Report on the American and Canadian Meat Trade. 329 
Land Transit and Treatment. 
Whore railways are available, cattle are carried to the Chicago 
stock-yards at rates which vary according to the distance, or 
according to special arrangements. In one instance only have 
I been able to obtain definite quotations of freight-rates on 
cattle carried by rail, but this will be sufficient for my purpose. 
I quote from Professor Morrow's letter which is printed in full 
above : " From here to Chicago " (128 miles) " we have now 
a special rate of 100s. per car-load " (20,000 lbs.). " The 
regular rate would be a little over 124s., or about 7\d. per 
100 lbs. Of course there are some additional expenses for 
food, for attendants, yardage, &c, but these are not very great 
in the aggregate." The whole expenses on cattle coming 
128 miles to market, including everything until they are sold, 
thus amount to less than one farthing per pound of dressed 
meat. 
The cattle purchased for exportation are sent from Chicago 
to New York by rail, " shipped," as the Americans somewhat 
strangely term it. The distance is variously stated at 900 to 
1000 miles — a matter of 100 miles is of little moment in Western 
travel ! The cost of transit is fifty cents per 100 lbs. live weight, 
or 400s. per car-load of 20,000 lbs. — less than one half-penny 
per pound of dressed meat. The cattle trains run 300 or 400 miles 
at a stretch, after each of which the cattle are taken off the cars 
to be fed, watered and rested. They rest usually twenty-four to 
thirty-six hours each time, sometimes less than twenty-four hours, 
according to circumstances. The rate from Chicago to Phila- 
delphia is 22^d., and to Baltimore 20d. per 100 lbs., live 
weight. The cattle lose weight during the journey. Mr. L. F. 
Allen of Buffalo, from whose letter I have previously quoted, 
says : " It is usually estimated that, as a rule, good cattle lose 100 
to 150 lbs. in live weight during the route from home to market 
in New York or Philadelphia, much of their shrinkage in weight 
depending on their condition when started from home." This 
estimate shows a serious shrinkage, but the loss of actual flesh 
is, of course, much less than this. 
Arrived in New York, the cattle are unloaded direct into the 
stock-yards of the New York Central and Hudson River Rail- 
road Company, at the foot of 60th Street, and are not driven at 
all along the roads or streets. They remain in the yards 24 
hours, to allow them to become cool and tranquil, before being 
slaughtered. The slaughter-house occupies a portion of the 
immense cattle-building there located — an edifice the largest of 
its kind in the world. The animals selected for slaughter are 
taken from the yards into a central passage in the basements of 
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