428 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



of judges that President G-illham and ex-Presi- 

 dent Reynolds may select." Says he, "That is 

 fair, and I will see that it is carried out." 



He went to Gillham and Reynolds, and they 

 made a selection of a committee under which 

 were shown herds, open to all breeds, five cattle, 

 male or female, the get of one bull. I took, 

 with Success and his get, the first premium. 

 This raised a row among the Shorthorn exhib- 

 itors. They took their complaints to the mar- 

 shal of the ring, refusing to. submit to the action 

 of this committee, and for the competition for 

 the balance of the herd and sweepstakes pre- 

 miums,* the Shorthorn representative made the 

 selection of the judges and ran them entirely 

 in the interest of the Shorthorns. Failing to 

 get a hearing, I withdrew my cattle from the 

 competition. The result of the Shorthorn 

 men's action at this show I suppose to have 

 been the means of changing the policy of the 

 Board for the Fair of 1879, held at Springfield. 

 They selected with care competent and impar- 

 tial judges, whose services were paid for, and 

 against whom no protests were to be heard. The 

 Shorthorn exhibitors felt themselves at a dis- 

 advantage under this policy, and endeavored to 

 break it up and select judges on the ground, but 

 did not succeed in their scheme. They sub- 

 mitted, the Board refusing to change their 

 plans. 



It was not only known to me, but it was 

 known to the Board, and it was known to the 

 exhibitors who have met on the grounds, that, 

 as far as the cattle department at the Illinois 

 State Fair was concerned, the Shorthorn men 

 undertook to control the judges so as to secure 

 the awards themselves. They were in a great 

 measure enabled to do so by their knowledge of 

 men, by their associates, not exhibitors, and \)j 

 members of the Board in their interest; and 

 against these odds the Herefords had to contend 

 for ten years. 



The plan of the Shorthorn men during these 

 years made the competition over the compara- 

 tive merits of the two breeds a warm and 

 exciting contest; and to avoid this, instead of 

 following out the plan adopted for the judging 

 at Springfield in 1879, by carefully selecting 

 judges before coming upon the ground, they 

 have withdrawn the competition as between 

 breeds, thus shirking responsibilities that prop- 

 erly belong to them to meet. 



What breeders and feeders want to know is 

 this very thing, to-wit, the best breed. This 

 test the Shorthorn men do not intend shall be 

 made, unless they can make the judges. To this 

 demand of the Shorthorn breeders, the State 

 Board of Illinois, the State Board of Michigan, 



the St. Louis Fair Association, the Northern 

 Ohio Fair Association and others have all sur- 

 rendered, and discontinued the practice of 

 bringing the Herefords and Shorthorns in com- 

 petition. They demand the right to name the 

 judges, and if not conceded, that the competi- 

 tion between breeds shall not be continued. 



1879. The American Fat Stock Show was 

 inaugurated by the Illinois State Board of Ag- 

 riculture in 1879. We hailed it as the opportu- 

 nity of the Herefords to exhibit their inherent 

 thrift in a more practical way. The character of 

 the awards at this show was the subject of com- 

 ment by the press of the country. We have 

 had something to say of them in Chapter XVII. 



1880. The Herefords made a large show at 

 the fairs of America in 1880. While most of 

 the societies prohibited the competition of breed 

 against breed, and thus lessened the interest in 

 the shows, still the Hereford made rapid strides 

 in numbers and qualities. At the NEW ENG- 

 LAND FAIR held at Worcester, Mass., J. S. 

 Hawes, of South Vassalborough, Maine, exhib- 

 ited sixteen head, and Burleigh & Bodwell, of 

 Fairfield Center, Maine, exhibited twenty-six 

 head. Both herds made an excellent show for 

 the breed, Messrs. Burleigh & Bodwell taking 

 the herd premiums. At the NEW YORK- 

 STATE FAIR held at Albany, the Hereford 

 exhibitors were Messrs. Burleigh & Bodwell, 

 of Maine, and Erastus Corning, of Albany. At 



HOTSPUR (7028) 9355. 

 Bred by J. Price, Herefordshire. 



the PENNSYLVANIA STATE FAIR, the Hon. John 

 Merryman, of Maryland, made a very fine ex- 

 hibit from his herd. At Minneapolis, Minn., 

 Col. W. S. King brought all breeds in 

 competition. The leading Shorthorn herds of 

 the Northwest were there. One of these had a 

 $4,000 Duke bull at its head. The Hereford 

 exhibitors here were C. M. Culbertson, of New- 

 man, Douglas Co., 111., and Shaw & Bullis, of 

 Minnesota. The exhibit of Herefords was re- 



