536 THE HOKSE OF AMERICA. 



tration and thus recoup the losses they had sustained in their 

 "business." 



In considering the conspiracy that resulted in the sale and 

 transfer of the Wallace publications to the American Trotting Reg- 

 ister Association, which means simply Lucas Brodhead, there are 

 some antecedent conditions connected with these publications 

 that need a brief explanation. The first volume of "Wallace's 

 American Trotting Register" was published in this city in 1871 

 and the second in 1874. An office was opened in this city in 

 1875 and the first number of Wallace's Montlily was issued in 

 October of that year. The National Association of Trotting 

 Horse Breeders was organized December 20, 1876. The attend- 

 ance was large and many of the States were represented by men 

 of influence and standing. Mr. Charles Backman was elected 

 president, and L. D. Packer secretary. From the favor with 

 which the idea of a national organization was received and from 

 the character of the men participating in it, I voluntarily and 

 without judicial advice placed in the association the authority to 

 appoint annually a Board of Censors to examine and decide all 

 questions relating to disputed pedigrees sent for registration. 

 The plan worked smoothly and satisfactorily for several years, 

 in some of which there was not a single case to be examined. My 

 publications were soon past the critical point, and they seemed to 

 grow from their inherent strength, and not from pushing or ad- 

 vertising. The Breeders' Association seemed to take the opposite 

 chute, and after three or four years it became merely a name. 

 At first there was trouble in finding a man to take the presidency, 

 but at last a rich dry goods merchant was found who was willing 

 to take the presidency, and add five hundred dollars a year to- 

 some stake for the honor conferred; and the secretary, L. D. 

 Packer, was the mere satellite of the president, and was willing 

 to give two weeks' work every year for the privilege of drawing 

 a thousand dollars a year from the treasury. The annual meet- 

 ings became a mere formality, with an attendance of three or 

 four and the two officers, who seemed to re-elect each other year 

 after year, until the association was finally buried somewhere out 

 in Michigan, I think, and the money that had accumulated in 

 the treasury was, on his petition, donated to the secretary in 

 consideration of his valuable services for so many years in carrying 

 the association from the cradle to the tomb. 



Owing to my relations to the Breeders' Association, I felt that 



