LIVE STOCK breeders' ASSOCIATION. 1 37 



far as I know, had never sold anything but a registered Shropshire ram, 

 who has bought a lot of lambs that never were and never could be regis- 

 tered, and what he did with them I cannot tell. 



It is of fundamental importance in buying pure bred live stock more 

 than any other class of animals that you buy from responsible breeders 

 and then you are safe. This is advice essentially for these young men 

 here. 



Mr. Ellis — I called up this question because I thought it was im- 

 portant, I want to say I believe the breeders themselves are responsible 

 for a bad business practice. I do not believe in much sentiment in busi- 

 ness. When I trade with a man in any line of business and find he has 

 one price for me and another for somebody else, I quit dealing with him. 

 I believe this is the gist of the whole thing. You want to put a value 

 on an animal. If the animal does not come up to a certain standard, 

 it is not good policy to price that animal at all, on mail order, but if 

 a man from a distance comes to see you, put the same price on him that 

 you do for a neighbor. You may feel that an animal ought not to be 

 sold without personal inspection, but if you price him at $50 at home, 

 while you price him to a man in an adjoining state at $75, the latter is 

 an extortionate rharge and that is poor business policy and breeders are 

 responsible for such a condition. 



Mr. Gabbert — I never sold an animal in my life on a mail order and 

 I would not under any consideration. The purchaser has got to see the 

 animal and when he writes to me in regard to my cattle, I will price 

 them to him and I say you must see these cattle. If you are a young 

 breeder you will see my methods of handling my cattle and you will 

 see the herd and the sire and tell what a calf will grow to be. 



Mr. Emmons — This idea of Mr. Kurtz's is a new one to me. I 

 never heard of it before, but there is some reason in it. If we have ten 

 pigs to sell or ten calves to sell and our neighbor comes along and says, 

 "I will give you so much apiece for them," the question is with me how 

 much must I get for these ten pigs and you say I want $25 apiece for 

 ihem. The neighbor says, "I will take them." Suppose your neighbor 

 refuses and you have to spend $100 to advertise, make crates, etc., and 

 by the time you get through you have not realized as much for them by 

 sending them away as you would have done by selling them at a little 

 less price to your neighbor. That is the only thing I see in it. A man 

 has to advertise and spend money to get these orders from abroad. It 

 is the weakness of the human race, and you cannot deny it, to look afar 

 cflF for something good and they want something for nothing. I want 

 to say to these young men, if you want something good, pay the price 



