MARKETING SWINE 309 



bunch. The speculator has an advantage in this business 

 that the commission man does not have. The commis- 

 sion man, by getting simply one car of hogs from a ship- 

 per, must sell this car to the credit of this man. If such 

 a car of hogs is made up in the main of black hogs, but has 

 a few white ones mixed in, these cannot be sold sep- 

 arately to the best advantage because there would be so 

 few that a regular buyer would not look at them. There 

 may also be a few hogs of odd sizes, poor condition, or 

 otherwise out of harmony with the bunch; these cannot 

 be sold to the best advantage if taken out of the bunch 

 because they are too few in number. Consequently the 

 bunch as a whole can be sold to better advantage, but 

 the whole mixed bunch usually cannot be sold for what 

 they are really worth because they are mixed. The specu- 

 lator can buy a number of cars of mixed hogs like these, 

 divide them up into their respective classes, and sell them 

 at a margin of profit. He however runs great risks be- 

 cause often he pays more for hogs than is paid for the 

 same kind by the packers. Then again he runs the risk 

 of losing considerable on a bunch of hogs by the market 

 going down. 



While occasionally a shrewd man makes considerable 

 profit as a speculator, the majority of them are said to 

 lose as much as they make; hence the speculator is not 

 a disadvantage by taking away the profit that should be- 

 long to the farmer, but is a decided advantage because 

 he creates competition and is responsible for the hogs sell- 

 ing to much better advantage than would be the case if 

 he were not present. Hogs that are sold to speculators 

 follow the same route as those that are sold otherwise ex- 

 cept that after passing over the scales under the eye of the 

 inspector, they go to the pens of the speculator while hogs 



