OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 323 



In 1909 the death of T. K. Tomson caused a change in the 

 method of breeding. For several years prior to this the father 

 had left the active direction of the business to the two sons, John 

 and James, and on his demise John succeeded as head of the 

 firm with headquarters on the old farmstead adjoining Dover. 

 James and Frank purchased a new acreage along the line of the 

 Santa Fe Railroad between Wakarusa and Carbondale, Kansas. 

 Here marketing facilities were better as Dover was nine miles 

 from the nearest railroad, the Rock Island, and twenty miles 

 from a marketing town, Topeka. The partnership was still main- 

 tained, but each brother's interest was held separately. Under 

 John Tomson's skillful management some of the grassiest pas- 

 tures of eastern Kansas have been developed at the Dover farm, 

 while excellent modern improvements have been installed 

 throughout. 



John Tomson enjoys a wide reputation as a judge both of 

 steers and breeding cattle. His ability in this particular was 

 instinctively inherent, but was sharpened by the years of cattle 

 buying as a youth, stirrup to stirrup with his father. Among 

 Kansas breeders he enjoys a position of highest authority, while 

 his counsels have been sought by Shorthorn breeders the country 

 over. He is of a naturally retiring and difEdent disposition, but 

 his whole inclination is to care in an unassuming way for the 

 interests of others long before looking to his own. He never 

 volunteers advice, but his aid is freely given for the asking. 

 Straightforward and sincere, his whole life has been free of 

 sham and pretense, and more than one of his friends has affec- 

 tionately admitted that the mould was thrown away after John 

 Tomson was fashioned. 



For six successive terms Mr. Tomson was unanimously elected 

 a director of the Shorthorn association, while his presidency in 

 1918 and 1919 recognized temporarily an appreciation of his 

 judgment and counsel, not terminated with his close of office, 

 but continued by his retention on the board of directors. 



