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 
Joun 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. 
Joun 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 diffident 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. 
