343 



THE CATTLE INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED 



STATES. 



In 1896 the Foreign Office issued a detailed report,* 

 prepared by Mr. Hugh O'Beirne, Second Secretary at Her 

 Majesty's Embassy at Washington, upon the statistics of 

 oxen in the United States, and the condition and prospects 

 -of the supply of beef in that country. Some account of his 

 conclusions was given at the time in this Journal, and the 

 following later information is extracted from a subsequent 

 report, drawn up by Mr. O'Beirne, and recently published 

 by the Foreign Office.! 



The number of " oxen and other cattle " was estimated by 

 the United States Department of Agriculture on the ist 

 January, 1898, at 29,264,197 head, the decrease which set in 

 since 1892, when the number was 37,651,000, having thus 

 continued. 



The greater part of the loss during the last two years has 

 occurred in the south-western region (especially Texas), 

 where a decline of nearly 1 3 per cent, in the number of oxen 

 and other cattle is recorded. The great corn-growing and 

 cattle-feeding region of the middle-west shows a compara- 

 tively small decrease, one State (Kansas) having an increase, 

 while the ranching region of the north-west has suffered only 

 a very small loss. The States of the Pacific slope have 

 suffered rather largely in proportion to their cattle numbers, 

 and ail the more important cattle-producing eastern States 

 show some diminution. 



From a careful review of daily quotations on the Chicago 

 Market, the " Chicago Live-Stock Report" finds the average 

 pricej for corn-fed native " steers (or steers the product of 



* Miscellaneous Series No. 403. See also Joiu-nal of the Board of Agriculture 

 Vol. III., Dec., 1896, p. 257. 



t Miscellaneous Series No. 481, price 2d. 



The exchange is taken at £i—^ dol. 80 c. throughout this report. 



