CLOSING EVENTS OF THE CENTURY. 748 



breeding in America during the period follow- 

 ing the speculative "boom' 7 of the "seventies" 

 was perhaps greater than that of any other one 

 man identified with the trade from 1882 to 1895, 

 and was ever on the side of reason and sound 

 practice. It was generally conceded that Lin- 

 wood at its best was the outstanding herd 

 of the United States, and foreign visitors ques- 

 tioned if it had a superior in Great Britain. It 

 was for a time the Mecca toward which Western 

 breeders directed their steps in quest of stock 

 sires. While, the surplus was usually disposed 

 of at good prices at private treaty, the herd 

 was maintained for the most part during a 

 period when values of pedigreed cattle were at 

 a comparatively low ebb. Nevertheless sev- 

 eral successful public sales were made at Chi- 

 cago, Kansas City and Manhattan, Kan. 



Affairs agricultural, however, were drifting 

 from bad to worse. After the financial panic 

 of 1893, discouraged by the profound and 

 widespread depression, and now confronted by 

 many difficulties in his efforts at sustaining the 

 merit of the herd at its former level, the pro- 

 prietor at length listened to the call of the 

 people of his adopted State and consented to 

 serve them, first in the House of Representa- 

 tives and later in the Senate of the United 

 States. Under these circumstances the disper- 

 sion of the herd was inevitable, the event oc- 



