TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART Vll 299 



to do more damage than good if a sale be made through them, as most 

 any buyer is well enough acquainted with hog merits to know when he is 

 beaten. And the man who pays more than a hog is worth never gets 

 through kicking about it. 



Any correspondent should be written to promptly, and such a letter as 

 will lead him to remember the writer kindly. All questions should be 

 answered. When the buyer indicates that he wants something of better 

 than ordinary merit it is a good plan to urge him to come and see the 

 herd and make his own selection. This for a two-fold purpose. If he 

 does come and you have something good, he is almost sure to buy. If 

 he does not come ho is apt to have confidence that if you are willing to 

 have him see the herd you must have all you say you have. Either way 

 it is an advantage to you. 



When I make a shipment by express I like to have it go in a nice 

 new crate, that has my name and address stenciled in a prominent place 

 so that anyone who sees it may know where it comes from. The buyer is 

 also apt to feel better if he receives a hog in a good crate than if it comes 

 in an old weather beaten one that is about to fall to pieces. 



Guarantees have not a little to do with holding private trade. While 

 I do not think it good business to make any guarantee beyond that the 

 animal sold is sound so far as I know, I am willing to try to make 

 good in a satisfactory way any differences that may arise between me 

 and my customer. If the hog fails through any fault to accomplish the 

 purpose for which it was bought, I am responsible and will make it right. 

 If, howevin-, the failure is due to mismanagement or improper care while 

 in the hands of the buyer, then I am under no obligations. But the 

 settlement of all differences must be based, aside from the actual jusLice 

 involved, upon the extent to which the seller will go to hold the good 

 will of the buyer. And in this there is a wide divergence in practice 

 among breeders. 



PUBLIC SALE FOLLIES. 



R. J. HAKDIXG, M.VCEDOXIA, lOW'A. 



Gentlemen and Members of the Iowa State Swine Breeders' Association: 

 The question that has been assigned me, "The Public Sale Follies," is 

 one that is so broad and comprehensive that I hardly feel equal to the 

 subject. However, I have made some very careful observations during 

 the past seven or eight years on some of the follies of our present public 

 sale, system, and I will touch upon them, not, with the intention of 

 hurting anybody's feelings, but with the hope that my remarks will as- 

 sist in bringing about a much needed condition that will be for the best 

 interests of all those who are breeding swine. 



In earlier years the swine breeders of this country very largely dis- 

 posed of their surplus stock privately, at tha.t time the breeding frater- 

 nity was limited, and it was an easy matter to dispose of everything at 

 remunerative prices. With the rapid increase of the breeding fraternity, 

 new methods came into vogue, and the public sale system was accepted 

 as one of the better methods of disposing of our surplus breeding stock. 



