4888 
THU RURAL NEW-YORKER 
SOI 
tinuously occupied and magnified the promi¬ 
nent office. 
Besides the editional work spoken of above, 
the Professor was during five years (in connec¬ 
tion with his University duties) associate edi¬ 
tor of the National Live Stock Journal and 
the Breeder’s Gazette in which occurred regu¬ 
lar articles from his pen signed as correspond¬ 
ent with the familiar initials, G. E. M., or un¬ 
signed as editorial matter. During more than 
20 years scarcely a week has passed without 
one or more contributions to the agricultural 
press, while the papers and addresses be¬ 
fore agricultural institutes, conventions, etc , 
can be counted with scarcely diminished 
numbers. In the winter of 1870-71 the 
enthusiastic editor, by pen and voice, was 
chief in the organization of the Wisconsin State 
agricultural, and some county and local in¬ 
stitutes which in other hands have recently 
become so prominent and promising. This 
seems to be a type of other later accomplish¬ 
ments on the part of him whose work we re¬ 
view. In the peculiar and complex interact¬ 
ions of mind upon mind, of deed upon deed, 
ject, and that the first one went from the Uni¬ 
versity desk. 
Continuing the idea of apparent destiny—of 
course only apparent, except for sufficient 
cause—we find the particular office to which 
Mr. Morrow has been again and again elected 
in various organizations is that of secretary, 
His connection with the press accounts in part 
for this. Thus he was during four years, and 
until obliged to resign on account of other 
duties, secretary of the Northwestern Dairy¬ 
men’s Association, three years secretary of 
the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, 
secretary of the National Agricultural Con¬ 
gress, etc. 
In 1879 the Professor made a trip to the 
British Islands, to study their agriculture and 
to compare it himself with that of our coun¬ 
try. Frequent letters to the Rural New- 
Yorker and other agricultural papers show 
his powers of rapid observation and well- 
trained familiarity with his subject at home 
and abroad. His courteous reception was 
honorable alike to the guest and his distin¬ 
guished bretbern of the guild across the sea. 
PROF. GEO. E. MORROW. Fig. 109. 
GEORGE E. MORROW, A.M., LL.B., 
PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE, UNIVERSITY 
OF ILLINOIS. 
BY PROFESSOR T. J. BURRILL. 
The blood of a Scotch-Irish ancestry courses 
through the veins of the subject of our sketch. 
Both grandfathers were pioneers in the settle¬ 
ment of Ohio, and took prominent parts in the 
movements by which the State was organized 
and admitted to the Union. The paternal 
grandfater, Jeremiah Morrow, became distin¬ 
guished as a leader in these early affairs, and 
was often made the standard-bearer of his po¬ 
litical associates. Among the high offices he 
held may be mentioned the following: Mem¬ 
ber of the Territorial Legislature, the first 
and for some years the only Representative in 
Congress, United States Senator, Governor of 
the State. 
In both Houses of Congress he was Chair¬ 
man of the Committee on Public Lands, and 
was largely instrumental in shaping and di¬ 
recting the governmental policy in regard to 
the public domain. He took an active part in 
the educational affairs of his State, and was 
President of the Board of Trustees of one of 
Ohio’s first collegiate institutions. 
The Governor’s only son, John, a man of 
sterling worth and vigorous life—usually 
known as Major Morrow—was the father of 
him of whom we now write. George E. Mor¬ 
row was born October 19, 1840, in Warren 
County, Ohio, within a half mile of the pio¬ 
neer cabin of his illustrious grandfather. The 
lad grew to the stature of manhood upon his 
father’s farm, with such advantages and dis¬ 
advantages as usually surround boys in the 
country. He made good progress in the dis¬ 
trict schools and in the neighboring academy, 
became a teacher in the public schools, and 
pushed his studies well along in the anticipat¬ 
ed college course. 
But in the stirring days of 1861 no young 
man of spirit and of patriotic impulses was 
sure of carrying out his personal plans. In 
this case the prospective cap and gown were 
exchanged for the musket and military uni¬ 
form in July of the first year of the civil war. 
Never being very rugged in body, his health 
failed in the vicissitudes of the camp, and 
solicitous friends procured his discharge after 
two years of service. Seeking health, he 
went to Minnesota, and was soon engaged 
again in teaching. Next we find him at the 
University of Michigan pursuing the course 
in law, from which he graduated in 1866. 
We may pause here to say that there was 
never any serious intention of making the 
practice of law a profession, as may be seen 
by what follows. From early life there had 
been a strong attachment to agricultural pur¬ 
suits, and the enthusiasm of the youth espe¬ 
cially centered itself upon agricultural jour¬ 
nalism. The Western Rural was established 
in Detroit in 1864, and at once attracted the 
attention of the student-at-law. Correspon¬ 
dence resulted in an engagement, and here 
began what has developed into the life-woik 
of the man. Letters upon agricultural topics 
went regularly from the University, and 
when the spring term closed the writer him¬ 
self joined the editorial staff of the paper, 
which was afterward moved to Chicago. This 
connection was retained during the succeed¬ 
ing school year, at the end of which the regu¬ 
lar editorial work was resumed upon the 
Western Rural, and continued until 1869. At 
this time Mr. Morrow, in association with his 
brother, purchased the Western Farmer, of 
Madison, Wisconsin. 
The files of these publications abundantly 
attest the activity and ability of the editor, 
and the influence wielded during the six years’ 
work upon the latter is to this day gratefully 
appreciated and acknowledged by the citizens 
and associations of the State. Upon this point 
the writer of this has recently had abundant 
proof from the lips of many witnesses. In Jan¬ 
uary, 1875, Mr. Morrow again joined the edi¬ 
tors of the Western Rural, but only for a year. 
Early in 1876 he began a second though allied 
career, as Professor of Agriculture at the 
Iowa Agricultural College. Previous to this 
latter engagement he had, upon invitation,de¬ 
livered some lectures upon 1 i ve stock and dairy¬ 
ing in the Illinois Industrial University, in 
which a special course upon certain agricul¬ 
tural topics had been provided for the senior 
students. The impression then made, together 
with the reputation before achieved, caused 
the Board of Trustees of the Illinois institu¬ 
tion to offer such inducements as made 
the Professor resign his new position 
in Iowa and accept the more favorable 
offer. The duties be gan as Professor of Agri¬ 
culture in his second engagement of this kind, 
in January, 1877, since which time he has con¬ 
in the progressive requirements and institu¬ 
tions of society, it not unfrequently occurs 
that certain individuals seem destined to per¬ 
form certain special parts in different enter¬ 
prises. Whether from the force of circum¬ 
stances or from the inherent characteristics of 
the man, the particular thing which becomes 
plainly noticeable in a review of his public 
work is that Professor Morrow has been in¬ 
strumental in suggesting and originating 
movements which, through the cooperative 
energy of others, in some cases of greater ex¬ 
ecutive capacity, have developed into asso¬ 
ciations and influences of wide-reaching, 
transforming importance and power. The 
history of the origin of the Chicago Fat Stock 
Show may serve as an illustration of this state¬ 
ment. Any one may read in the Transactions 
of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, 
Vol. XV., p. 151, the communication signed 
by G. E. Morrow, which resulted in establish¬ 
ing the series of magnificent annual exhibi¬ 
tions now so well known and so highly appre¬ 
ciated through the Union. 
The origin of the National Cattle Growers’ 
Convention has been very properly accredited 
to Commissioner Loring, who issued the call 
and in many ways showed his interest in the 
first meeting. But it will be remembered by 
those present at this initial gathering that 
Mr. Loring was unable to be present and that 
he, by letter, asked Professor Morrow to act 
for him in the organization. Files of corres¬ 
pondence show that this was by no means the 
first letter between the parties upon the sub¬ 
In professional home-work as instructor of 
students, Dean of the Agricultural College, 
superintendent of the practical affairs of the 
large farm, Professor Morrow must be ac¬ 
knowledged to be by every one who knows of 
these things as they are, clearly and emphati¬ 
cally the man for the place. The popular de¬ 
lusion that a college professor must be a hood¬ 
winked theorist and this alone, finds no real¬ 
ization in the case at hand. His specialty, if 
we may select one for him, is in live stock, 
upon which in theory and practice he is wide¬ 
ly accepted as an authority. 
Swindlers’ Bait for Farmers.— In the 
multitude of swindles practiced on the far¬ 
mer, his cupidity is the chief, if not the only 
weak point appealed to. The deludable farmer 
is a shrewd man, who is not easily beguiled 
by ordinary forms of trickery. He is on his 
native heath. He has been educated into sus¬ 
picion by the knowledge that gudgeons are 
being caught by various new devices. Above 
all, he is blessed with an indomitable personal 
curiosity which is of itself a protection. He 
is bv no means credulous. Indeed, all the cir¬ 
cumstances of. his life tend to impress on uis 
FOIt 
Spring and Summer. 
JAMES McCREERY & CO. 
Are offering the following' special 
lines, particularly suitable for 
this season’s wear: 
20- incli Colored Rhadames, 85 
cents per yard. 
21- inch Colored Rhadames, $1 
per yard; worth $ 1 and $ 1.25. 
44-inch Check Cheviots, 75c. 
per yard. 
54-inch Stripe Cheviots, $1.00 
per yard. 
54-inch Check Cheviots, $1.00 
per yard. 
These are very superior value. 
We have also a broken line of 
dark colored Serges at 50 cents 
per yard, fully worth $1.00. 
Orders by mail from any part of 
the United States, carefully and 
promptly executed. 
Broadway and 11th St., 
New York. 
mind faith only in what he sees or knows by 
some means more satisfactory than mere asser¬ 
tion. Having earned his money by hard 
and continuous labor he is, quite naturally, 
very economical of it, and very loath to lay it 
out except when there is an apparently as¬ 
sured prospect of returns proportionately so 
large that their size alone would serve to warn 
other classes of the swindling nature of the 
enterprises from which they are to be derived. 
Once convinced of an enormous profit, he 
ea=ily, nay, eagerly parts with his cash and 
still more readily with his note. The sharpers 
knowing this weakness, always bait their 
hooks for country gudgeons with enticing al¬ 
lurements of immense profits. They are sel¬ 
dom under 100 per cent on the investment, 
whether that may be 25 cents or $2,500: and 
are often over 500 per cent. Whenever you 
see an advertisement offering preposterous 
returns, you will, in nine cases out of ten, 
find it in county papers, agricultural papers, 
the weekly editions of large city papers, 
or in other journals whose support is mainly 
derived from the farming community. De¬ 
luding advertisements of other kinds are num¬ 
erous in papers that circulate chiefly among 
city or town folks, but the big-profit bait is 
almost exclusively held out to rural cupidity. 
A close observation of advertisements of a 
fraudulent nature for nearly ten years has 
left no doubt whatever on this point in the 
mind of the Eye-Opener. 
The Circuses are soon to start in country 
places and it should be remembered that the 
most dangerous swindlers, as well as the most 
reckless and daring, are those who travel with 
them. In addition to the multitude of ras¬ 
calities of which they are themselves guilty, 
these fellows are often the spies, the a van t- 
couriers, who make reports of the various dis¬ 
tricts to organized bands of swindlers who 
follow after them, and, equipped with special 
knowledge, proceed to plunder by various 
nefarious schemes and tricks. ‘ While the cir¬ 
cus is generally hailed with pleasure in most 
country districts, it is by no means an un¬ 
mixed blessing. It is, indeed, a caravan of 
fraud, disseminating wickedness. In its train 
journey card sharps, bunco steerers on a holi¬ 
day, house-breakers, horse-thieves and a mul¬ 
titude of other evil-doers. These rascals are 
not only winked at by the proprietors, but 
their schemes are aided by them. The pick¬ 
pockets’ rights are sold by them as openly 
as the candy-sellers’ privileges. So are 
those of the card-sharps and thimble-riggers. 
The evils brought into any rural neighbor¬ 
hood by a visit from a circus are poorly com¬ 
pensated]'for'.by the modicum of innocent 
pleasure the show affords. 
Concerns Censured.— Under this caption 
the Eye-Opener will from time to time give 
the names of "various‘concerns he has seen 
blamed in other papers, but which have not 
been investigated at the Rural office. Among 
these are the Metropolitan, and the Speculative 
Syndicate, alias W. H. Ingham & Co., New 
York.... We have repeatedly said that we had 
seen adverse reports of the People’s Homestead 
Company, of Florida, still we are constantly 
