NINETEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 451 



The President : There is one point referred to here by one or 

 two gentlemen, about being unable to procure cars in competition 

 with men who buy for what we call these local packing concerns. 

 There was one gentleman here yesterday, from the town of Pay- 

 ton, on the M. & St. L., who told me they had been unable to se- 

 cure any cars for two months, but if they wanted to ship to Cedar 

 Rapids or distributing points thru the local buyer, they could get 

 cars any time — or even to some eastern states. That is the situa- 

 tion that must be remedied. Mr. Corrie brought out that point 

 very clearly. At Ida Grove men can secure cars practically any 

 time to ship to Sioux City. They will buy the stuff and re-ship it 

 right back thru Ida Grove. There is a regularly scheduled train 

 out of Sioux City every night for Chicago, and it goes thru. 



Mr. Foster : It seems the buyers have gone out and ordered 

 cars for the rest of the winter. The farmer gets ready to ship his 

 stock, and goes in to order a car, and there are twelve or fifteen 

 cars ahead of him. One of the superintendents made the sugges- 

 tion of limiting the time a man can order cars ; say make a seven- 

 day limit, so that you couldn't have the condition we had last win- 

 ter. It seems to be just a question of piling up orders to see who 

 is going to get cars. 



Mr. Harris: Are those orders in writing? 



Mr. Foster: Well, they are placed there, and one shipper 

 asked the agent to see the books, and he absolutely refused to 

 show the books. 



The President : I know, so far as the local buyers are con- 

 cerned, they can get cars to Chicago quicker than I can. 



Mr. Harris: What would you offer as a remedy? 



Mr. Philips : The remedy, to my mind, is apparent. When 

 you think a man is trying to order cars at a half-dozen places, he 

 is trying to get rid of his stuff, the cattle are ready to go. and so 

 are the hogs, and he wants to get rid of his stuff. 



Mr. Wilson : I was buying pigs in the St. Paul market last 

 winter, and they had the same trouble. They ordered cars and 

 bought what they could get, and then refused to take the cars. I 

 had about twenty-five carloads of sheep and hogs, that should 

 have been in double-deck cars, and I had to pay the single rate. 



Mr. Harris : The Chicago packers can only kill 43,000 hogs 

 a day. That is the very outside limit. The stock yards in the 

 month of January will possibly handle 36,000 cars of live stock. 



