HIST OK Y OF HEKEFORD CATTLE 



535 



ruler of the Association. The forbearance and 

 conciliatory spirit in the great majority of the 

 Hereford Association are matters for wonder, 

 as well as for great congratulation. The Con- 

 stitution and By-Laws of the Association were 

 unquestionably good and sufficient for the time 

 when they were made. It was well to have 

 then, and it is well to have now, and I hope we 

 always will have the most stringent rules in re- 

 gard to registration, and the firmest safeguards 

 against those rules being thoughtlessly or hastily 

 changed; but the other by-laws and all other 

 business, outside of the registration rules, should 

 be subject to the will of the majority at meet- 

 ings, and not subject to the will of a single man 

 and his clique, as it has been and will be under 

 existing conditions, or until some leader rises 

 up, and facing the unpleasant and demoralizing 

 situation, declares the facts to each member of 

 the Association. It has been demonstrated 

 that the Executive Committee as at present 

 constructed will not relinquish their power with- 

 out a struggle, so that it is not difficult to 

 prophesy that their narrow, selfish policy will, 

 in time, make a revolution imperative. 



When we think of what the Hereford breed 

 of cattle is, in the importance of its relation 

 to the beef interests of the world, we are amazed 

 that a few Hereford breeders will come together 

 once a year at the annual meeting to listen to 

 the same old sort of a report, and to act upon 

 cut-and-dried business prepared for them by 

 the Executive Committee in the same old way, 

 and to which cut-and-dried preparation they are 

 limited in the action and business of the con- 

 vention. Much against the will of an offensive 

 oligarchy, the association elected Mr. T. F. B. 

 Sotham (^377) president at the recent meet- 

 ing (1899). We mistake the character of Mr. 

 Sotham, and he will not be true to his position 

 as champion of the Herefords, or worthy of 

 his father, if he does not throw light on this 

 "clique" and the subtle errors of their way. 



The Executive Committee passes upon all 

 constitutional legislation to be submitted to the 

 Association. If they decline to submit the prop- 

 osition of a member that proposition cannot 

 come before the meeting. If they condescend 

 to present such proposition they present it in 

 a form that must be adopted or rejected with- 

 out the changing of a single word. This sys- 

 tem except as concerns rules for registration 

 is absurd, silly, and ought not to be tolerated. 

 The idea of a body of men of the character, 

 intelligence and wealth of the American Here- 

 ford Cattle Breeders' Association submitting to 

 any such little narrow plan is preposterous, and 

 I am convinced from much communication with 



the members of the Association that the system 

 needs only to be aired properly by a well-mean- 

 ing, loyal and influential breeder to insure a 

 prompt and profitable change. We therefore, in 

 closing, devote a little space to this matter. 



Why should the Hereford interests submit to 

 any such narrow control ? We concede that the 

 members of the present (1899) Executive Com- 

 mittee may be considered just as intelligent and 

 worthy as any other members of the Association, 

 but we insist they are not more so. There never 

 was a body of men constituted that has more 

 good material for effective work than the Amer- 

 ican Hereford Cattle Breeders' Association, and 

 the Association falls very far short of its duty 

 in not availing itself of this material. There 

 is positively no good to be gained and an op- 

 portunity for much harm in giving any man a 

 life tenure of office. The course for many years 

 has been for the annual meeting to assemble in 

 Chicago on one evening in November, ostensibly 

 at 8 o'clock, although it is nearer 9 before the 

 meeting is called to order; and when the clock 

 nears 11 there has always been an urgent and 

 very apparent desire on the part of the Execu- 

 tive Committeemen to have the business over 

 and an adjournment agreed to. The business 

 has consisted of the reports of the Executive 

 Committee and Treasurer, the latter being a 

 member of the Executive Committee. They 

 report their work of the last year, and propose 

 their work for the ensuing year, merely asking 

 the sanction of a necessary appropriation. If 

 they can possibly get these reports adopted and 

 agreed to in full, at one stroke, the plain desire 

 of the Executive Committee is then fully car- 

 ried out. Committee matters of interest to 

 breeders, discussions of what would be helpful 

 to them in their work, matters that can only 

 be elucidated by full and complete discussion, 

 that would make the conventions of the Asso- 

 ciation interesting and profitable, are ignored, 

 that a cut-and-dried program may be carried 

 through in the most expeditious manner pos- 

 sible. The better acquaintance of Hereford 

 breeders, the discussion of their experiences, the 

 reading of appropriate papers, and the free and 

 full discussion of pertinent Hereford matters, 

 such as breeding problems, feeding experiments, 

 judging systems, selection of judges, etc., would 

 create and renew such general interest that the 

 accruing benefits would make a general desire 

 for the longest sessions convenient rather than 

 the shortest farces possible. 



We have no more pecuniary interest in the 

 Herefords, and of more than eighty years of life 

 we have spent thirty in the Hereford interest, 

 and therefore know that we can say what we 



