A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



Packers were large intertraders on long or short 

 lines, as the flow of trade or specialization suggested. 

 For instance, my house had an immense trade in pigs' 

 feet. We bought the rough product, uncleaned, from 

 several packers, who did not clean a hoof, but sold 

 just as few in finished form as possible, and to fill 

 orders bought them in tierces from us, filling smaller 

 packages under their own labels. This intertrading 

 gave us all an inter-acquaintance. Some of my warm- 

 est friends today were strong trade rivals, while my 

 work in Herefords took me much about the yards, 

 and in close contact with packinghouse general yards 

 buyers, and in turn I came at times into contact with 

 the high bosses. 



I once heard "Johnny" Bowles at an International 

 Live Stock Exposition auction sale speak of Nelson 

 Morris as "that grand old Trojan." I think it covers 

 my own estimate of him. My own association with 

 him was casual, but he knew me whenever we met, 

 and from the earliest days of the International always 

 had a kindly word and "How are those S. M. S.'s 

 coming along? You got some good cattle, and you 

 got a good boss." It happened that when the senior 

 member of our firm, E. P. Swenson, was coming to 

 Texas for ranch visits, Mr. Morris would be making 

 a similar trip to see his black cattle near Midland. 

 It was a wonderful herd, and its dispersion left grand 

 footprints in many parts of Texas. Quite often Mr. 

 Morris and Mr. Swenson met on the trains. They 



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