16 BULLETIN 589, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
to live stock and violations of the 28-hour law were reduced about 
70 per cent. Officials of one of the largest roads, which abandoned 
the practice of feeding and watering in the cars and built yards for 
the proper care of the animals, now say that they have far fewer com- 
plaints, less loss, fewer claims for damages, and less expense for train 
crews, as it often took several hours to set the cars so that the stock 
could get water in them. 
It has been found also that in some cases where hogs are fed and 
watered in the cars the bottom of the car has been made a trough or 
receptacle for water. This is regarded as most unsatisfactory. Such 
a car is bound to have an accumulation of manure, urine, and other 
filth, so that instead of the animals receiving pure water they are 
compelled to drink a mixture containing their own excretions. Corn 
was then thrown into this filth. As soon as the attention of some 
roads was called to this insanitary method of feeding and watering 
animals in the cars the practice was stopped. 
BETTER LOADING AND UNLOADING FACILITIES. 
At some points very poor facilities were provided for loading and 
unloading live stock, particularly double-deck cars of sheep. While 
the law provides that they shall be unloaded in a humane manner, 
the sheeprsometimes were thrown bodily from the cars. No running 
board was used to unload the top deck, and the animals would either 
be obliged to jump a distance of several feet or land on top of those 
coming out of the lower deck. Dogs were put into the cars to drive 
out the sheep. A picture of a good loading and unloading chute is 
shown in Plate III, figure 1. A glance at figure 2 shows that condi- 
tions are not always the best. 
The distance between the unloading platform and the car was 
often so great’that the rush of animals, particularly cattle and 
sheep, in loading or unloading crowded one or more off the plat- 
form and down between the car and the dock. On numerous occa- 
sions this resulted in permanent injury to the animals, and in some 
cases cattle had to be killed before they could be removed. 
Some roads contended that they were not required to unload sheep 
at night, or that it could not be done. They were informed that 
darkness is no excuse for not unloading within the legal limit. It 
has been demonstrated to them that with electric lights installed at 
proper places in the yards the stock could be handled in a satisfac- 
tory manner. Officials of roads which have tried this plan say that 
within three months after installing such lighting systems they had 
saved more from employees’ wages, loss of stock, and damages to 
stock than was expended for this improvement. 
