Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 87 



corporations, commission houses, packing companies, local butchers, 

 order buyers, export buyers, speculators or scalpers, traders or dealers 

 in feeders, banking houses and loan companies, and daily market news- 

 papers. Order buyers buy fat stock for packers and butchers located 

 at a distance from the market. Export buyers make purchases for 

 shipment to foreign countries. Speculators and traders buy all kinds 

 of stock that offers a chance for resale at a profit. They frequently 

 buy mixed loads, sort them, and resell to various classes of buyers. 

 Traders are speculators who deal largely in feeder cattle, sheep, and pigs. 



Commission firms rent blocks of pens from the stock yards com- 

 pany and sell the live stock consigned to them. They also buy feeders 

 and fat stock on orders. The commission company remits to the con- 

 signor the amount received for animals sold, less charges for freight, 

 yardage, feed, commission, insurance, and any other marketing ex- 

 penses. As success in the commission business rests upon soundness of 

 judgment, honesty, and skill, very few consignors undertake to do 

 their own selling, but do it more profitably through the medium of the 

 commission man. 



The live-stock exchange is the organization of the commission 

 firms operating on the market. It fixes commission charges, adjusts 

 disputes, enforces rules to prevent fraud, and handles claims for loss 

 and damage of live stock. The live-stock exchanges at various markets 

 are in turn members of the National Live-Stock Exchange. Specula- 

 tors and traders are not eligible to membership in the live-stock ex- 

 change. They have a similar organization of their own known as the 

 "traders' live-stock exchange," and there is also a National Traders' 

 Live-Stock Exchange. 



How cattle are sold. — ^When cattle are yarded in the pens of the 

 commission company and have been fed and watered, they are offered 

 for sale by a representative of the commission company. Packer 

 buyers, order buyers, export buyers, local butchers, or speculators may 

 buy them. All sales of cattle, sheep, and hogs are made at private 

 treaty. The salesman names his price, the buyer offers his bid, and the 

 salesman accepts or rejects it. All live stock except milkers and 

 springers, horses, and mules are priced and sold by the hundredweight, 

 and the nickel is the smallest denomination in which prices are quoted. 

 As soon as a sale is made the cattle are driven to the scales and weighed 

 by the stock yards company. On the scales ticket are recorded the 

 weight, number of animals, and price per cwt., and the names of the 

 consignor, commission firm, and buyer. All sales are for spot cash, 

 and most of the live stock is sold on the day of arrival. 



Charges for yardage, feed, and commission. — Yardage at Chicago 

 costs 30 cents per head for cattle and 20 cents for calves. Hay costs 



