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CORN AND THE PACKING INDUSTRY The increasing
production of corn and the consequent increase in hogs and cattle developed
the packing-house industry. About 1832 the city of Cincinnati was nicknamed
"Porkopolis" because of its importance as a pork-packing center. The Union
Stock Yard and Transit Co. of Chicago began its operations in 1865. For a
number of years it remained the only large market. In 1871, 1874, 1877,
1884, and 1898, stockyards were established at Kansas City, St. Louis, Sioux
City, South Omaha, and St. Joseph. The growth of the packing industry has
been indeed rapid. According to the Interstate Commerce Commission reports,
there is a steady growth in the tonnage of packing-house products carried by
the railways in the United States. For the years 1914, 1915, and 1916 the
report of tonnage is as follows:
1914..........5,739,000 tons
1915..........6,193,623 tons
1916..........6,831,801 tons
The increasing utilization of by-products of
the packing houses is more or less familiar to all of us. As for the
movement of live stock from the farms to various markets, live stock whose
ration to a greater or less extent is corn, figures are so large as to be
almost incomprehensible. According to the Bureau of Markets of the
Department of Agriculture, the receipts of hogs during the 5 years from 1913
to 1917 at 12 leading markets averaged over 26,000,000 animals annually. The
increase in receipts for this period over the previous 5 years is 14 per
cent. In the year 1917 these same 12 markets received more than 14,000,000
cattle. |
