American Cattle Markets and the Dressed Beef Trade, 139 
would often be out at seven o'clock in tlie morning, whereas just 
now they seldom appear before nine. All cattle are sold by live 
weight, except in the case of milch cows or calves. The purchaser, 
therefore, has to be a better judge of quality than of quantity, but, 
as a rule, both the commission men and the purchasers are 
experts in regard to weight. After a long experience both in 
British and American cattle markets, the writer is decidedly 
in favour of the system followed in the latter. It is more 
satisfactory to the owner, better for the commission man, and 
the buyers seem to approve of the system also. The skill of the 
seller and buyer is in regard to the quality and not as to weight. 
In the decimal system of currency and weights, the process of 
buying and selling is very easy, from a financial point of view. 
The commission man asks, say, ,$'4.00 per hundred lbs., the 
buyer bids ^^'3.80 per hundred lbs., and they eventually agree 
upon ;i?3.90 per hundred as the price, then the remainder of the 
work is very simple. Shortly after the terms are agreed upon, 
the cattle are driven to the scale and weighed. Before they are 
run into the weighing-pen, however, they are examined, either 
by the buyer himself or his agent, to see that there are no broken- 
ribbed or bruised cattle. Cattle that are severely bruised are, 
as a rule, thrown out and sold separately, while animals with 
broken ribs are docked ,§'5.00 per head, as stated above. The 
weighing scale in general use is known as the " Fairbanks 
Live-Stock Scale," and is an invention that has been of great 
value to American stockmen. These scales have capacity to 
weigh 100,000 lbs., which, at 2,000 lbs. to the ton, is 50 tons; 
but, as a rule, they seldom weigh more than 60,000 lbs. at a time. 
By this means an immense number of cattle can be passed over 
one scale in a day. The weighing beam of the scale is open to 
the public, and, as both the buyer and the seller have access 
to the room in which it is placed, no disputes ever arise as to 
weights. An official ticket of the weight is issued by an em- 
ploye of the Stock Yards, who also superintends the weighing, 
and by this means all disputes are saved. After the weight has 
been ascertained the cattle are run off the scale, and they become 
the property of the buyer. The commission man takes possession 
of the scale ticket and hands it to his book-keeper, who calcu- 
lates the amount due, and collects immediately from the buyer. 
The large buyers have arrangements with the bank to cash their 
tickets as they are handed in, and thus all the trouble of writing 
cheques, &c., is saved. 
For simplicity and accuracy it would be difficult to improve 
upon the methods in use at the Chicago Stock Yards. Long 
years of experience, added to the natural inventive power of 
