362 
The American Cattle Trade. 
when ready for slaughter, are easily and cheaply delivered at 
Chicago. The sales there are made by brokers, whose com- 
mission is 2s. a head for cattle ; and the yard fee is Is. 
each. The animals are forwarded to New York and other 
points in special cattle trains of slab-sided cars, accompanied 
by attendants in a "caboose" attached to the train. The 
load for a car is reckoned at 10 tons, and consists of from 
16 to 20 beeves, according to size. They are driven from the 
yards through chutes, forced into the car, standing side to side 
across it, and packed closely so as to prevent motion and lying 
down. The railroad company gives no attention to the cattle 
except to make necessary stops, and provide yard-room for 
changes and rests. The men accompanying, one to every 
twelve or fifteen cars, attend to the feeding and watering, load- 
ing and unloading, and with long pikes they periodically goad 
up the cattle which may be down, and straighten out the ranks 
in the car. On long trips the animals are taken from the cars 
every 300 or 400 miles of travel, and rest usually a full day 
and night at each change. In journeys of any length the cattle 
suffer from the excitement and jolting, rubbing against one 
another and the car, from want of proper food, water, and rest, 
from the crowding and confinement, and from brutal treatment 
in loading and unloading. The shrinkage in weight is serious, 
from 5 to 10 per cent, for a trip of 1000 miles or more. Such 
a journey as from Chicago to New York, for example, occupies 
about five days, including two stops of twenty-four hours each. 
As to the manner of car-transportation of cattle in the United 
States, it must be pronounced far behind the age, cruel to the 
animals, injurious to the meat, and detrimental to the owners. 
As to cost, the railway facilities eastward from the Mississippi 
Valley are more than sufficient, and competition produces low 
rates : during the past year the total expense of moving beeves 
of 1200 lbs. from Chicago to New York, when in quantity, has 
been about 24s. per head. 
In the Western country most of the cattle have to be driven 
long distances — from 100 to 600 miles — to reach suitable ship- 
ping places on railway lines. From Texas they drive 600 miles 
northward, to cattle stations in Kansas, the favourite points for 
shipment there averaging 500 miles from St. Louis, and 700 
from Chicago ; they also drive eastward, 100 or 200 miles, to 
railroad stations in Texas, which are 650 miles from St. Louis, 
and nearly 900 from Chicago. These drives are slowly made 
— about 10 miles a day. The cattle in large herds may always 
be driven through good grazing lands, and with proper manage- 
ment the cattle (especially if Texans moving northward) improve 
en route. A gain of a pound a day in weight is quite common 
