668 
EDITORIAL. 
beiiefitted by the encouragement thus given to produce a better 
class of animal. But, as with everything in America, the tend¬ 
ency is to overdo, to pervert its purposes into commercial chan¬ 
nels, and finally to precipitate a boomerang. The fall shows of 
1897 have had a greater degree of success than ever before ; 
larger prices have been paid for eligibles, and the entries have 
been record breaking. But a large percentage of these entries 
were the property of dealers, placed there in the hope that the ac¬ 
quirement of a ribbon would so enhance the money value of the 
recipient as to result in a handsome increase in the price which 
he will fetch at the “ horse-show sale ” which is to immediately 
follow the “show.” We have been told that a Western dealer 
has returned to one of the horse show associations where he ex¬ 
hibited, with his compliments, the money prizes won by his 
horses, being content with the ribbons and the pecuniary good 
they will result in to his entries. Whether a knowledge of the 
exhibitor’s intention has influenced the decision of the judges 
or not, such a transaction is monstrous, and can only work the 
greatest injury to the show, and the cause which it was estab¬ 
lished to foster and encourage. Neither is it fair competition 
to expect a private owner to exhibit his horses by the side of 
the dealer, who is working for a single object, and can afford to 
bestow more time and money upon his exhibit than if it were 
intended for service in his private stable. Besides, there is al¬ 
ways the suspicion that the dealer is favored, and it will not be 
very long before a private owner will refuse to place his horse in 
a class where a favored dealer has one or more entries. The time 
\o check an evil is before its baneful influences have become 
strikingly manifest, and the Review sounds the early note of 
warning that unless these entries be restricted or refused alto¬ 
gether, the popular and profitable horse show will soon enter 
a period of decadence that will mean its ultimate extinction. 
Aethough the decision of the Executive Committee, U. S. V. 
M. A., as to the next meeting place had not been received when 
the Review went to press, Omaha looked like a winner. 
