80 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



packing interests which centered there. That part of the yards 

 where the group of packing plants is located is called "Packing- 

 town." The various plants composing it are owned by Armour 

 & Co., Swift & Co., Morris & Co., Wilson & Co., Libby, McNeill 

 & Libby, Anglo-American Packing Co., Roberts & Oake, Ham- 

 mond Packing Co., Western Packing Co., Louis Pfaelzer & Co., 

 Boyd-Lunham Packing Co., Miller & Hart, Independent Pack- 

 ing Co., Brennan Packing Co., and others. Many of these firms 

 do a big business in dressed beef, thereby increasing the demand 

 and helping to sustain prices for live cattle at Chicago. 



The numbers of cattle and calves slaughtered by leading 

 Chicago packers in 1917 and 1918 were as follows: 



Cattle Calves 



1918 1917 1918 1917 



Armour & Co . .551,472 501,475 219,858 216,180 



Swift & Co 451,466 389,823 141,993 108,925 



Wilson & Co 390,412 325,239 78,944 69,537 



Morris & Co 369,136 350,061 97,020 97,895 



Hammond Co .231,714 174,771 7,292 25,680 



Libby Co 172,914 152,344 



Anglo-American 38,959 42,649 



Totals 2,206,073 1,936,362 545,107 516,217 



As already pointed out, hogs benefitted from the packing 

 industry long before cattle, because beef did not interest packers 

 to a great extent until the invention of artificial refrigeration 

 and the substitution of the tin can for the oak barrel. Arthur 

 Libby introduced canned corn beef in 1874, which was followed 

 by dozens of palatable canned preparations. Previous to the 

 installation of ice machines, packing operations were largely 

 confined to the season of low temperatures. 



In 1876, about 250,000 cattle were slaughtered in Chicago, 

 and more than three-fourths of these were handled by two firms 

 the Wilson Packing Co., and Libby, McNeill & Libby. The 

 Wilson Packing Co. canned 15,000 to 16,000 head of cattle 

 annually, and Libby, McNeill & Libby over 180,000, about one- 

 half being canned and the other half put in barrels and tierces. 

 Three-fourths of the product went to Great Britain. 



The refrigerator car. There have been three eras in the 

 evolution of the American meat industry: (1) The era of 

 pickled meats, such as hams, pork products generally, and 

 salted beef; (2) the era of artificial refrigeration and the refrig- 

 erator car; (3) the era of complete utilization of by-products. 

 The supremacy during the first era was first at Cincinnati, but 



