T1JK OMAHA SUNDAY BEE and regulations of the exchanges i governing market transactions, there' is guaranteed to the shipper a prompt and safe return on the stock which he takes or sends to market. At the modern market all cattle, hogs and sheep are sold on the basis of cen's per pound and all transactions are for cash considerations; the modern live stocK market is a cash market where the farmer may sell his stock promptly the day it arrives, and by 3 o'clock in the afternoon receive the proceeds in cash or take a draft on his home bank for the amount. During periods of financial depres sion, such as were experienced in the panic of 1907, when business con cerns all over the country temporarily suspended cash payment, when you could not even draw your own sav ings from the bank, there was no de viation at the live stock market from the cash basis, and the packer paid out the real money for the cattle, hogs and sheep he bought. In thej earlier times mentioned the animals ' as a rule were "dollared off" as in- i dividuals and there was frequently more haggling over the price of a single "critter" than is now seen in the sale of a dozen carloads of cattle, and the seller was not sure then that he would ever get his money. Establishing or Uestern Markets Yet those markets, primitive as they were, were exerting an influ ence for development of the live ! "" rnf' 1 "if ltii .ui lit. tin... "" This Picture Shows South Omaha at the Time the Stock Yards Were Established coast in 1869 and the Burlington and Northwestern companies were projecting lines out into the state. Chicago was becoming prominent as a primary market for all kinds of live stock and P. D. Ar lour was prospering in the pork-packing bus iness, while George t. Swift and Nelson Morris, buyers and shippers of beef cattle, were embaYking in the dressed beef trade. Mr. Armour, stock industry in that part of the through the P"011 f the refriS country accessible to them. As tne railroads pushed out into the in terior better facilities were provided for reaching the markets and the hardships formerly experienced be gan to disappear and new markets were established convenient to new producing territory. Thus came Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, In dianapolis and Chicago, all lending encouragement to the live stock bus iness in the west. Railway lines were moving across Illinois into Iowa and Missouri and these states were settling rapidly. In 1867 the Northwestern road built into Coun cil Bluffs, with the Burlington fol lowing closely. The Pike's Peak rush had brought many people into! there grew up a market for the cat- erator car, made it possible to ship dressed beef, pork and mutton, as well as other meat food rroducts, to distant consuming centers with safety and more cheaply than the live animals could be transported. From the advent of the refrigerator car may be said to date the develop ment of the world-wide trade of the packing houses. The growth of the packing industry soon became the marvel of the commercial world and the market a permanent and active agency in the advancement of the live stock interests of the west. Omaha an Ideal Location The yards at Kansas City were opened for business in 1871 and the Territory of Nebraska, where they settled along the Missouri and in the valleys of the Platte and Elk horn. In 1867, with a population of about 50,000 reople, Nebraska was added to the galaxy of promis- tle of Texas and the southwest. Ne braska and other states west of the Missouri river were becoming largely engaged in stock raising, Nebraska having at about this time a little more than a million cattle and ing western states which invited the'nearjy a million and a half of hogs, energetic and ambitious settler to ' Stockmen were clamoring for a their fertile valleys with assurance i nearer market for their live stock of reward for his industry. The and complaining of the long jour Union Pacific's overland route was ! neys necessary to reach Chicago and completed through Nebraska to the i eastern markets. Omaha offered an ideal location for a live stock mar ket as the natural gateway uetween the new producing sections of the wtst and the consuming centers of the east, the importance of which location has been more and more emphasized as the years have come and gone in the settling of the west. In 1884 the stock yards were estab lished on the site they now occupy, around which has irown up the thriving city of South Omaha, inci dentally with the great market which now makes it famous in tne r;aim of commerce. Stock raising and feeding in Ne braska and the west received a new impetus and the development of the market was rapid Indeed. Other markets were started throughout the west, and though they have had a favorable influence in their immedi ate localities, it has not been so em phatic and widespread as that of the South Omaha market; nor have they achieved the importance which the Nebraska market enjoys as a live stock market and packing center. How Nebraska Has Grown At the time the market was es tablished at South Omaha Nebraska stood tenth in hog-raising; today it holds fourth place," and only a few thousand animals behind the third state. At this time Nebraska was reported to have 1,500,000 of cattle, while in 1907 it boasted nearly 3,500,000 of cattle, and this year nearly 3,000,000, with a decrease in the United States of 14,000,000 of beef cattle since. 1907. Fifteen millions of cattle, or 40 per cent of the total supply of the United States, are in what are now known as the northwestern states, or that territory west of the Missis sippi river and north of the southern boundary line of the states of Kan sas and Colorado, while 50 per cent, or 30,000,000, of the hogs of the en tire United States this year are in the corn-growing states of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, South Da kota, Minnesota and Illinois, and 50 per cent of the sheep are in the ten states west and northwest of Omaha. This immense territory has been de veloped to its present state largely through the influence of the modern live stock market. The Packer Doing His Part The packer may now be said to have made the possibilities of stock raising and feeding practically un limited, because he has built "up markets for more than is being pro duced. Under the old system of lo cal butchers and small slaughterers, when the demand was confined to local markets, one locality might be oversupplied and another short, with no practical or profitable means of equalizing the distribution. The ready outlet for live stock, as well as .many other products of the farm, has been made possible by the es tablishment of stock yards and large packing houses in localities easily accessible to natural producing dis tricts and by the Introduction of im proved transportation methods for handling perishable freight. In ad dition to having facilitated the dis tribution of the demand for our pro ducts in our own land, through the energy and diligence of the packer 2 ! A View of South Omaha and Stock Yards, Showing Changes That Have Take Place Since 1884, When the Market Was Established