FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



he could, " drive a gig, poke a fire, and edit a 

 newspaper," but, judging from the many opinions 

 upon the subject then confidently expressed by 

 all sorts and conditions of men, there appeared 

 to be a prevailing impression that the management 

 of an agricultural society must be included among 

 those accomplishments which come naturally 

 to every one. Under these circumstances the 

 Farmers' Club asked me to take up the cudgels 

 once more on behalf of the cause in Smithfield 

 Week of 1904. Appreciating the compliment, I 

 willingly complied. This time I treated the 

 subject from a different standpoint to that I 

 adopted on the previous occasion, and took as the 

 title of my paper, " The Policy of the Show Yard 

 and its Administrative Methods," which, narrow- 

 ing the area, enabled me, as an old showman, to 

 go much more fully than before into questions of 

 management, and offered opportunity for adum- 

 brating a policy of future development. On this 

 occasion I boldly declared myself as the apostle 

 of a policy of expansion and cosmopolitanism, 

 which took count of town as well as country, on 

 the lines I have indicated in previous chapters. 

 Lord Jersey repeated the kindness he showed me 

 when I previously read a paper to the club by 

 moving the vote of thanks to its author, which 

 was followed by a very practical discussion, con- 

 tributed to by several leaders of agricultural 

 opinion at that time. 



On the death in 1890 of Mr. Josiah Goodwin, 

 the Society's editor, I was unanimously appointed 

 to succeed him, with MX. F. J. Lloyd as my 

 associate editor. 



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