From the transportation of fresh meats, the extension of the service to the carrying of fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products was a natural and easy step, resulting in the development and maintenance of the great orchard lands and fruit and market garden areas from coast to coast, and the tremendous expansion of the indispensable industry of dairy farming all over America. To the livestock producer refrigeration in storage and in transit means everything. Without it the great packing interests could not exist and livestock husbandry would revert to the primitive and unprofitable conditions prevailing fifty years ago and described in the preceding chapter. These facts explain why Armour and Company have persistently opposed every attempt to deprive them of the exclusive use of their privately-owned refrigerator cars and turn them over to the railroad companies for general use. To maintain the necessary constant movement of meat products Armour must have an adequate supply of these cars every day in the year. Extended experience has proven that they would not and could not be supplied by any form of railroad administration, either governmental or corporate, yet devised. Declining Livestock Prices and the Causes BRIEFLY outlined herewith is a resumé of what are accepted as the chief causes contributing to the sharp decline in livestock prices during 1919. The discontinuance of Government orders for beef was the principal thing which affected cattle prices in the late spring. From being a purchaser the Government became a seller in the domestic market. Added to this, there has been unusual labor unrest, large supplies, agitation against the high cost of living, low foreign exchange rates, and the English boycott against high prices. The falling off in hog prices was far more serious than in the case of beef, because normal demand for hogs is based on the consideration of large exports, while the market for beef is primarily and principally domestic. The great demand for American pork products which was confidently expected from European countries did not materialize, because of the extraordinary and unforeseen development of exchange conditions which made purchases on the American market practically impossible. The earlier part of 1919 was marked by an unprecedented export of pork products, reaching in the month of June the high point of over 400 million pounds. From this point the drop was sharp and continuous, month by month, the figures for October showing total exports of less than 120 million pounds—a falling off of 70% in four months. These later exports were on orders booked earlier in the year, and not on new business.