A STOCK BREEDING GROUND 123 



reaching into the great Southwest and to the North, pass through the 

 gateways of our state. Men may readily come here upon special 

 mission or stop in transit. Many a visitor has come to the live-stock 

 breeding farms of Illinois direct from the central markets. It was 

 convenient for him to make the trip from such a point. He handles 

 live stock commercially in a large way, and he is in need of a bit of 

 live-stock leaven. And yet at no other time and under no other cir- 

 cumstance would he have come to the Illinois farm. Proximity to 

 the central live-stock markets is a natural and material advantage 

 to breeders of purebred live stock fortunate enough to live and 

 operate in Illinois. 



Possibly a less tangible advantage, but nevertheless one of far 

 greater significance and real value attaching to purebred live-stock 

 breeding in -this state, is the circumstance that Illinois is the home of 

 the "International." It is unnecessary to dwell upon that annually 

 marvelous exposition. When traveling in other states I have been 

 repeatedly distressed to hear young men of eager enthusiasm regret, 

 as under recent financial conditions, their prohibitive distance from 

 this final court of adjudication of supreme live-stock merit. These 

 men wonder that all inhabitants of Illinois interested in live stock do 

 not always attend the "International." And the answer is that 

 Illinois people, manufacturers, merchants, and mechanics, as well as 

 live-stock men, are coming more and more by their presence at the 

 "International" to sense the value of this rigid short course in live- 

 stock husbandry. 



SOME DRAWBACKS 



With all of our natural advantages there are some drawbacks 

 to be met in Illinois in the production of purebred live stock. Our 

 state has no monopoly of these hindrances, which for the most part 

 are simply useless and unnecessary drags upon our business and the 

 prosperity of the state. It has seemed, and is still evident, that in 

 Illinois there is a marked lack of esprit de corps among live-stock 

 breeders. This lack is being overcome, in a measure, in state breed 

 associations among the adherents of the various breeds ; but this spirit 

 is more or less absent among those interested in somewhat competitive 

 breeds and it is notably absent among the supporters of non- 

 competitive breeds. The interest of the beef breeds in one another 

 is that of mere decency, and possibly the same may be said of the 

 dairy interests. The hog men have made marked progress in their 

 get-together spirit; but the horsemen are tightening the traces of 



