178 A HISTOKT OF THE PEECHEEON HOESE 



In the month of May, 1869, Mr. Sanders began 

 the publication of a 16-page monthly, which he per- 

 sonally edited and issued at his own expense from 

 the then primitive printing plant of the local 

 newspaper known as the "News." He was at 

 the time engaged in banking and railway con- 

 struction, besides trying to wake up the farmers of 

 his state to the desirability of better blood. His pur- 

 pose in founding the "Western Stock Journal" was 

 purely altruistic. But it met with a cordial recep- 

 tion, and after a successful career of a few years its 

 possibilities were so obvious that a Chicago syndicate 

 took it over and made it the basis of the monthly 

 magazine known as the "National Live Stock Jour- 

 nal," Mr. Sanders assuming by request of the pub- 

 lishers the editorship of the horse department to be 

 conducted by mail from Iowa. Then came the great 

 fire of 1871, the financial panic of 1873, the sweeping 

 away of his private fortune, the enforced sale of the 

 country place that had been the pride of his heart, 

 removal to Chicago, and the assumption of the duties 

 of editor-in-chief of the powerful magazine that was 

 being builded upon his little Iowa venture as a 

 foundation. 



And so it came to pass that when the western 

 draft horse breeding interest began about 1875 to 

 feel the first great impulses of the boom that was 

 now impending the necessary cooperation for a suc- 

 cessful campaign of publicity and promotion in be- 

 half of Percheron interests was assured. Mr. San- 

 ders had the personal knowledge, the ability, and 



