HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



241 



been openly charged that the Shorthorn ring, 

 so called, has secured control of the show, and 

 that other breeders are denied certain rights and 

 privileges to which they are entitled. 'The 

 Tribune' does not believe that any ring exists 

 who can control the management of these 

 shows, but it does insist upon a better system of 

 judging, to the end that exact and impartial 

 justice may be the rule hereafter. 



"In this connection the following plan is sug- 

 gested, by which, at least, disinterested men 

 might be secured for these trying and impor- 

 tant positions : the Board should select the best 

 butchers from eastern cities and pay them for 

 their services, and thus avoid the scandal that 

 yearly crops out because judges and exhibitors 

 are from the same localities. Having good 

 judges, the rule should be, that no man who 

 owns an animal shall be allowed to hold it while 

 in the ring, or to enter the ring under any pre- 

 text while the judges are at work. The adop- 

 tion of some such rules as the above, or some- 

 thing of that character guaranteeing a better 

 state of things, must be adopted at once, or the 

 greatest of American shows will become a by- 

 word and reproach." 



Those who read our great daily papers know 

 that they are too apt to leave the beef interests 

 and agricultural necessities of our stock breed- 

 ers and farmers out in the cold, by saying noth- 

 ing about them and leaving them severely alone. 

 But this matter of showing beef cattle, and hav- 

 ing justice done to the deserving ones, was of 

 such moment that "The Tribune" in January, 

 1882, again came out in the following editorial : 

 "During the past year much has been said 

 and written upon the subject of choosing judges 

 to act at fairs, and the matter of these selections 

 has become one which must attract still greater 

 attention before another season. There has 

 grown up in the minds of farmers, a pretty well 

 grounded opinion that in nearly all exhibition 

 rings there is a lack of judgment displayed, as 

 well in the selection of judges as in the method 

 in which their awards are given, and last year's 

 experience has not had a tendency to change 

 their views very materially. During the next 

 three months many State Boards of Agriculture 

 will hold their annual meetings, at which ar- 

 rangements for this year's fairs will be per- 

 fected, and it is certain that no single subject 

 in connection with their work demands more 

 thoughtful consideration than that of an im- 

 proved method of selecting and working judges. 

 There will of course be many suggestions 

 offered, all havmg^n view the employment of 

 men whose integrity cannot be questioned, and 

 who, from experience, are competent to pass in- 



telligent judgment and discover merit where it 

 exists, without regard to who may, or may not, 

 be pleased or benefited. It has been openly 

 charged, particularly by cattle exhibitors, that 

 no one but a Shorthorn breeder or feeder can 

 hope for justice at the hands of Western fair 

 associations, and breeders of other families 

 claim that at these fairs the judges are invari- 

 ably chosen from localities where Shorthorn 

 cattle are raised almost exclusively. Protests 

 against this manner of choosing awarding com- 

 mittees have been repeatedly made, especially 

 by Hereford breeders, not a few of whom assert 

 that the whole system of selecting judges, par- 

 ticularly in the Western states, is controlled by 

 what they are not backward in terming the 

 'Shorthorn ring/ 



"If such a combination exists, it is high time 

 that measures were adopted by which its influ- 

 ence and power can be broken. The struggle 

 for supremacy between the different breeds of 

 beef cattle has become an exciting one, and the 



<H201A 



HEART GIRTH OF HEREFORDS AND SHORTHORNS 

 COMPARED. 



consumers are deeply interested in the outcome. 

 The several associations owe it to themselves, 

 and the public to whom they look for patron- 

 age and support, to adopt such rules and regu- 

 lations governing the award of premiums as 

 will guarantee perfect fairness between con- 

 testants. There should be an honest effort made 

 to stop the wholesale charge of unfairness that 

 has acted for years past as an injury to the ex- 

 hibitions, and which has become a matter of 

 adverse comment, both at home and abroad. 

 Breeders of fine cattle cannot afford to have 

 their interests jeopardized through the actions 

 of incompetent or biased judges, in whose hands 

 they are compelled to place them. 'The Trib- 

 une,' during the week of the recent Fat Stock 

 Show, November, 1881, took occasion to criticise 

 the method then in practice, and unhesitatingly 

 stamped several of the awards as entirely wrong. 

 Thoughtful and conscientious breeders in all 

 parts of the country have heartily endorsed the 

 opinions given at that time, and nothing is 



