Y
Tim OMAHA SUNDAY 'BEE: DECEMBER 5, 1909.
Commission Men and Their Relation to the Great Live Stock Industry
!
IMK wan In th world's buslnosn
T
that th original producer could
put his roods on the market to
the ultimata consumer. Tha
commerce of civilization grew
arid In tha later days tha aame
operation originally io simple has grown
complex by tha effect of tha sheer force
of magnitude. To meat the needs of tha
countless ramifications of commercial life
the specialists of tha business world arose.
This In a vaguely general way was tha
genesis of tha live stock commission men.
Should tha stock raiser come Into tha
face of the greet stock market of Bouth
Omaha he would be confronted with tha
perplexity of his life. Ha would be con
fronted with a problem that he could not
solve. The rommlsslon man Is there to
solve It for him.
Train loads of stock come Into the yards
of the :'iitli Omnlia Union Stock yards
and ore tiiirud ovtr to the commission men
to a limn they are consigned. From then
on the stockman who turned the grass and
grain into href through the animal trans
formers hi. notlii;i more to trouble him
more srrlou.i than lo call some hours later
at the officp of t!io roumission man for
his check. I!.; ran be axRurrrl Hint this
check represents liic topmost limit of value
for his herd..
The commission man has by the virtue
of hla knowledge and persistent fare found
the most anxious buyer for the stock of
fered and squeezed from him the last cent
that be has been willing to pay.
Tears of experience on the market must
teaoh the commission man his profession.
He la continually solving problems in the
midst of that commercial rush where sup
ply and demand meet and bid against each
other.
The Bouth Omaha commission man is
a likely to be found in the stock pens
a In hla office, lie Is usually an expert
In some one of the lines which his office
handles, and perhaps most frequently will
ba found to be a salesmen of beef cat
tle. Every firm of pretension has a staff
of expert salesmen for the different grades
f cattle, sheep and hogs.
The commission man Is also often a
buyers' agent as well as salesman. Many
stock men depend on the commission man
to furnish them the feeder cattle and sheep
which they fatten to return to the market
at a profit aome weeks later. In years
past the commission men financed moat
of the cattle business, loaning money to
the feeders of their patronage. In this
way a good many fortunes have been made
out of the atart given by the commission
men. The present effort of the commission
firms Is to discourage the loan business
and the country banks are mors than
willing to take their place and give the
stock feeder credit.
The commission man Is active In every
step which looks to the general welfare
off the live stock business. Many firms
Issue privately published stock journals to
their clients. Questions of cattle breeding,
prevention of disease, legislation favorable
or adverse, anything In fact which has a
possible bearing, demands their attention.
Allen Dudley A Co.
The first load of cattle of the two which
reached that enviable record price of $8.15
sold by W. II. Dudley In 1902. Mr. Dudley
la associated In the commission' business
with his son, Allen, under the firm name
of Allen Dudley & Co. A shrewd pair of
bargain makers, this Dudley, senior, and
. son, of Yankee ancestry and this firm is
one to be figured with In considering the
business of the exchange.
Both father and son are constantly In
touch with the business of their house, and
both are active salesmen. W. II. Dudley
Is steer salesman, while his son takes care
of the butcher stuff and the odds and
ends.
Ed Murphy, hog salesman for Allen Dud-
CIIAS. BUItKK, Cattle Salesman.
Residence Tel. Harney 1802.
J. SAM GOSXEV,
Surke-licMy Co.
Livestock
Commission Merchants
Room 201 Eicktaje Boildinf. Telephone Dooglu 582.
UNION STOCK YARDS, SOUTH OMAHA, NEB.
STOCKMEN Do you want best possible results
on your shipments of live stock? If so consign them
to us. You cannot find a better satisfied lot of men
than our customers, they are our best solicitors.
The Service the Best
The Cost the Same
You Win
;WLES LIVE STOCK
.CTMMSSIOW COMPAHY
Couth Omaha
Kanoao City
and Chlcaao
Send Us Contfjameiits. Results will sureiy please yoa
'X
V
ley Sc. Co., Is one of the aggressive young
men among the cattle dealers of the yards,
and 'he Is heard from in that sharp com
petition. Allen Dudley &. Co., handle a general
live stock business, with about equal at
tention to native and wewtorn- business.
"Every shipping station from the Rocky
mountains to Council Bluffs," Is the way
Allen Dudley puts it.
W. II. Dudley Is one of the old heads of
the cattle business. For more than twenty
years he has boon trafficking in steers.
He brought range cattle up In the north
west years ego. That was In the days of
few railroads and long drives to market.
His business baa grown up with the devel
opment of the cattle industry.
Smith Bros. Commission Company.
Will H. Wood, more famlllarlly known
to his friends as "Billy," dropped Into
Omaha from Chicago about twelve yeara
ago and got busy at the Union Stock
Yards In the employ of the Evans-Snlder-Buel
Commission company. When, two and
a half years ago, he resigned to take up the
affairs of the South Omaha office of the
Smith Bros. Commission company his
employers were so convinced that the
business of the concern was his that they
sold out to him.
Smith Bros. Commission company In
these two and one-half years has assumed
a position of leadership among the com
mission firms of the Exchange. "Block 42,"
as Its allotment of pens in the yards Is
called, is a familiar term to the stockmen
In all that territory of the South Omaha
market. "Forty-two" and Its location Is
a matter of pride with this firm, too. It
means a part of their most expeditious
system of handling stock. Shipments are
not long In the hands of this company's
salesmen before the trans-substantlatlon
into cold glittering cash in the hand of the
owner la accomplished. A record trans
action of this kind was made a few months
ago when on receipt of a shipment of a
train load of sheep In the morning at 9
o'clock. Smith Bros, had the money paid
V. J. lUCKLY, Hog Salesman.
Residence Tel. Doug. 7120.
Hheep Salesman.
ems
JWUJH..H.IS ""
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LIVE STOCK EXCHANGE BUILDING, SOUTH OMAHA UNION
over to the owner, out in Utah, by 4
o'clock Uiat afternoon.
Every member of the South Omaha staff
of Smith Bros., is a shareholder and him
self financially Interested In the business.
This gives a most positive sort of Insurance
that the salesman will take something of a
personal Interest in every transaction, In
that in making money for a patron is add
ing to his own personal profits.
II. J. Oswald is a cattle salesman, hand
ling as his specialty the "butcher stock."
while Will II. Wood, manager, takes care
of the general cattle business.
, M. C. Wilkerson Is sheep salesman and
Bert Anderson handles the hog business.
George P. Moorhead of Omaha, vice presi
dent. Is the local representative of the
corps of executive officers of the com
pany. John W. Smith of Chicago Is presi
dent and M. J. Baxman of Chicago la
secretary-treasurer.
Smith Bros. Commission company is
capitalized at $200,000.
The business of this concern extends over
the handling of a large amount of native
stock as well as a general western business.
Martin Bros. A Co.
In the field at the beginning and steadily
carrying out and sustaining a long es
tablished reputation of substantial worth
Is in brief the position of Martin Bros. &
Co. This concern took a part in the small
beginning of the live stock commission
business In South Omaha twenty-three
years ago and has remained to enjoy the
fruits of the prosperous success In which
It had so Important a part In building.
The Martina were far from beginners In
the commission field when South Omaha
began to be a place on the map, however.
In 1871 the Chicago house of this company
opened. Both In South Omaha and Chicago
Martin Bros, have continued In business
without Interruption or change of man
agement. Twenty-three years in South Omaha has
given this concern a big prestige. A very
considerable portion of the business of
Martin Bros. & Co. Is connected with the
supplying of "feeder" sheep and cattle to
stock farmers and ranchers. This indi
Live Stock
South Omaha
Laverty Brothers
We want your business.
Write, wire or phone us. We will reply promptly.
"The short cut to success is knowing WHERE you ran
get a thing done better than you ran do it yourself."
Let Us Buy and Sell Your Stock.
A POINTER
If our service was not a little better etian the average, what use
would there be in keeping experienced and high salaried men in all our
departments? live or ten rents may not be much, but five or ten
cents per cwt. on a carload of stock means considerable. While we do
not claim to always get more for the stock consigned to us than our
competitors, we have men who know what stock is worth, how to han
dle it to your advantage, and who work just a little harder than the
average salesman to get strong prices. If you thing this is a good sys
tem, let us have your next shipment and we will show you that we can
sell it to your satisfaction.
IITI
C0BMSSI0RI COMPANY
SUCCESSORS TQ
EVANS-SNIDER-BUEL CO.
UNION STOCK YARDS SOUTH OMAHA, NEB.
WILL 0. WOOD, Manager
THE FIRII THAT HAS A RECORD FOR
SELLING LIVE STOCK.
CAPITAL - 3200,000.00
CHICAGO, ILL.
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cates the large degree of confidence re
posed in the firm by Its clientele, for upon
the w lsdom of the decisions of the buyer
of the "feeder" stock depends In great
measure the profits derived from their
final marketing. N
J. G. Martin, the head of the sales de
partment, handles the selling .of steers;
Brad Hlckox Is the specialist on cows; Al
Powell Is In charge of the sheep depart
ment; Wa!ter Nltsche Is hog salesman; J.
E. Batman la office man. The work of the
Martin Bros, commission house, as the
staff role, would indicate, la highly special
ized according to the demands of the busi
ness to be handled. v
Borke-RJckly Company.
The Burke-Rlckly company Is one of "the
landmarks among the commission mer
chants of the Union Stock Yards exchange.
With but slight changes this firm has been
continuously In business in South Omaha
since the beginning of the live stock In
dustry In that town. In fact thla company
Is among those which made that beginning
an eventual success.
"We came down here from the old 'bridge
yards' In 1885," said Charlef Burke, the
head of the firm, looking out from his
office- window across the acres of pens.
"The whole works then was not as big
as that little bunch of pig pens yonder.
The Exchange, as we so proudly called It,
was Just a little frame shack on the creek
bank and even the creek has gone now.
Didn't have room for It in the yarda any
more.
"Yes, sir, there has been a lot of growth
since those days. Why, we used to think
that It was a big day's work when we sold
a whole five cars of cattle all to one man.
Now It Is not such an extraordinary trans,
action when ten or fifteen carloads are
sold In as many minutes. That Just goes
to show how the business has been grow
ing." '
Both Mr. Burke and hla associate, W. J.
Rlckly, have been In the cattle business
all their lives and, further, they don't
expect ever to leave It.
The office of this company proves Inter
esting to the visitor through the striking
collection of relics of the plains and the
Commission
- - - Nebraska
SOUTH OMAHA, NEB.
IMS
: ' HMUH l'!l"!'!:i ,
STOCK YARDS.
northwest ranches which are on display.
Bold mountain lions and Rocky mountain
goats produce a strange effect when viewed
through the buzz of a busy commission
dealer's office. The one pride of Uie es
tablishment Is a pair of horns from a
Texas street, one of the old hacienda days
of romance before utilitarianism decided
to grow meat instead of ornaments on
cattle. The weapons which this late but
not lamented rambler of the prairie wore
measure eight feet and thrre inches from
tip to tip. Those graceful r hards of glis
tening horn are wonderfully cruel along
with their beauty. There like is never to
be seen In the yards again.
Of all the ferocious freaks that ever
roamed the blue stem the king was a noble
and carefree steer with three horns all
neatly balanced In a row, which now con
stitute part of tha unique adornment of the
Burke-Rlckly office.
"Kind o' glad he's dead," said Charlie
Burke. "Such a beast as that wasn't safe
to have about. He came to us along with
a shipment of eleven carloads from way
down in Texas. Guess he was probably
crossed with a cactus. No well-organized
steer ever grew more than two horns be
fore." Great Western Commission Company.
The Great Western Commission company
stands up among the concerns of its kind
in South Omaha's Stock Exchange, as one
of the most aggressive. In the bIx years
that this concern has been In business
there It has held rank varying from sec
ond to sixth place among the competit
lng firms in point of the proportionate
share It has had In each year of business.
J. M. Cook, manager and head sales
man for the Great Western, has been in
the Union Stock yarda for eighteen years
and In that time has laid the foundation of
bis business well. Knowing the merciless
competition where wavering means loss
and loss failure, he ha steadily forged
ahead and to his efforts Is in large meas
ure to be attributed the success & his
firm.
The Great Western enjoys a general
patronage and haa a large staff of sales
men and employes to handle their gen
Live Stock
Chicago
Give us a trial.
o
Persona!
Given to all shipments whether large or small, consigned to Allen
Dudley & Co., at South Omaha, Neb. All our salesmen arc interested
in the firm thus making it an object for them to get good prices for
all Live Stock consigned to us. We have the honor at this point of
selling the highest priced load of cattle ever sold on the open market
here. We sold one load of cattle at $8.15, a record that has been
tied once but never beaten. You can't go wrong in shipping to an
outfit like this. Try us with your next shipment and see for yourself.
Write us for any information with reference to market reports. Write
us for our weekly market report. Write for everything you don't know
yourself.
Allen Dudley
Room 253-237 Echange BMg.
SOUTH OMAHA. NED.
erous share of the business of the great
market.
Mr. Cook eighteen years ago entered the
yards as a salesman In the hog yards. In
six years he had mastered that end of the
business and went Into the cattle yards
where he has continued his activities ever
since, building up a following of friends
and patrons that mean much to his con
cern. The Great Western sells from BOO to 000
carloads of stock a month and the rocords
of a day's business in this house con- j
tains some rather interesting figures.
The Great Western was organized six
years ago. Mr. Cook was then with the
Mallory Commission company as a sales
man. He had formerly been a member tf
the Perrln-Cook company. Nat C. Hous
ton, sheep salesman with the Great West
ern, was taken Into the company at the
time of organization. C. L. Peterson,
cashier is also a member of the firm. J.
C Alsworth Is hog salesman for the Great
Western.
I, avert r Bros.
Twelve years ago the Laverty Brothers
got bo good at "swapping" up on their
ranch in Valley county that they decided
to come to South Omaha and get Into the
commission business. Thalr Judgment has
been vindicated by a high degree of suc
cess. This firm Is conspicuously busy, even In
the Stock exchange, where everybody Is
busy all the time. They handle a gener
ously general business in both native and
western stock.
This firm la In reality among the early
comers In. the commission business of
South Omaha's Union Stock yards. The
Laverty Brothers succeeded the firm of
Savage & Green, which opened an office
almost simultaneously with the beginning
of the yards themselves. In the long es
tablishment of this house It has gained
much through a wide and favorable ac
quaintance with the stockmen of the' coun
try. Jay Laverty is manager and hog sales
man. R. M. Laverty Is superintendent of
the yarding and J. D. Laverty takes care
of the road work. Alex Laverty, while as
Established 1S07.
Commission
South Omaha
Both Phone
We solicit your consignments of livestock to the
above markets. You'll like our way of handling
stock. You'll , be more than pleased with results.
"Almost Half a
WALTER E. WOOD. South Omaha.
9
kitm
sociated with his brotheis In t li commis
sion InislncHs. Is eiiKiiued more larsrly In
Ihe nffnlis of . Tiling tnnoli.
One of the Institution of the' j ;ril I"
Terry Jones, er.tlle fi'l'"nmn fur l.nvrny
Brothers. He liss been In tlie yards since
a boy ami. like imi nf the successful
salesmen, ant his tinhiing by lit.-luriK as
sociation villi caltlenirn nml Hie cuttle
business.
Mr. Jones by misfortune- ni'.t. lined an in
jury which affected the viM of oiie , ..
In this connection he tells a story on him
self with good-iiHl ui ed Rcnci oslt .
A peevish Gerinnn luul consigned n tvi.
load of cattle to this flrr.i, hut he m ,1,
protest when the salesman with m.e ir
started out to handle his shipment. It
with a rntich mollified tone tint th.s t
spluttered his appreciation ulim, some
hours Inter, he was surprised wl'h k much
larger check than he had been cxpectlim.
"Ach du lleher man I belelf nilt iiot
other von out you see bargain yust 'iir
same."
"No thanks." answered Terry in his o n
dry ay.
Wood llros.
The oldest anl one of the most iu tiv
commission firms of the country Is Wnmi
Hros. This firm was extablNhed In Chi
cago In 1W7 and the Soutli Omnha house
was openid in l-si. the year of th opening
of the stock yards. This firm must there
fore he considered lis no less than s part
of the trrcnt live stock Industry Itself.
Added yr:u have but served to enhance
the activity nml progresslvrness of this
firm. It stand.-i high In the judgment of
patrons and competitors for honesty and
unerring and timely decisions, which mpn
so much . toward success and satisfaction
in the live stock business.
Wood Bros, were the first to adopt the
use of the "sales letter," giving the cus
tomer an account of the manner In which
the transaction was made. This and many
other details of the business were In
stituted by Wood Bros, to he later adopted
generally by other firms. This firm was
tho first to send out Information on the
market by letters and circulars, keeping
their patrons advised as to the conditions
from the Inside. Wood Bros, also origi
nated the "Market raper" and for many
years published tha quotations over their
own signature.
The general use of the telephone In the
South Omaha yards followed the Installa
tion of Wood Bios.' private system, mak
ing Is possible for their salesmen to talk
to patrons at all points In the maze of
cattle pens.
South Omaha Is the second largest sheep
market of the world and stands third In
cattle and hogs. More than 95 per cent
of all the stock received at South Omaha.
In the year past has bee.n sold on tills
market. No small share In this great. suc
cess of the market here can be attributed
to the activities of Wood Bros.
Walter E. Wood, manager of the firm.
Is widely known socially and commercially
as the head of this famous house. Ben F.
Roth and E. N. Munson are Mr. Wood's
assistants In the cattle department. C. M.
Harllng and Fred Huber are the salesmen
of the hog department. William F. Farrar
and Herbert C. Carruthers have charge of
the sheep business.
Bowles Lire Stock Commission Co.
Striking success haa attended the ef
forts of the Bowles Live Stock Commis
sion company. The South Omaha branch
of this concern has been established but
sixteen months and in that comparatively
brief period has Jumped to the fore with
some remarkable records on the stock mar
ket. This company also operates at Kan
sas City and Chicago. They know the
market. '
An Interesting bit of the inside statis
tics of the Bowles . Live Stock oompany
Is divulged In the statement that the last
four months of their business at South
N
Merchants
Sioux City
Century's Success'
O
ition!
Ind.y Phone-132
Dell Phone 132
Co.
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