REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 337 



tlemen for their beeves and a material increase in the expense of maintaining herds 

 on the range, and 



" Whereas the various railroads carrying our beeves to market have not extended 

 the facilities needed for the transportation of stock: Therefore be it 



" Resolved by the International Range Association, That we demand of the rail- 

 road companies that they give the benefit of the improved stock cars now offered, 

 thereby reducing our shrinkage and performing a humane act which would be ap- 

 preciated by all; also a reduction of rates in proportion to the decline in prices rea- 

 lized; and be it 



" Resolved, That all range cattlemen are generally requested to patronize the rail- 

 roads that furnish the facilities asked for. 



" Resolved, further, That the board of directors of the International Range Asso- 

 ciation are hereby instructed to consider the matter of transportation and the use 

 of improved stock cars and issue an address to the cattlemen of the range country 

 on the subject." 



In accordance with the above I am directed by the executive committee of the 

 International Range Association to state that the relations between transportation 

 lines and the producers of live-stock are necessarily close. The interests of one 

 can not be seriously affected without in a corresponding degree affecting the wel- 

 fare of the other; their interests, in a word, are not antagonistic but mutual. We 

 therefore believe this truth is fully appreciated by the transportation lines, and that 

 any real grievance suffered by the producer of live-stock at the hands of railroad 

 companies will be generously considered and favorably acted upon when fairly and 

 temperately brought to their notice. 



In view of the astonishing progress that has been made during the past quarter 

 of a century in every branch of mechanics, it is astonishing that so little has been 

 done in providing better facilities for the transportation of live-stock. It would 

 seem that the only result arrived at has been to carry animals from the point of 

 shipment to destination alive when that feat has been accomplished the shipment 

 has been regarded as successful, and the success in each case is measured by the 

 number of deaths en route, merely maimed and injured animals not being seri- 

 ously considered. 



We are glad to say there are evidences of the dawn of a new era. The interests 

 of shippers, and those of transportation lines as well, call for a forward movement 

 on this question. Consideration for the public health and a decent respect for the 

 dictates of humanity, cry out for something better in which to transport live ani- 

 mals than the old slat car, which has been in use for generations. It is but a short 

 time since the first attempt was made to provide an improved stock car, but the 

 importance of the subject, the general anxiety, the demand for something better, 

 has stimulated invention, and several cars are now before the public as candidates 

 for favor and endorsement. Their introduction has not been encouraged by the 

 transportation lines, but they have been tried and have achieved surprising results. 

 Animals in these improved cars are not made to suffer for either water or food; 

 they are not exposed to cruel and inhuman torture by being thrown about the cars 

 by the sudden stopping and starting of trains; beef cattle do not reach the hands 

 of the butchers fevered for the want of water and nourishment, or covered with 

 festering wounds and bruises. 



If the number of beeves that reach the markets of the country and are hung up 

 in butchers' stalls, which by reason of the privations and cruelty of their shipment 

 are utterly unfit for human food, could be ascertained and published it would be 

 appalling.* There is a rapidly-growing realization of these things, which means a 

 correction of the present system. 



We believe that in time the old cars will disappear and in their place will come 

 something abreast with the age and in harmony with the interests of all concerned. 



When once the railroads begin these improvements their well-known enterprise 

 will cause them to go forward until the very best improved cars will be considered 

 none too good for universal use. 



The fact that it has been demonstrated that cattle can be shipped long distances 

 humanely, without injury and in condition to render them fit for healthful food, 

 renders it certain that the old methods of transportation must and will be re- 

 formed. 



We think that the extremely'low prices prevailing call for and would justify a 

 corresponding reduction in transportation rates. 



We believe tliat stock cars should be made of uniform length, or that short cars 

 should be furnished at a rate reduced to correspond with their length, and that all 

 cars of the old pattern should be provided with means for feeding and watering 

 stock as well as for dividing them into compartments. 



We believe that stock trains should be run at as high rate of speed as is consistent 

 12057 A I 22 



