14 BULLETIN 589, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the law, whereas formerly violations were numbered by the hun- 
dreds. The stockmen who ship over these roads have commented 
on the fact that their live stock now receive better treatment than 
formerly. 
Formerly, in the Northwest, where the winters are longer and more 
severe, no shelter of consequence was provided for the animals from 
the cold. Repeatedly animals were frozen in the yards after 
unloading. When the attention of the head officials was called to 
such conditions and the results obtained on other lines were pointed 
out to them, they at once asked for advice and aid from the depart- 
ment, with the result that great improvements have been made at 
the feeding points and also in the running time of the trains. Live- 
stock exchanges and associations and stockmen in general have 
spoken in the warmest praise of these improvements. The railroads, 
too, have seen the big saving in losses and claims as well as in train- 
crew time. Yards have been paved, electric lights installed for un- 
loading at night, sheds built for shelter, watering facilities improved, 
more care used in the selection of men to run the yards and handle 
the stock, and more attention paid to the kind and quantity of feed 
furnished. No yard of consequence in that section now lacks a rea- 
sonable amount of shelter. for the stock and paving for at least a part 
of the yards, and the shipper always is assured of dry conditions no 
matter what the time of year may be. : 
Plate I, figure 2, Plate II, and Plate IV, figure 1, show some 
examples of poor conditions at some yards where live stock were 
supposed to rest, water, and feed. These photographs were taken 
several years ago. Plate IV, figures 2 and 3, and Plate V show 
yards which are regarded as proper for the feeding, watering, and 
resting of live stock. 
IMPROVED FEEDING AND WATERING FACILITIES. 
At one of the so-called “contract feeding stations” on the line of 
one of the largest railroads it was customary to feed animals in the 
cars, particularly hogs, by throwing the feed into the cars through 
openings between the slats as the train moved slowly by the feed 
bins. This resulted in much of the feed falling to the ground, and, 
since the feeding was done from but one side of the train, many of 
the animals on the opposite side from the feeding platforms received 
no feed. At this place the animals were watered in the cars, but as 
this also was done only on one side of the train the animals on the op- 
posite side received little if any water. This practice resulted in some 
of the animals being confined in the cars without any water whatever 
for from 60 to 72 hours, and specific cases have been disclosed in which 
the confinement had continued as long as 100 hours. In accordance 
with suggestions offered by the officials of the Bureau of Animal In- 
