CHAPTER XXII. 

 PROSPERITY REGAINED. 



We have now but to deal with the great revival of 

 the comparatively recent past, and our story ends. 

 In this we must be brief for obvious reasons. In the 

 first place, the tale already grows too long. In the 

 second place, present-day readers do not require, 

 nor probably desire, as full information as to the 

 herds and contests of today as is rightly demanded 

 in the case of the events of more remote periods. 

 There is personal knowledge of contemporary af- 

 fairs. History deals more with the past than the 

 present. Let us, therefore, sketch rapidly.* 



An Upward Trend in 1909. The general average 

 of public valuations on offerings aggregating 1,400 

 head of registered cattle in 1909 was $127.05. This 



*We should not pass over the events of 1909 without noting 1 the 

 decease of Tom Smith of Crete, 111., which removed from the ranks of 

 the Hereford breeding- fraternity a man of Scottish birth who had 

 rendered yeoman service in the up-building of the interest in the 

 "white faces" in the United States. He managed a Hereford herd at 

 Grimley, Worcestershire, England, before coming to the States. He 

 first located at Manhattan, Kans. Soon after this he went to Beecher, 

 111., as herd manager for T. L. Miller, and later on had charge of the 

 herd of A. C. Reed, which was maintained for some years at Goode- 

 now. Upon leaving this work Mr. Smith established himself on a 

 farm at Crete, where he bred Herefords successfully for many years. 

 He was a thorough cattleman, and while he never figured conspicu- 

 ously in the sale and show lists, in a quiet way he supplied much 

 good material to the breed, including Rose Blossom, the dam of the 

 $10,000 Dale, and of Columbia, the grandam of Disturber. He was a 

 keen judge of values. At Clark's dispersion sale, for example, he 

 purchased a cow and bull calf for $200 which he afterwards disposed 

 of for $1,400. He was a natural-born trader and many a carload or 

 cattle passed through his hands to the mutual advantage of both buyer 

 and seller. Tom had few superiors as a judge, and his services were 

 in constant demand at the leading shows, confidence in his integrity 

 as well as in his intelligence being general. 



