Jasper County Democrat, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1902 — BIG LIVE STOCK TRADE [ARTICLE]

BIG LIVE STOCK TRADE

YEAR'S BUSINESS WILL APPROXIMATE $30,000,000. Rapid Increase In Indianapolis Stock Dealing—To Become a Great Cattle Market. Indianapolis has for years been an Important live stock market and recent otanfes and developments Indicate that Within a short period this will become ane of the moat extensive cattle and hog markets and packing centers In the United States. There is no branch of trade for which the location and facilities of Indianapolis present greater advantages and no local industry has prospered more steadily during recent years than the packing of hog products and the dressing of beef. From the earliest period of its history, since it became a state, Indiana haa been a large producer of hogs. in the first years of Marion county the country built up faster than the city and the farmers found themselves with a surplus of grain which they could not sell, because of the distance from a market and the condition of the roads. They, therefore, turned their attention to raising bogs upon an extensive scale and driving them to market. For the first few decades the market for hogs was found at Ohio river points, Cincinnati taking such precedence in the pork packing industry that for many years it carried the name of “Porkopolis;" but later, with the development of railway exten- . B i on a through the West. Cincinnati, while 'it retained considerable importance, had to yield first place to Chicago, and la sow surpassed by several cities. Territory Covered. The territory from which the live stock ■old in the Indianapolis market is procured embraces all of Indiana, the central and southern portions of Illinois and part of Ohio, and there ars frequent consignments from outside of this territory. The stock is nearly all received on con-

signments by the commission firms operating at the two stock yards—the Union and the Interstate—to local packers or to the representatives or agents of eastern concerns. The facilities of the yards here are better than at any other of the western stock yards, the rates being tower than in any other city, while the absence of a speculative elementgtrom the market makes prices less fluctuating and the prices to the shipper average better here than elsewhere. To the shipper in the territory tributary to Indianapolis the advantage of getting to the city and back home quickly and cheaply Is. of course, an Important one. and Indianapolis has. on this account, grown more and more In favor as a market. It Is to be regretted that the figures of receipts and shipments for 1901 are not yet available, but they have been very considerably in excess of 1900 when the sales aggregated over 126,000,000. The past year has been the most prosperous one in all months of the live stock trade. The receipts of cattle and horses were the largest on record, and the receipts of sheep a little over the average. Aa a Horae Market. As a horfce market this city has grown In favor rapidly, because the advantage of location and the market conveniences center here to a remarkable extent In the region around Indianapolis, not only In Indiana, but also In adjacent states, are located many Important breeding districts, where the advantages of superior gracing and large grain production are especially favorable to the raising of first-class stock. And because of the quality of the horse products of this region, the attention of eastern buyers has been more and more directed to this city as the place where they can procure just the kind of horses they want. In the improvement of the local horse market an especially prominent factor haa been the erection of fine barns, which are said to be the b**s suited to the purposes of a first-class horse market of any that have been built in tills country. Point for Export. One of the features particularly marked In the character of the city as a live stock center Is the extent to which It has become a supply point for eastern packers and for export. All of thsujnore important packing houses of New England and the eastern seaboard are rep-

resented by buyers In this market, and this outside demand, together with ths growing Importance of Indianapolis as a packing center, has resulted In a steady development of the city as a market for live stock. Business for 1901. Tha following table, prepared by H. D. Lane, auditor of the Union stock yards, shows the receipts and shipments at those yards of hogs, cattle, sheep and horses for the first eleven months of 1901 as compared with the year 1900: —Receipts—--1991. 1900. (U mo.) Hogs LB2S.OI* umjux Cattle 129.722 191,007 Sheep 67.006 115,922 Horses *2.973 21.97* —Shipments— Hogs *00,767 873,*89 Cattle <1.682 80,282 Sheep *8,939 92,629 Horses 29,018 26,177 cates that the year 1902 will be another These figures are the largest In the history of these yards. Everything Indicates that the year 1902 will be another record breaker. The sixteen railways radiating In every direction from the city through sections that are highly productive of the grasses and grains best adapted for feed are opening the door wider every day to a development of the Indianapolis live stock trade greater than was ever anticipated by the most sanguine. Owing to the fact that the figures have not yet been tabulated It Is Impossible to give a detailed statement of the year's business at the Interstate stock yards, but In a general way It is known that the year was a most successful one.