stock out of 

 Omaha — all the way from twenty-four to thirty-six hours going 

 110 miles. 



Mr. Cownie : Mr. Harris referred to having a market every 

 day. That is all very well. When I was in the live stock business 

 we aimed to be in Chicago either Monday or Wednesday. We 

 didn't want to be there on Friday, and far less on Saturday. So 

 that it is very difficult with the zone system to arrange to get 

 there Mondays and Wednesdays. I certainly would prefer to be 

 on the market on those days. 



One of the speakers said that the trouble with unloading cars 

 in Chicago was the lack of facilities at the stock yards. The prof- 

 its they make on the business ought to enable them to well afford 

 to double their capacity, so that you wouldn't have to wait quite 

 so long. There are always times when there is congestion. I re- 

 member feeding eight or ten carloads of cattle, and a neighbor of 

 mine had the same number. It was a very wet spring, and we held 

 ofif, thinking the price would go up, and the receipts were enor- 

 mous at that time. About the middle of May it got warmer and 

 dry, and the skies began to clear ofif, and there was every indica- 

 tion for a good week for planting corn. My neighbor came to me 

 and said : "John, I believe we better get ready and ship Monday, 

 rather than Tuesday, for W^ednesday's market. Everybody wants 

 to plant corn," and he intimated we would be the only ones there. 

 We got in at 6 o'clock in the morning, and it was 5 o'clock in the 

 afternoon before we could get into the yards to unload. It seems 

 everybody thought everybody else was planting corn. 



Mr. Harris suggests that the stock should arrive at 10 o'clock 

 at night to be unloaded. I suggest to Mr. Harris in a most friend- 

 ly manner that he do that with Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, 

 and give the Iowa shippers 6 o'clock in the morning. 



Mr. Rolfe : I think the zone system is all right, and that the 

 packers should be obliged to put on force enough to handle the 

 stock. We have got to increase the price to the producer or de- 

 crease the price to the consumer. That is the only way we can 

 do it. 



