260 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



The cattle were 18 hours en route. The firm to which 

 I sold them received, a short time afterwards, a carload 

 of cattle from Chicago that had been three days and a 

 half en route, and which had lost only 23 pounds per 

 head in transit. It doesn't cost much more to ship a 

 carload of cattle from Bluemont to Chicago than it does 

 from Bluemont to Baltimore. The greatest degree of 

 loss to cattle is during the first day of shipment. The 

 next three days they would lose but little. Steers 

 weighing 1,200 pounds in Chicago are worth from 8 to 

 10 cents a pound on the hoof. Could I have sold my 

 steers, which ought to have reached Chicago weighing 

 at least 1,100 pounds, at 9 cents a pound, I would 

 have gotten $99 apiece for them; whereas I got only 

 $85.50 a head for them at Bennings. In other words, 

 I would have received, in round numbers, $11 apiece 

 more for them in Chicago than I got at Bennings. 

 This would have paid all the freights and left me still 

 a handsome profit. Yet the very meat which we eat 

 might have been sent back from these steers over the 

 same line, as is the case every day, and thus have made 

 a journey of nearly 2,000 miles before consumption. 



NORMAL PRICE DISTURBED. 



I have said that according to the natural law beef 

 cattle on the hoof should be worth more along the At- 

 lantic Coast, especially near the large cities of Balti- 

 more and Washington, than they are in Chicago. As 

 a further proof of this assertion I may say that the 

 farmer gets more for his wheat and his corn along the 

 Atlantic Coast, and especially near Washington and 

 Baltimore, than he can get for it in Chicago. The aver- 

 age difference is about 5 or 6 cents a bushel. Wheat 

 and corn are not controlled by any distributing corpora- 



