344 



Cattle Industry of United States. 



the mid-western States, as distinguished from Texas cattle 

 and north-western range cattle] during the year 1897 tO' 

 have been i8s. gd. per 100 lbs. (live weight), or is. io?,d. 

 per 100 lbs. (about 11 per cent.) higher than the average 

 price in 1896. The improvement has been sustained during 

 the first six months of the current year, prices having 

 remained, with no very great variations, at or about the level 

 of the average of the year 1897. 



Average Price of Fed ^'Native" Steers at Chicago^ 



Average Price 

 Year. per lOO lbs. 



(Live Weight), 



.V. d. 



1894 17 8^ 



1895 18 9 



1896 16 io\ 



1897 18 9 



1898 (January to June) - (about) i8 9 



It will be observed that the prices in 1897 and the first 

 half of 1898 have been on an average equal to the prices oi 

 1895, in which year the values of fed cattle were temporarily 

 raised by a scarcity of corn, which resulted in a considerable 

 falling-off of the numbers sent to market. 



This improvement in the prices of fed cattle cannot be- 

 regarded as resulting (immediately, at any rate) from the 

 decrease, above recorded, in the total numbers of the 

 American herds ; inasmuch as the supply of finished cattle 

 arriving at the markets during the last eighteen months ot 

 the period under review shows no signs of any falling off as. 

 compared with the previous year. It is true that the 

 diminishing volum.e of the herd has been attended by a 

 marked scarcity of young stock ; but whilst the supplies of 

 fed cattle continue to arrive in undiminished numbers, it is, 

 evident that the decreased bulk of the herd can scarcely be 

 held mainly responsible for the fact that they have risen in. 

 price. 



The recent rise in the price must be considered as the 

 result chiefly of a marked improvement in the demand. One 

 of the principal causes of the very low prices of 1896 was a 

 great falling off in the American consumption of beef, the 

 result of trade depression, which had lessened the purchasing 

 power of the mass of consumers. With the recent improvement 



