A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 157 



syllable and six letters yet, in Shorthorn circles, 

 it is one of the most used and abused of words in 

 the English language. It is given the widest 

 possible meaning and at the same time restricted 

 to the narrowest construction of any word I have 

 ever heard used. It has become a synonym for 

 the type of cattle without regard to the pedigree 

 on the one hand and for a form of pedigree with- 

 out regard to type of cattle on the other hand. 

 It has been rolled out of the mouths of many as a 

 choice morsel when they knew little of its signifi- 

 cance. Like unto the famous " Bates" of the 

 seventies it has been used by speculators to un- 

 load unworthy specimens of a great breed of 

 cattle on dupes and the victims of its unworthy 

 use walk up and down the highways and byways 

 of the Shorthorn kingdom fondly hugging to 

 their bosoms the delusion that because of this 

 magic word their cattle must be good. 



Origin of the Term. When the rest of the 

 Shorthorn world had gone pedigree crazy, there- 

 by ruining their cattle, there were left a few 

 breeders in the bleak country around Aberdeen- 

 shire in Scotland that had bred cattle with only 

 one object in view, namely, practical utility. 

 These men had perhaps not associated quite so 

 closely with the outside world as had the leaders 

 of the trade in England and America and possi- 

 bly for that reason had not succumbed to pedi- 

 gree speculation in order to build up a high 



