Dec. 1896.] CATTLE-RAISING INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. 261 



These low prices Mr. O'Beirne explains by a great falling off 

 of the American consumption, and this is to be attributed to 

 general depression of trade. 



The export of cattle and beef to Great Britain grew to its 

 present volume in the period 1885-92, when the rapid develop- 

 ment of the ranching industry had given the country an 

 enormous accession to its normal supply of cattle, when the 

 western markets were flooded with cheaply raised stock, and 

 American prices were correspondingly depressed. The export 

 of live cattle to British ports, which in the five years preceding 

 1885 had averaged some 100,000 head, more than trebled itself 

 between that year and 1892, when it reached a total of 378,000. 

 Similarly, the export of fresh beef rose from 111,000,000 lbs. in 

 1885 to 219,000,000 lbs. in 1892. 



The following table shows the export to Great Britain of live 

 cattle and of fresh beef during the past 10 years : — 



Years ending June 30th. 



Cattle. 



Fresh Beef. 







Head. 



1,000 lbs. 



1886 





114,193 



97,149 



1887 





96,960 



81,917 



1888 





124,562 



93,466 



1889 





193,167 



137,286 



1890 





360,589 



171,032 



1891 





345.797 



192,456 



1892 





378,167 



219,103 



1893 





280,996 



205,911 



1894 





345,734 



193,331 



1895 





305,068 



190,736 



The export of live cattle which, as has been seen, rose rapidly 

 in the years preceding 1892, has since been somewhat below 

 the number then reached, and has been subject to extreme 

 variations. The exports both of live cattle and of fresh (chilled) 

 beef show a considerable increase during the first five months 

 of the current year ; but this, and the great falling off in 1895, 

 must be ascribed to the same factors as caused the increase in. 

 the receipts at the American cattle market*, namely, that the 

 scarcity of feed last year threw a portion of the 1895 cattle 

 into 1896. 



The cattle exported alive to Great Britain are, for the most 

 part, three- and four-year-olds, selected from the highest class of 

 beeves raised in the cattle States west of the Mississippi and 

 marketed in Chicago. They are there bought by the exporting 

 firms, and shipped almost entirely to London, Liverpool, and 

 Glasgow, where their meat sells slightly below the corresponding 

 class of English beef. The total of the exporters' expenses 

 between the Chicago and the English market varies from 4<l. to 

 hi. per head, according to the rates of ocean freight. The 



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