134 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



7tli. "Make good" all statements and contracts, no matter what it 

 costs. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. P>oles — Mr. Chairman, in order to open the discussion I will 

 just name two or three points that I think it is very necessary for 



breeders to notice. The first thing when buying stock on mail order is 

 to know the breeder. You should know the man from w^hom you buy 

 your stock. I would say, never buy anything from a man who is not 

 reliable, and upon whose judgment and honesty you cannot depend. 

 There are men who may be honest in their judgment and they may de- 

 scribe to us the best they have as being their best, but at the same time 

 their best may not be at all what we would like to have. 



The next question is to "know what you want and to know what 

 you are willing to pay. You can size up your pocket book better than 

 the breeder can and if the breeder is reliable and you want to pay for a 

 hog you can tell him as nearly what you want by telling him what you 

 want to pay as any other way and then he will send you the best pig he 

 can for the money, as a rule. 



In my opinion you want to describe that animal in as few words as 

 possible to express your idea. The more you say about it, the more 

 trouble you make, and the more misunderstandings will there be about it. 

 Just describe in a few words. Tf you want a first class animal, say so. 

 if you want a good one. say that, if you want a finished one. say that. If 

 you want something that will win in any kind of company, say that is 

 what you want and the breeder will know just what you want and if he 

 has it can fill out your order and if he has not, you need not trade with 

 him or can send him to buy stock for you. These three are as good rules 

 to go by as any that I know. 



Mr. Kllis — T would like to ask the breeders present a question to 

 bring out their opinions on a phase of this subject — that is, if they believe 

 it good policy to sell aninials to their neighbors for less money than 

 when they sell on mail orders? T know that is the practice with a great 

 many breeders and a great many of them have an idea that they cannot 

 get as much money from a man in the neighborhood as they can on a 

 mail order. 



Mr. Frost — If I was pricing a pig to my neighbor I would price 

 him at the same price that I would to you or a man who lived outside 

 the State of Missouri. We do not sell many pigs to our neighbors. Tf 

 our neighbors want a pig they generally go to some other county to 

 buy. I believe we probably have the confidence of our neighbors as 

 nmch as most people do. The ^^'ord tells us that "a prophet is not with- 



