FANCIERS’ 
JOURNAL 
AND 
POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
AY Ob. A, 
PHILADELPHIA, MAY 7, 1874. 
+ 
No. 19. 


(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
THE NEW AMERICAN (?) STANDARD OF 
EXCELLENCE. 
I have delayed criticising or commenting upon the work 
of the Buffalo Convention until now: first, because had I 
taken the initiative, it would have been asserted that I did 
it in malice; and second, because I wished to see whether 
American fanciers could and would swallow this abortion. 
Had it proceeded from the ‘‘ masses of the fanciers,” as 
claimed by the President of this ‘“ organization of prominent, 
solid, and active men of the United States and Canada,”’ per- 
haps, after repeated efforts, the outsiders might have been 
able to keep down the nauseous dose; but when it was 
apparent that the said ‘‘ masses”’ consisted: of less than one 
hundred persons all told (see list of members in No. 7 of 
Fanciers’ Journal), and of this list of members only thirty 
were present and participated in the work of the revision 
committees, and that their work was to be further revised 
by a select committee, the pill was too large; although nicely 
coated with sugar, it would not go down. 
I must here enter my protest, as chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Black Spanish, against the select committee’s 
work. In our report (of which I still have the minutes) 
we did not describe the plumage of the Black Spanish hen 
as “black, with a reddish metallic lustre on the back and 
wings.’”’? See the New American Standard, page 47, fourth 
line from bottom. 
I do not propose to enter any protests for other com- 
mittees, but I cannot believe that they reported their work 
as is recorded throughout this book. Briefly to note a few 
of the most prominent errors, see 31, last line, ‘‘ hardiness 
of plumage’”’ instead of “ hardness.’’ Page 45,.sixth line 
from top, ‘‘ marked all over as possible up to bill.”” Who 
can make sense out of that? Same page, in disqualifications, 
‘¢ feathers on legs, or any color but bright yellow.” What is 
to be any color but bright yellow? feathers? It should be, 
“tor legs of any color,” &c. Page 46, see the arrangement 
of disqualifications in Spanish cock. Why? It is mot so in 
the committee’s report. Page 61, ‘‘ Dtsqualifications. In 
White-Crested Black Polish, crooked backs, &c.”’ Page 63, 
Golden and Silver Polish, disqualifications, ‘‘crooked backs 
and wry tails,” should be ‘‘ crooked backs or wry tails ’’—a 
vast difference in the meaning. Page 81, second line from 
- top, ‘the top covered with a peak behind,’’ &c., instead of, 
‘the comb covered with small points, with a peak behind,” &e. 
Page 82, disqualifications in Black Bantams, two very im- 
portant items omitted entirely, viz.: ‘‘ Legs not black or 
dark leaden blue; combs other than rose.’’ Same page, 
third line from bottom, what does it mean? I cannot find 
anything about ‘‘smallness of size” in the description of 
Sebrights. On next page, 83, ‘‘ecombs other than rose’’ is 
again omitted in disqualifications in White Bantams. 
These are but a few of the most glaring errors; they can 
be counted by the scores; and those of typography and 


punctuation are legion. And yet, at the very opening of 
the work, we have the certificate of the Committee of Pub- 
lication, that they ‘‘have compared this edition of the 
‘American Standard of Excellence’ with the official min- 
utes,” &c. In justice to two members of that committee, 
Messrs. Estes and Wade, I will here state, that neither of 
them ever compared this edition with the minutes; and 
further, that the publication of their names, as having done 
so, was entirely unauthorized by either of them. 
The truth is, that the whole of the new Standard of Excel- 
lence has been copied as much as possible from the old Hart- 
ford edition, which was teeming with errors of all kinds. 
When I advertised the edition of Standard of Excellence, 
which I edited in 1871, as ‘the only correct one,’ I meant 
exactly what I stated. Not only the errors above quoted 
were to be found in the old Hartford edition, but dozens 
more even worse than these. And here we have them 
forced upon our fanciers again, and are required to pay one 
dollar per copy for an illiterate, incorrect pamphlet of one 
hundred pages, of poor flimsy paper; a pamphlet which can 
be issued at a cost of ten cents per copy in such numbers as 
it was proposed to print. 
The views of a correspondent of a weekly paper, published 
in New York City, are so pertinent to this subject, that I 
quote them. He says: 
‘‘And when these delegates arrived at Buffalo, they were 
met by the members of this American Poultry Society, who 
invited them to step in, pay three dollars, and they might 
consider themselves members of the Society. Why was not 
the convention organized for the purpose for which it was 
called? It would then have been a convention of the 
‘poultry men of America.’ Why was it necessary for these 
delegates to pass through the vestibule of this Association to 
make or revise the standard? Those who were unwilling 
to part with their three dollars, or join the Association, were 
deprived of the privileges of a delegate, and their con- 
stituents were unrepresented. Was not the standard, by 
this piece of legerdemain, taken out of the hands of the 
poultry men of the country, and placed in the hands of a 
select body of men calling themselves the American Poultry 
Association? Therefore ‘the standard’ is not ‘the Ameri- 
can Standard of Excellence,’ it is the standard of the 
American Poultry Association, and we are yet without an 
‘American’ standard. .... An imperfect and incomplete 
standard, published in pamphlet form, consisting of 102 
pages, worth, if perfect, twenty-five cents, sold at the price 
of one dollar. This may be sharp practice, gentlemen, but 
not entirely consistent with the lofty character given by the 
President to members composing the Association.”’ 
Mr. Babcock, whom I have not the pleasure of knowing, 
either personally or by correspondence, hits the nail exactly 
on the head when he says, ‘‘ This Association has nothing 
whatever in its organization, method of meeting, or results, 
that is worthy of the title American.’ 
An American Standard of Excellence must be compiled, 
revised, and adopted in open meeting. Every man, woman 
or child, who is interested in the subject, should be allowed 
to have a voice in the discussion if they desire; and when 
the convention finally adopts a standard, it should not be 
