TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 79 



sheep about 120 per deck. These figures represent mere averages. 

 The number of animals per car varies greatly depending on the 

 age and size of the animals. For example, a stock car 36 feet 

 long will hold 55 calves weighing 400 Ibs. each, 35 yearlings 

 weighing 700 Ibs., 25 cattle averaging 1000 Ibs., 21 cattle weigh- 

 ing 1200 Ibs., or 19 cattle weighing 1400 Ibs. each. 



Sources of receipts. The corn-growing area of the Mississ- 

 ippi and Missouri valleys affords the best facilities for the 

 production of meat animals, and this area is tapped at many 

 points by lines of railway centering in Chicago. The corn-fed 

 cattle of Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, 

 andfOhio, and the grass-fed cattle of Montana, Wyoming, the 

 Dakotas, and Texas, have easy access to Chicago. Steers are 

 sold in Chicago that were born in Texas, matured in Montana, 

 and finished in an Iowa feed-lot. Sheep often experience simi- 

 lar wanderings before reaching market, but hogs usually come 

 direct from the farm on which they were farrowed. 



V Federal inspection. Federal inspection for disease is rigid 

 and includes live animals, carcasses, and packing-house prod- 

 ucts intended as food. In 1915, the federal inspection con- 

 ducted at all the large packing plants and at numerous other 

 establishments throughout the country resulted in the condem- 

 nation at slaughter of 3.44 per cent, of cattle, .51 per cent of 

 calves, 3.40 per cent, of hogs, .15 per cent, of sheep, and .41 

 per cent, of goats. The average of all animals was 1.83 per 

 cent. Meat condemned after slaughter, including all meat and 

 meat food products, prepared and processed, amounted to .36 

 per cent. Nothing has done more to instil confidence in packers' 

 meats than has the rigid governmental inspection. Packers' 

 losses are frequently heavy on account of this inspection, mainly 

 owing to tuberculosis. Crippled animals may go into the food 

 supply. Diseased animals, diseased meats, and dead animals 

 are consigned to the rendering tank, the products of which are 

 grease, glue, and fertilizer. 



Development of the packing industry. No explanation of 

 the rise of the large live-stock markets in America is complete 

 without some reference to the development of the immense 

 packing industry. The history of the meat business is closely 

 interwoven with the history of the live-stock markets, the two 

 enterprises being mutually dependent upon each other. The 

 Chicago market benefitted not only from its location and ship- 

 ping facilities, but to a great extent also because of the large 



