240 



HISTOEY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



IMPARTIAL JUDGES NEEDED 



It had been remarked upon several occasions, 

 "the enormity of Miller, that insignificant 

 Hereford cattle breeder", charging a conspiracy 

 upon a large number of Shorthorn men, mem- 

 bers of State Agricultural Associations and di- 

 rectors of Fat Stock Shows, to suppress and de- 

 fraud the Hereford cattle of their rightful hon- 

 ors. To meet this, as well as to show what 

 Herefords have had to contend with, we have 

 gone quite fully into the facts, and presented 

 the evidence tending to prove our position and 

 say what we think that it proves, thus giving all 

 a means of judging whether we were right -or 

 not. 



That impartial judges were needed, and also 

 men of intelligence and fairness, to award the 

 prizes at the several fairs, was so conspicuous 

 a fact that the leading daily paper at Chicago, 

 "The Tribune/' had the following to say, after 

 the Fat Stock Show in November, 1881 : 



"Nothing is plainer to the average observer 

 than the necessity for improvement in the mat- 

 ter of selecting judges to act in the various cat- 

 tle rings at the Chicago Fat Stock Show, and 

 unless radical changes for the better are made 

 before another year rolls round, the great show 

 will lose caste, and become, in the eyes of the 

 people, simply a place where a certain class of 

 breeders are given preference over all others, 

 without reference to merit. 



"The members of the State Board are gentle- 

 men of excellent reputation, who, of course, 

 would not countenance anything which had the 

 appearance of unfairness. 



"Several of the committee awards of last 

 week were the subject of unfavorable comment, 

 and the grounds for complaint and adverse, 

 criticism were perfectly well grounded. It is 

 to be deplored that charges of unfairness were 

 made under any circumstances, but in the cases 

 referred to, there was a palpable lack of discre- 

 tion, at least, on the part of the management in 

 allowing the same set of judges to act in more 

 than one sweepstake ring. The judges could 

 take but one course, and that was to simply en- 



dorse their own decisions, as to do otherwise 

 would have amounted -virtually to stultifica- 

 tion. 



"In several cases it was unnecessary to take 

 the cattle into the ring to undergo the farce of 

 an examination by the judges, and it would 

 have been just as well to have tied the blue rib- 

 bon onto the winning cattle while in their stalls. 



"The force of this proposition may be readily 

 shown in the case of Mr. Gillette's steer McMul- 

 len. (j[ 127) This animal, which, by the way, 

 is fairly entitled to rank among the very best of 

 high grade stock, was shown in a ring of 

 twenty-one steers, composed largely of Short- 

 horns, for the prize offered for the best steer in 

 the show three years old and under four. It may 

 be presumed that the judges were governed en- 

 tirely by the question of merit, and after a crit- 

 ical examination the prize was awarded to Mc- 

 Mullen. This occurred on Wednesday. On the 

 following day in the sweepstakes ring for the 

 best steer or cow in the show the same animals 

 were entered and the judges were called upon 

 to act. The decision of the men who had al- 

 ready decided in a ring composed of identically 

 the same cattle was of course a foregone conclu- 

 sion, and the examination of the cattle under the 

 circumstances closely resembled a farce. The 

 judges were handicapped by their own previous 

 action, and were absolutely compelled to again 

 award the premium to the steer McMullen. 



"When it is remembered that this animal was 

 overlooked entirely in a ring where the Here- 

 ford men were victorious, and did not even re- 

 ceive second or third place at that time, it 

 looks very much to a man up a tree as though a 

 change was necessary. It is not proposed to 

 criticise the men, but the idea of allowing the 

 same judges to be placed in a position to pass 

 upon their own previous judgment is a great 

 mistake, to say the least. 



"In the interest of harmony among exhibitors 

 of the different breeds of cattle, it is hoped that 

 some better method of selecting judges will be 

 adopted ere another year has passed. It has 



