398 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OfC. Doc. 



in any other way. I have often wondered that the people of Penn- 

 sylvania have allowed the prominence they once had in that direc- 

 tion to go down. It is, gentlemen, one of the things that J cannot 

 understand, why such a county as Washington, in Pennsylvania, that 

 once stood in the very forefront of the livestock business of these 

 United States, no longer holds this reputation, as it once did. I 

 have often wondered what has become of the Berry's and the Mc- 

 Nary's, and others who were once engaged in the livestock business 

 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. You have allowed other 

 counties to outstrip you in this particular. It is not because the 

 same material is not there; the same material is there to-day that 

 has always been there; and you have other counties that are better 

 qualified than Washington for this business. Some of the South- 

 eastern counties of your State are better qualified for this purpose 

 than was Washington, but you have allowed other nearby states to 

 outstrip you in this industry. Particularly is this true since the 

 Varguns of old Virginia and West Virginia went into this livestock 

 business. 



Now, I would not advocate any young man going into the pure 

 blood livestock business who has not a love for the business. He 

 must be a lover of pure bred livestock, or I do not believe he will 

 succeed very well; and not only that, he must select the kind of live- 

 stock that most closely appeals to his taste, in order to succeed. 

 Now, if a young man has decided to go into the livestock business, 

 I would recommend him to go into the pure bred livestock business. 

 I believe that the Eastern people are particularly the people from 

 whom emanated the pure blood livestock. You have heard of the 

 importance of good seed corn, and it is the same in the livestock 

 business. You get the best results from the best seed, and the pure 

 blood livestock is furnishing the seed for the livestock business. We 

 have told you the enormous amount of meat consumed in this coun- 

 try, and every time a man eats a piece of meat, he wonders why it 

 is not better. The only way it can be made better is by the use of 

 pure blood livestock. Yet the farmers are going on in the same 

 old way, ignoring what it seems to me, is one of the best and most 

 important means of success. 



Now, if the young man is going to start in the pure blood busi- 

 ness, what is the first thing for him to do? I should say the first 

 thing he ought to do is to go to the city, and look around him, to 

 find out what other people are doing, and what they want. I 

 should want to send that boy to college, first of all. If I were in 

 Pennsylvania, I should want to send him to the Pennsylvania State 

 College, where he would learn something in that line, where they 

 would teach him what the very best kind of animals are, and what 

 are the very best of their kind. He would get an opportunity to see 

 what are the best. Then I would encourage him to go away to the 

 best fairs, at which he will see the very best kind of animals ex- 

 hibited, and the best of their kind. There is no place as good for 

 that purpose as a large State Fair. I don't know why you people 

 here in Pennsylvania do not have a high-class State Fair. You 

 have a few good county fairs, but my knowledge is that the very 

 best livestock is not taken to these county fairs. It needs a high- 

 class State Fair to induce the breeders of fine livestock to exhibit 

 them. At a high-class State Fair you not only see the best your 



