HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



503 



have withdrawn from the Fat Stock Show two 

 years before but for the fact that we were 

 strongly urged not to do so. There has been no 

 breeder in the State of Illinois that has done 

 more than we have to make the stock exhibits 

 before the State Board a success. Our exhibits 

 have always been creditable, they have been 

 large. Not one of the breeders of cattle in the 

 State of Illinois represented the State at the 

 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 

 but ourselves, and although we have claimed 

 our rights, we believe that to-day a large ma- 

 jority of the Board during the last eleven years 

 will credit us with having prosecuted our claims 

 in a. fair and gentlemanly manner, and that a 

 majority of the Board are personally friendly 

 to us. We shall assume that in the future the 

 Board will not need any promptings from us 

 to make its shows, its exhibits and its awards 

 creditable to the State and the world. 



"We have made our contest with the State 

 Board of Illinois because Illinois is our home. 

 We had a right to a hearing, and to fair and im- 

 partial treatment, that we would not have in 

 any other State or before any other society. We 

 believed if this Shorthorn influence was broken 

 here it would be substantially broken elsewhere, 

 and we see no reason to change our views. The 

 State Board of Indiana has been, if possible, 

 more under Shorthorn influence than the State 

 Board of Illinois. So with the State Board of 

 Ohio, so with that of Michigan and Iowa; and 

 they will do well to profit by the experience of 

 the State Board of Illinois. The Indiana State 

 Board, at its late meeting, for the first time 

 gave other breeds a classification equal to that 

 of the Shorthorns. 



"The State Board of Illinois has now a presi- 

 dent that has no interest in Shorthorn breeding, 

 a man independent of all Shorthorn influence, 

 as we believe, and we think that the Shorthorn 

 members of the Board and the Shorthorn breed- 

 ers outside of it did all they could to prevent 

 his election. He was nominated, and the Board 

 has elected the Hon. John P. Reynolds as the 

 superintendent of the cattle department. Mr. 

 Reynolds has been connected with the Board 

 for a great number of years, perhaps from the 

 start. He has been its secretary, its president, 

 and we think that the Board owes to him more 

 of the good there is in its management than 

 to any other man who has been connected with 

 it. We know somewhat of the course pursued 

 by the Shorthorn interest in and out of the 

 Board, and so far as the cattle interest is con- 

 cerned he has been for a fair, impartial and in- 

 telligent management, both as to classification 

 and judging, and we would submit our interest 



as we have before stated, to his judgment alone. 

 He has undoubtedly exerted a larger influence 

 in the board than we could have done in his 

 place, and with Mr. Landrigan as president and 

 Mr. Reynolds as superintendent of the cattle 

 department we can scarcely doubt but that there 

 will be a fair administration in the manage- 

 ment of the cattle department. 



"Although the Shorthorn interest will die 

 hard, and will leave no stone unturned to in- 

 fluence action in its favor, the Hereford 

 breeders are strong in the merits and right of 

 their cause, to meet the issues in a fair and 

 candid spirit. They are destined to win the 

 world over, and perhaps they had no right to 

 expect a larger success than they have already 

 attained. While we are not an exhibitor, we 

 trust that the Hereford breeders as a whole 

 will make such a show and such an exhibit at 

 the State fairs and fat stock shows that will 

 show their confidence in the present manage- 

 ment. Should Mr. Scott's predictions be 

 realized as to the Shorthorn breeders, let the 

 Hereford men make good the deficiency. 



****** 



"Since writing the above we have received 

 from Secretary Fisher a copy of Mr. Moninger's 

 statement, which was read at the February 

 meeting, and is as follows: 



" 'To the Honorable Board of Agriculture of 

 the State of Illinois: The cattle belonging to 

 me, referred to by T. L. Miller in the state- 

 ment made to your Board in the January meet- 

 ing, were of my own breeding and feeding, 

 ages as recorded in my list of entries at the late 

 fat stock show. A sworn statement of the ages 

 of the steers named, with others shown in the 

 herd, is in the hands of the Iowa State Board 

 of Agriculture. 



"'Tom Brown, winner of the sweepstakes 

 prize for the best three-year-old steer in the 

 show, dropped August 28, 1879, is well known 

 by many cattlemen in Iowa. He was a prize 

 winner at the Iowa State Fairs of 1880, 1881 

 and 1882. The fairs were held during the first 

 ten days of September each year. His weight 

 when shown as a yearling was 960 pounds; 

 at 2 years old, 1,500 pounds; and at three years 

 old 1,900 pounds. When shown at a few days 

 over twelve months old and 960 pounds weight, 

 is the time, according to T. L. Miller's state- 

 ment, when he was at least three years old (not 

 far from the age of his sire at that time). 



' 'This is a brief statement of the history of 

 the prize winner Tom Brown, that seems to 

 trouble one T. L. Miller greatly, inasmuch as 



