Amencan Cattle Markets and the Dressed Beef Trade. 137 
Subjoined are the Regulations and Commissions of tlio 
Market : — 
Diseased meats are condemned. 
Sales, unless otherwise stated, i3er 100 lbs. live wciglit. 
Dead hogs, 100 lbs. and over, ic. per lb. ; less than 100 lbs. of no value, 
liroken-ribbed and bruised cattle, docked per head. 
Public inspectors dock pregnant sows 40 lbs., and stags (altered boars), 
80 lbs. each. 
Yardage: — cattle, 25c.; hogs and sheep, 8c. per head. Feed: — corn, 
$1 per bushel ; timothy hay, ,^30 ; prairie hay, ^^20 per ton. 
Commissions : — cattle, 50c. per head : calves and yearlings, ^10 per car ; 
hogs and sheep, single decks, ^^G ; double decks, ^10 per car; public in- 
spection of hogs, 15c. per car. 
The charges for yardage are moderate, but the price charged 
for feed is out of all proportion to market values, and there is 
continual complaint upon this latter point. 
The Stock Yards Company to a certain degree may be 
termed a monopoly, but their business is conducted upon a 
liberal basis, and, while they have made immense profits, little 
fault can be found with them. Acting as they do under a State 
Charter, they are subject to the whims, fancies, and depredations 
of the legislators of Illinois. It is true that monopolies such as 
these need to be kept in check, but the inside histoiy of some of 
the legislation, both State and local, connected with the Stock 
Yards, reveals as venal a spirit in politics as ever disgraced the 
annals of any country. There is unfortunately in this country 
a class of men who think that brains and hard work should not 
have their reward, and that there should be a division of wealth 
periodically. This spirit pervades, unfortunately, the very 
threshold of our parliaments, and the popular demand at the 
present time seems to lead up to an attack upon the very founda- 
tions upon which a successful business is built up. Twenty-five 
years ago the Stock Yards Company was organised by a small 
band of men, who, seeing ahead, made a venture, which has grown, 
partly from location, partly from wise handling, into an immense 
institution. They made the venture, to-day they reap the re- 
ward ; while thousands of live-stock breeders and feeders through- 
out the country have enjoyed the benefit ofcoming to a market in 
which they sell their cattle, hogs, and sheep for cash. The men 
who built up such a market deserve the credit, and, if there is 
any compensation in nature, they should be allowed to make 
some money for their energy and enterprise. 
Four great parties meet, as it were, in communion every day 
at the yards : the Stock Yards Company, with its array of em- 
ployes ; the owners of stock drifting in from all points of the 
compass ; the commission men, with their corps of clerks and 
assistants ; and, lastly, the host of buyers who operate there. 
