14 



TABLE 5. SHIPMENTS OFSTOGKERS AND FEEDERS FROM VARIOUS MARKETS 1 



1 From reports of Stock Yards Companies. 



2 Statistics for 1880 and 1890 not obtainable. 



3 Estimated. 



4 1905. Statistics for 1900 not obtainable. 



5 Statistics for 1880 not obtainable. 



6 1897. Statistics for 1890 not obtainable. 



7 Statistics for 1880, 1890, and 1900 not obtainable. 



8 1908. Statistics for 1900 not obtainable. 



9 1901. Statistics for 1900 not obtainable. 



10 1898. Statistics for 1890 not obtainable. 



11 Cattle shipments not classified as to stockers and feeders. 



12 Statistics for 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1910 not obtainable. 



their feeding cattle and a large part of the corn they feed, use but 

 little of the manure produced, and freely admit the large element 

 of speculation incurred. The capital, risk, business skill, and 

 distance from markets involved in cattle feeding necessarily deter 

 many farmers from converting their corn into beef. The proper 

 place and purpose of beef production in the corn belt, however, 

 is to provide a profitable market for the crops grown on the farm 

 and at the same time conserve the fertility of the soil. These con- 

 siderations are of greater consequence to the small farmer than 

 to the "big feeder." It is therefore essential to the welfare of agri- 

 culture that the business should be distributed more generally 

 among farms of average size instead of being concentrated in the 

 hands of a few farmers and capitalists whose farms, as well as 

 their fortunes, are frequently enriched at the expense of the 

 neighbors whose corn they buy. With a reasonable degree of 

 skill in buying, feeding, and marketing, it is ordinarily safe and 

 usually profitable for the general farmer to engage in the fatten- 

 ing of steers. 



In some sections of the corn belt, cattle feeding has not only 



