REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 363 



hogs in the pens, and commission merchants and their clerks hurrying 

 between their offices in the Exchange building and the stock-pens, 

 add to the animation of the scene; while the whistles and clanging 

 of bells from innumerable passing trains, the lowing of cattle, the 

 squealing of hogs, the bleating of sheep, the barking of shepherd 

 dogs, and the yells of the drovers, all blended together, form a Babel 

 of sounds only paralleled by the infinite variety of scents. 

 ' There are six landing platforms, but only two gates through which 

 all cattle landed by the railroad companies must pass to reach the 

 stock-pens. At each of these gates a State health inspector is sta- 

 tioned. These health officers are practical butchers, whose experi- 

 ence enables them readily to detect any cattle or hogs that may be 

 suffering from disease, or are not in fit condition for human food. 

 Every animal is subject to their inspection before it enters the stock- 

 yard." 



The largest consignments of corn-fed cattle are received in the 

 early spring months. For the remainder of the year the supply is 

 mainly drawn from the vast cattle ranches of Texas and the far west- 

 ern States and Territories. The stock are consigned to commission 

 houses, of whom there are about two hundred doing business at the 

 stock-yard. Each railroad company has an office on the platform at 

 which the stock conveyed by it are unloaded. When a train of cattle 

 or hogs arrives by that railroad it is bulletined at the office that is, 

 a notice is posted showing the consignor, the consignee, and the num- 

 ber of cattle or swine as the case may be, After the cattle or hogs 

 have passed the health officer they are taken possession of by the 

 Stock Yard Company, which pays the freight, and puts the stock in 

 different pens according to ownership. The commission merchant 

 to whom the stock are consigned gives to the company his orders con- 

 cerning the feeding and watering of them. Whatever quality or 

 quantity of food is desired is supplied by the company, which also 

 furnishes men to see that the animals are properly cared for. When 

 the cattle or hogs have been conducted to their pens the buyers of the 

 different packing-houses trusted and experienced men, receiving 

 salaries ranging from $5,000 to $7,000 a year examine the stock and 

 put a price upon it of so much per 100 pounds as it stands. They 

 exercise the right of selection, and rigorously exclude any animals 

 which appear to have been injured or which seem in imperfect health 

 or condition, or of inferior quality to the grade for which their or- 

 ders calL There is a weigher in attendance on each buyer, who fol- 

 lows the cattle when they go to the scales and subjects them to fur- 

 ther scrutiny. This is done when the buyers and commission mer- 

 chants have agreed upon terms. The animals are weighed in the 

 scale-house by the Stock Yard Company, a car-load at a time, and a 

 stock ticket is made out, which decides the weight- between buyer 

 and seller. After being weighed the stock is driven back to the pens. 

 The commission merchants settle with the company for the freight 

 and the feeding and storage of the cattle, which are then turned over 

 to the purchasers. Hogs are driven to the packing-houses over long, 

 elevated wooden chutes or driveways, substantially built and roofed 

 over, which lead directly from the pens to the slaughter-houses; cattle 

 and sheep are usually driven on the level. In driving and handling 

 stock in the yard as little violence is used as practicable. The office 

 of the Illinois Humane Society is a conspicuous object at the entrance 

 of the grounds, and the agents of that society are prompt to repress 

 and punish cruelty. By their instrumentality, aided by two 01 the 



