EFFECTS OF TICK ERADICATION. 9 
seen the difference It will make in their cattle. The cattle thai go Into the free 
or native pens at the market bring from one-fourth to one-half cent a pound 
more than if they were sold in the quarantine pens. Recently I shipped some 
cattle from this county and some similar cattle from a ticky county to the same 
market. The cattle that went from this county into the native pens sold for 
40 cents more per hundred pounds than did the quarantine cattle, because the 
tick-free cattle could be sent out into the country for stockers, whereas the ticky 
cattle had to be sold as canners for immediate slaughter. Another bunch I sold 
in the quarantine pens brought at least half a cent less per pound than they 
would if I could have sold them on the opposite side of the fence. Another 
reason the quarantine cattle bring less is because there is no competition between 
the small butchers and the packers for these cattle. They must be slaughtered 
at once, and the small butcher can not use a carload at one time, whereas he can 
buy a car of native cattle and put them in the feed lot or on pasture and 
slaughter them just as he needs them. 
The cattle here at home have increased in value at least a half a cent a pound 
since the county was pronounced free of ticks, for the local butchers had to 
meet the advance in price which was paid at the market or lose the cattle. 
Cattle can now be bought in Hardeman County, Tenn., at ;U to ;'>;? cents a pound 
that would bring me 5 cents a pound here if I could ship them in. I could use 
400 head of Hardeman County cattle right now at their prices if I could ship 
them here. 1 After people once see the advantages of being rid of ticks they 
will be careful never to let ticky cattle come on their place again. The cattle 
in this county are improving in size and quality, because breeders are now 
bringing in good breeding cattle without the fear of losing them from Texas 
fever. 
Mr. J. D. Mason, of Jackson, a large buyer of cattle, was also in- 
terviewed, with the result that some surprising figures on the losses 
of cattle near Jackson were brought to light. He is quoted as follows : 
The opposition to the tick eradication work is due to ignorance alone — igno- 
rance of the damage done by the tick, of its life history, etc. I lost several 
thousand dollars' worth of cattle myself before I was convinced that the 
trouble was the tick. Before this county was cleared of the tick the people of 
the city of Jackson and the surrounding territory lost $5,000 to $S.000 worth of 
cattle every year. The cause was not then known. These cattle were chietly 
milch cows that were kept in town and sent to surrounding pastures which 
were ticky in the summer. Since the ticks were eradicated the loss has been 
practically nothing, being less than $100 a year. 
Eradication is a great boon to the cattle buyer who formerly lost so many 
cattle when buying odd bunches here and there over the county. The cattle 
would mix, and many of them would become ticky and die. Buyers can now 
pay the farmer better prices for cattle, because the risk is avoided. In other 
words, the eradication is an insurance policy for the cattle buyer. 
The sentiment expressed b}' farmers or cattlemen is not always the 
same as that of other conservative business men, such as bankers. As 
the attitude which the bankers take toward any line of work has 
very material influence upon it, Mr. C. B. Caldwell, who is cashier 
1 This statement was made while a portion of Hardeman County was slill in quarantine. 
The remainder of that county has since been released (Sep'. 1. L913). 
20200°— 1-1 2 
