Show GENERAL LIVE STOCI MATTERS Quotation at the Chief Markets Are Very Uncertain Returns from the three chief mar kets are not of a very encouraging nature and indicate that Shippers must take some pretty heavy chances when they make consignments Quotations go up and down by sudden1 fits and starts and the most expert can not say wiiait one day will bring about It is a game of chance pure and simple and none of the old rules which were heretofore considered infallible are now applicable Regarding the general gen-eral situation the regular weekly market mar-ket letter of George Burke Frazier of South Omaha bas the following to say1lhe 1lhe beef cattle market appears to be imbued this winter with an impish perversity it sets at naught ftiie prophetic pro-phetic ken of its oldest apostles every ev-ery rule appears to be misapplied and the improbable is about the only thing to be expected The past week with lesser receipts gave us a dull mean and sluggish nar ket with receding values while the week before with a liberal increase in receipts gave us an active trade full of vim and vigor with prices pushing steadily forward This weeks receipts were about the same as last weeks at Chicago 3000 less at Kansas City and 2000 less here The general tone of the market was much the same at all three points with a dull trade and a decline for the week of 25 to 40 cents On he surface sur-face there appears two causes for this marked decline the first as asserted by the packers is am > extraordinary dullness in the meat trade and the second is recognized by all In the generally gen-erally poor quality of the offerings Such weights as sold here the week before at 400 to 460 ranged tfiils week at 375 to 425 this takes in the 1100 to 1350 pound steers that comprise a large proportion of the receipts re-ceipts the lighter stuff weighing 800 to 1100 that we quoted at 300 to 400 in our last letter must be quoted iWtS week at 300 to 375 showing a smaller smal-ler decline than the heavy weights and again indicating lUbe popular demand de-mand for cheaper beef With the exception ex-ception of one solitary head weiglhlns 1680 that sold at 475 the top was 450 two loads weighing 1411 and 1271 respectively going at that price on Tuesday the balance of the week with a very indifferent quality qual-ity of offerings and a still more indifferent indif-ferent demand showed nothing above 430 and only one load at that Thursdays top was 425 for a load weighing 1315 Fridays 4 cents for 20 head weighing 122 and Saturdays 415 for 39 head weighing 1307 While these prices are discouraging as compared com-pared with those of a week ago ittiiey ore much better than for toe same time last year when financial depression depres-sion instead of arouihi and shortage 0 > < of feed was crowding unfinished stuff onto the markets Quotations from London and Liverpool Liver-pool show the advance all lost that we noted last week and prices back into the same old notch shutting off the aid we expected from that quarter quar-ter and again clouding the prospects for fancy fat steers We are at a loss what to say of the immediate future The market is in labor let us await the issue Advices received here yesterday showed that M J Bell of Laramie who purchased the last bunch of i Sparks cattle and mae a shipment to Omaha and Kansas City did not meet with any success a Omaha in fact lost 10 a head on the 200 head sold on that market He paid Sparks 42 per head and needed 415 for the stuff in order to pull out even Instead he was forced to sell for 345 The steers averaged 1240 pounds in weight Thomas Keough will today send east a trainload of cattle for the Chicago Chi-cago market The shipment will be made from Kelton |