450 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



On the day in which your stock train is operating in that zone, 

 and on no other day, will the stock train operate as a special train 

 on account of the zone system. 



Now the next thing I am most interested in is the time to arrive 

 at the stock-yards chutes. I personally am a great believer in and 

 a great admirer of sorhething you can depend on. If your stock 

 train is scheduled to the outer Rock Island break-up yard at 12 

 o'clock, that does not mean anything ; it might just as well be in 

 San Francisco. You want to get to the chutes, and when you get 

 there it is up to the packing company to unload you. 



I arranged in Kansas City yesterday, and put in this system 

 I am proposing to you gentlemen, and I had with me from the 

 Bureau of Markets at Washington, Mr. Hall and his traffic as- 

 sistants, and the Food Administration people also. We had with 

 us the general managers and general superintendents of the fed- 

 eral managers, and the stock yards and commission men, and we 

 had with us Mr. Mercer, who represents over 6,000 live stock 

 shippers of Kansas City; and we dicided we would not defer to 

 any particular zone, but would start at a division point on the 

 railroad and not in between, and any branch line would come in 

 and hook up with that main line train. We agreed as a whole, and 

 unanimously, that relief is necessary and it is wanted at this 

 time. 



With reference to facilities, our good friend refers to Chicago. 

 There are a lot of things we might say. Labor and material are 

 very high at this time. If we were to go to work in the next 

 month, it is very questionable how many more chutes we could 

 make that would give you relief. While you have got these un- 

 loading chutes, they carry with them two pens each. Now your 

 alleys are limited, and your chutes, if doubled might crowd your 

 alleys beyond capacity, and I do not believe you could increase 

 the alley capacity in Chicago without great expense. Therefore, 

 it seems to me that we have got to try and meet the conditions to 

 give you relief at this time. 



It does seem to me, if we change the zone territory as proposed, 

 and give you the train service on the branch lines, and it be con- 

 tinued service as a passenger train, and agree upon an arrival time 

 at the yards, such as will give you the day's market as intended, 

 you will have cured a lot of complaints. 



