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terms of tenancy with a view to secure to the tenant such interest as 

 will permit soil development and assure to him a reasonable share of 

 the returns. 



STOCK YARDS AND PACKING HOUSES. 



The matter of the supervision of stock yards and packing houses 

 presents a problem about which there has been much discussion. 

 The restoration and maintenance of conditions which will justify 

 confidence in the live stock markets and the meat packing industry 

 is the greatest single need in the present meat situation in the United 

 States. As you know, the Department, at the direction of the Presi- 

 dent, is now administering under license the control of the stock 

 yards and related industries. The important results already accom- 

 plished under this authority clearly demonstrate its usefulness and 

 emphasize the desirability of continuing it or some other adequate 

 form of supervision. 



The question also of exercising similar authority over the slaughter- 

 ing, meat packing and related interests is one for serious consideration. 

 The Food Administration has placed limitations on profits on meat 

 and by-products handled by these establishments and has required 

 the installation of uniform accounting systems. In this way the 

 centralization of control by a small group of packers has been materi- 

 ally checked. The economic welfare of meat production and distri- 

 bution would be promoted by the continuation and development in 

 some form of the supervision over the packing industry. Such con- 

 trol, of course, should be closely coordinated with that of the live 

 stock markets, and there should also be established a central office 

 to which packing concerns should be required to report currently in 

 such form and detail that it would be constantly informed concerning 

 their operations. The necessary legislation should be enacted at the 

 earliest possible moment. 



The situation apparently requires three remedies, namely, regula- 

 tion, information, and voluntary cooperation. Federal regulation, 

 organized and administered as indicated and exercised in close har- 

 mony with the regulatory bodies of the various states, is the most 

 essential feature. Constant publicity, under Government direction, of 

 current market prices, supplies, movement, and other conditions per- 

 taining to the marketing of live stock, meats and animal by-products 

 would materially increase its effectiveness. It would also be a means 

 of stabilizing the marketing of live stock and its products and of 

 making available the information required by producers and dis- 

 tributors in the marketing of their products. A beginning already 

 has been made in the creation of machinery for such service at market 

 centers and legislative authority for its further development should 

 be continued and extended. Furthermore, better organization of 



