524 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



now preserved, "2:30" would be stricken out and "2:20" inserted 

 instead. The breeders would again be stimulated to look forward 

 with hope, and not backward with regret. 



Of the numerous criticisms of the standard after its adoption, 

 there were none of any special force or practicability, but from 

 one source there was a persistent war made upon it, not because 

 it was unfair in its principles or administration, nor because it 

 lacked vigor in its support, but evidently because it was not con- 

 trolled in Kentucky, and that the pivotal authority of that con- 

 trol was not placed in the hands of the manager at Woodburn. 

 It is but just that I should say here that many of the stanchest 

 and most enthusiastic supporters of the standard and the Register 

 were Kentuckians, and with the exceptions of two or three 

 breeders who stood well in their community, and a few others 

 who were bankrupt in character and morals, there were no 

 enemies to engage in this war. I would gladly skip over this 

 period, for it is of necessity more or less personal, but to omit it 

 would leave the history of the times and of the formation of the 

 breed of trotters incomplete, and liable to misrepresentation by 

 those who may come after us. 



The first public suggestion or demand for a standard, and 

 the first use of the word "standard" in connection with rules for 

 registration, was addressed to the Breeders' Association, in the 

 paragraph quoted above, from the Monthly for April, 1878. In 

 that paragraph, while no specific rules were formulated, the 

 whole scope of such rules was foreshadowed. 



In the course of correspondence with breeders all over the 

 country as to their views about the provisions of the proposed 

 standard, I received from Mr. Henry C. McDowell, of Kentucky, 

 a little slip of paper, perhaps as large as your hand, marked 

 "copyrighted," on which were printed a number of rules that 

 purported to be rules for the admission of certain animals, trot- 

 ters and runners, to some book that was not named or described. 

 This little paper was courteously received and commended as a 

 step in the right direction. 



The idea of inserting the word "copyrighted" seemed to be 

 that it might serve as a "scare head" and thus deter all makers 

 of books from attempting to make a book under the provisions of 

 these rules. These rules were strictly tentative, and they were 

 peddled about for months, and changed several times to see- 



