f-E&. 12, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
131 
Wlu Mennel 
Fixtwres. 
BENCH SHOWS. 
Feb. 15.— New England Kennel Club's fourteenth annual show, 
Boston. James L. Little, 'Sec'y- 
Feb. 21. — Westminster Kennel Club's twenty-second annual show, 
New York. G. de F. Grant, Sec'y. 
March 1. — Baltimore Kennel Association's third annual show 
Baltimore. W. P. Riggs, Sec'y. 
March 8.— Northwestern Kennel Club's dog show, St. Paul, 
Minn. C. E. N. Howard, Sec'y, St. Paul, Minn. 
March 15.— Kan.sas City Kennel Club's second annual show, 
Kansas City, Mo. A. E. Ashbrook, Sec'y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Feb. 7.— Alabama Field Trial Club's second annual trials, Madi- 
son, Ala. H. K. Milner, Sec'y. 
American Kennel Club. 
Report of Constitution and Rules Committees. 
New York, Jan. 24. — To the American Kennel Club.— 
Gentlemen: Three amendments to the rules were rec- 
ommended bj-^ Mr. James B. Blossom; notice of two of 
them was given at the meeting of the A. K. C. of Dec. 
16, 1897, and referred by that meeting to this committee. 
The third notice was presented to this committee at one 
of its sessions — By-laws, Section 3, Rule 12, Class 6. 
After the words, "one of which must be in the free-for-all 
class," add the words, "and one in the senior class," and 
after the words, "No class winner can be withdrawn from 
competition in the winners' class," add the words, "ex- 
cept those dogs which have already won their champioii-' 
ship." Also an amendment to abolish the puppy classes. 
These amendments are not approved by yotir committee, 
as will appear later in this report. 
The amendment recommended by Mr. G. M. Car- 
nochan at said December meeting, an4 also referred to 
this committee, reads as follows: 
"That at all bench shows dogs having won a prize in 
any class shall not carry the ribbon showing such win 
in any subsequent class at the same show." 
Your committee believes that the object of the above 
amendment is a good one, but disapproves of its adop- 
tion, upon the groitnd that it would not be practical, 
and the inability to enforce such a rule would make it a 
dead letter. 
The objections to the new classification that are now 
found to exist, and the presumed hardships, as have 
been claimed by correspondents, that would hamper and 
discourage clubs frorn holding shows, cannot be blamed 
to- your committee, and it most decidedly declines to 
assume the responsibility of the cause that has led to the 
piesent opposition to said classification. Your commit- 
tee did not in any sense initiate the change, and as it 
has no personal motive in attempting to maintain the 
classification, nor is it at all wedded to it, therefore it 
will at the coming annual meeting recommend a change 
that will in its opinion remove all cause of complaint 
by both show committees and exhibitors. The com- 
mittee feels that in justice to .itself it should make 
the following explanation of its action, and place the 
blame, if any exists, just where it belongs. 
Early last spring a decided desire was expressed by 
several of the delegates that a new classification should 
be adopted, following more closely in the lines which 
govern English shoAvs; that the old classes were mis- 
named and therefore misleading; that through and by 
a little good management medioci^e dogs were winning 
championships by virtue- of non-competition in the chal- 
lenge class, and that the increased interest in dogs and 
the increasing number of shows demanded a new set 
of classes, properly named and in keeping with the gen- 
eral advance of kennel afifairs in this country. Eng-Iish 
classifications were obtained from abroad and sent to 
your committee, which was urged to recommend a simi- 
lar classification. The classes and their definitions cer- 
tainly appealed to the judgment of the committee, and 
after a number of sittings the present classification was 
evoWed, the names of the classes being Americanized. 
That the work entailed a vast amotmt of labor should 
be obvious to all thinking persons. 
After completing its labor, and before publishing the 
report in the Gazette, one proof copy of the report was 
sent during July-- to the Pacific Coast Advisory Board 
and one to the then existing Canadian Advisory Board, 
with a request to said boards to consider the rules carefully 
and recommend any changes that might be deemed nec- 
essary for the best interests of the partictilar territory 
over which they had jurisdiction. During the visit of 
your secretary, who is also a member of this committee, 
to San Francisco in August following, he, at a meeting 
of the Pacific Advisory Board, at which a large number 
of members of specialty clubs, breeders and exhibitors 
were present, requested a discussion on the subject of 
the then proposed rules, no one, with but one exception, 
evinced any interest whatever in the proposition, and 
did not respond in any way to the invitation. At no time 
during the stay of your secretary in that city was he 
given to understand that any objection to the rules 
existed. In the meanwhile the agreement with Canada 
was annulled, and therefore no recommendations on the 
subject of rules were expected from that quarter. The 
report of your committee was published Aug. 31, and 
when the rules finally reached your body for final action 
at the September meeting they were adopted with but 
a few minor changes. 
To show further, each clnb knew, or should know, just 
what was being done, and by their silence and failure to 
instruct their delegates to suggest changes, or vote 
against the measure, practically gave consent and in- 
dorsed the rules. It would be well for you to remember 
that the proposed rules were published in full in the 
Gazette, and a copy of them was duly mailed to each dele- 
gate, and an additional copy to each club, through its 
secretary, and therefore, with all the publicity given to 
the matter, it naturally became a fair inference that no 
objection existed to their acceptance and final adoption. 
Further discussion was invited by several of the sporting 
papers, but none of any account was had. Private letters 
have been received of late from men holding oiifice in 
clubs objecting to the rules as they now exist, and sug- 
gesting certain changes and modifications. One of the 
leading Pacific coast clubs believes that the money quali- 
fication demanded for winners' class will handicap the 
shows on that coast, and suggests that an exception be 
made for that territory. One of the leading Eastern 
clubs expresses dissatisfaction, while, on the other hand, 
the rules are highly commended by tnany. Undoubtedly 
many wrong impressions exist, interpretations of rules 
that appear simple are asked for, and they appear gen- 
erally to be misunderstood. 
The greatest objection, as it appears to your committee, 
is the "cash prizes that ntust be given in three classes, 
in order to prove a winners' class. This is a very small 
matter, if it is understood. Your committee, foreseeing 
that to specify any amount might be a hardship, pur- 
posely left the amount to be determined by the clubs ac- 
cording to their means and location. The sitni of $1 per 
class, in three classes, would comply fully with the rule, 
and therefore your committee cannot believe that such 
qtialifying clause can have a very great ellfect upon any 
club or in any location. The object in liolding shows 
should be to improve the dog; to improve the dog com- 
petition is required, and although a good dog may win 
its championship in less time under the new classifica- 
tion than under the old, yet it demands a better dog to 
do it. Your committee believes that the present rules 
are a marked advance over the old ones, and having now 
plainly stated the facts that led up to the adoption of 
the present rtdes, and reiterating the statement made 
earlier in this report, that it has no personal motive for 
attempting to maintain these rules, but on the contrary 
is anxious to meet the evident wishes of gentlemen who 
are and have been closely connected with the holding 
of shows for years, is ready to submit, and does hereby 
submit, for your consideration a new classification which 
it is hoped" will meet with the approval of the show- 
holding members of your body, and would recom'mend 
the adoption of the same at the annual meeting of the 
club to be held Feb. 23 next. Atnple time is now given 
to every club to instruct its delegate, if it desires or 
cares to suggest any changes. 
Classes. 
t. The puppy class shall be for all dogs over six 
months and under twelve months of age. No entry can 
be made or accepted of one under six months of age, 
or whose date of birth is unknown. 
2. The novice class shall be for all dogs never having 
won a first prize at any recognized show^ .wiiiS in the 
puppy classes excepted. 
3. The limit class shall be for all dogs never having 
won four first prizes at any recognized show, wins in 
the puppy and novice classes excepted. 
4. The open class shall be for all dags of any age over 
six months. 
5. The winners* class shall be open only to the winners 
of first prizes at any show, giving at least three of the 
beforementioned classes, one of which must be the open 
class, and the winner of three first prizes in this class 
will thereby become a champion of record, be so regis- 
tered by the American Kennel Club, and will be entitled 
to an American Kennel Cltib champion medal. Before 
awarding "reserve" in this class, the dog or dogs having 
been placed second to the winner in any of the regular 
classes must be brought before the jttdge for competition 
with the remaining dogs in said winners' class. No class 
winner can be withdrawn from competition in the win- 
ners' class, and no entry fee shall be charged for said 
competition in this class. A dog that has already won 
one or more first prizes in the late challenge classes shall 
retain these wins to its credit toward becoming a cham- 
pion of. record, the remaining qualifying wins to be 
gained in the winners' class. The winners' class can be 
divided by sex, provided the reqtiired three classes are 
also divided by sex. 
The above classifications to go into effect at once. 
Your committee would further recommend that Article 
XIII., section 4, constitution, be amended by striking 
out the entire section. The reasons for stich recom- 
mendation are, first, that it is found to be impossible to 
create enough interest to be able to secure a quorum, 
and as a consequence no meeting has been held since 
August last, notwithstanding the fact that matters are 
in its hands that should have been attended to promptly; 
second, it is the opinion of a number of members of Pa- 
cific coast clubs that the existence of such a body on the 
coast is not necessarj'. It has been for months practi- 
cally a dead letter, and its abolishment is recommended. 
\ Finally, if such recommendations as above referred to 
are adopted, it will be necessary to strike out in the 
rules, following the classes, all references to the classes 
that have ceased to exist. 
H. K. Bloodgood, Chairman for Committee. 
Note. — The above report of the constitution and rules 
committee was mailed to the secretary of each club on 
the Pacific coast on Jan. 26, 1898, together with the fol- 
lowing questions to be answered and reason for asking 
stich questions: 
To Pacific Coast Members. 
What are your wishes regarding the continuance of the 
Pacific Coast Advisory Board? 
If you are in favor of its continuance, in what manner 
would 3'^ou desire its formation? 
The reason for asking these questions is that several 
members of Pacific coast clubs have expressed a wish for 
its abolition. 
Further than that, no meeting of the advisory board 
has been held since August last because o4 lack of a 
quorum, and important business that cannot be acted 
upon by the A. K. C. until reported upon by the advisory 
board is thus delayed. 
Meanwhile, as no alteration of the constitution can 
now be made except at the annual meeting, and of which 
notice has been published in the January issue of the 
Gazette, the committee has paved the way for any de- 
sired change by giving notice of an amendment to do 
away with the advisory board altogether. If nothing is 
heard from the recipient of this notice the presumption 
will be that the member favors the abolition of the board 
All suggestions will be presented as amendments at the 
annual meeting by the committee on rules, if the member 
is not represented by a delegate. — January A. K. C. Ga- 
zette. 
Bench Show Clubs and Exhibitors. 
Boston, Mass. — Editor Forest md Stream: The ques- 
tion of prizes has this season come into peculiar promi- 
nence. The action of the New England Kennel Club 
in cutting down its prize list has raised many protests 
from those who feel that they will be losers by this 
club effort at retrenchment. No argument is raised 
against it but the selfish one that what the club with- 
holds is lost to the exhibitors. They strenuously main- 
tain that an exhibitor desires to make his expenses from 
the prize list. 
Some even go so far as- to denounce the management 
for its act in reducing the premiums. They seem to 
think that they have been unjustly deprived of some- 
thing they really owned, something that the club held 
only in trust. If this be trne. the club is then not really 
the owner of its own monej'L 
However, the exhibitors cheerfully accord to it the 
privilege of footing all losses by itself. They have per- 
formed their part when they show their dogs, make their 
sales, advertise their kennels, aiTange for stud fees, and 
attend to all the other details of their business in the 
expeditious manner which can be done at a bench show, 
and at a bench show only. But, hold — that is not all. 
I had almost forgotten that their duties were not ended 
till they had collected their prize money. 
It is a well-known fact that the rapacity of many of the 
exhibitors has no perceivable bounds. Miast of the bench 
show clubs have catered to such rapacity to a degree 
beyond reason. Every concession was but the prelude 
to others, and greater ones. 
For much that is against the club's interest in these 
matters the clubs themselves are entirely to blame. In 
the erroneous belief that great inducements in the way 
of prizes were necessary to induce exhibitors to attend 
to their own business, club managements kept them- 
selves impoverished. They failed to perceive the fact 
that the greater part of the exhibitors were either pro- 
fessional dog breeders, or partly such, and that there 
was not one who was averse to turning a penny or two 
of profit on proper occasion. They overlooked the fact 
that the shows were the very life of the dog breeders' 
business. If the breeder stayed away, his business de- 
cayed and in time was entirely lost. 
The exhibitor who showed his dog from the feeling 
of pride and affection which he bore to him was re- 
warded enough by the honors won. All matters of money 
were to him an insignificant detail in comparison with 
the honors. 
Why an exhibitor, on any just principle, can assert 
that the club should oifer money enough to pay his 
expenses is beyond my powers of discernment. The 
club could with quite as much justice insist that the 
exhibitors should pay the expenses of the clnb. On 
that part of the affair, however, they have always been 
ttnanimously and discreetly silent. It makes quite a 
difference whose ox is gored. If the exhibitor who 
wins has a right to have enough to pay his expenses, why 
has not the exhibitor who loses also a right to remunera- 
tion for mone,v expended? In this matter the objectors 
ignore the fact that the club has a perfect right to offer 
any amount of premium it chooses, and that the exhibi- 
tor who will not come without being paid to do so is free 
to come if'he chooses. He is free any way he is pleased 
to look at it. No one can compel him to attend to his 
own business if he does not care to do so. 
The oft'ering of big cash prizes for the handler bring- 
ing the greatest number of dogs to the show in one 
place, the offering of a big cash prize so placed that a 
liandler with a great number of dogs was sure to win it, 
and the direct paying of a part or all the expenses of 
some handlers, has done much to convince some exhibi- 
tors that some one else than themseh'es should pay their 
expenses. It was all wrong on the part of clubs to bring 
about such a way of dealing. It was quite as wrong 
for any one to ask them to do it. It is not too late to 
let the man alone who will not attend to his own af- 
fairs if some one will not pay him for it. 
New York is cited as a glorious example of a show 
which has not cut down its premium list. The critics 
are silent on the circumstance that there is only one 
New York. No other city in America has such support 
from the public. No other city can charge such an ad- 
mission fee and have so many visitors. No other city 
has the same prestige, facilities, field. It can give a 
big premiuin list. It can be certain of a big support in 
return. It is peculiar in itself. It is a standard beyond 
the aspiration of other cities. 
It is a notorious fact that nearly all the bench show 
clubs have been financial losers. Never have I seen a 
word of sympathy, much less an act of sttpport, from the 
men whose names have been affixed to protests against 
any lessening of the money for prizes. The members of 
the clubs might be as far in a loss as might be; that 
was their own affair. The exhibitor had only to do 
with his own interests. He quite did his share when 
he looked to the sufficiency of the premium list. "The 
deficit was for others to attend to. 
If bench shows were profitable ventures, paying big re- 
turns for the money invested and the time and skill de- 
voted to them by the members of clubs, there might be 
some ground for arguing for a greater premium list. 
In view of the fact that most of the shows are run at a 
loss, that at best it requires a great deal of care, anxiety 
and effort to come out even, it is far better for the ex- 
hibitors to be content with the shows which are offered 
them, rather than to be discontented because they have 
not both, the show and the management's money. 
Cape Cod. 
A» K. C» Executive Board* 
The executive board of the A. K. C. met in the club 
rooms, SS Liberty street, at 2 o'clock on Feb. 7. Present, 
Messrs. Edw. Brooks, Jas. Watson, G. M. Carnochan, H. 
F. Schellhass and H. K. Bloodgood. 
In the matter of Robert Hoodless versus the Kentucky 
Kennel Club, it was ordered that the club and officers 
be suspended under the rules. 
In the matters of the Irish setter Himter, owned by 
P. F. O'Neil, it was ordered that the win having been 
canceled, no further action is needed. This refers to a 
win at the Brooklyn show. 
