ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IV. 107 



the stock yards people, and the facts submitted to Mr. Spoor. At this 

 meeting we again received the assurance that the lake water would be 

 continued at least for some time, and if they decided to make the change 

 back to the sewage water they would give us another hearing before the 

 change was made. After this meeting, I at once sent out another letter, 

 asking the members who were shipping to write Mr. Spoor personally, and 

 give him their experience in regard to their shrink, and insist on a con- 

 tinuance of the use of the lake water. This no doubt aided greatly in 

 bringing about a satisfactory settlement of the matter, as inside of thirty 

 days I receive a letter stating that Mr. Spoor had decided to continue the 

 use of the lake water indefinitely. 



In the changing of the water at the stock yards, it is difficult to esti- 

 mate the saving to the stockmen. Some shippers have placed the saving 

 as high as $25 to $35 per car, while the general opinion is from $20 to $25. 

 "We all know the value of good, pure water if we want our stock to fill 

 well, and I do not hesitate to say that our cattle fill better on the lake 

 water than on any water we have ever had there. And in this public 

 way I wish to express our appreciation for the work done in bringing 

 about this change in the water by our friends of the Illinois association 

 and those few commission men who were so loyal to our interests, and 

 to thank them one and all for the same. 



The next matter taken up, which was important not only to our 

 members but to the whole state, was forced upon us by the railroads serv- 

 ing notice that they would make a general advance in freight rates through 

 the middle west and extending east to the seaboard, about August first. 

 These advances would not only affect our shipments to Chicago, but would 

 also effect all shipments of live stock, dressed meats and packing house 

 products east of Chicago, so we were in reality getting a double header. 

 In this connection, it will be remembered that this organization for 

 years has urged on congress the necessity of enlarging the powers of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission, declaring that the commission should 

 have the power to suspend proposed advances in rates until proper hear- 

 ings could be held and shippers given an opportunity to be heard, and to 

 inquire into the reasonableness of such advances; and it was only during 

 the last summer that we had the satisfaction of seeing some of the things 

 which we had contended for along this line enacted into law, and it 

 ought to be a source of gratification to us to know that the things we 

 have been advocating are attracting the attention of the law makers of the 

 land, and that we have some able defenders of these principles in the fed- 

 eral congress. So during the past summer, as you will recall, after a long 

 and bitter fight, in which the lines were clearly drawn between the repre- 

 sentatives of special interests in congress and those men standing for 

 what the people demanded, the Interstate commerce law was amended and 

 the commission given the power to suspend proposed advances in rates, 

 pending an investigation. So after going over the situation carefully, it 

 was decided that the proposed advance in rates was a question of the 

 greatest magnitude of its kind that had ever confronted our people, and 

 that something should be done, if possible, to precent these advances, as 



