Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1876-05-04
STOCK RAISIN e..
LINE-BRED
Reply Of Col. VIM. S. King to an Editorial Of
Turf, Field and Farm.

oil ClSiC VI W. HNSAo 1@aASCt 1890 AsN'AhS "O
a party to the public discussion and criti-
cisms of the Turf, Field and Ftams of what
you term "a ring to keep up fancy grades"
must be my excuse for again craving the
use of your columns to reply to your edito-
rial comments upon my note, which you
were SO kind as to publish in your last issue.
The subject with which you are dealing is
an important one, in which large interests
are involved, and / am therefore anxious
that in it's discussion you start from sound
and correct premises.
You assume that "rings and combina-
tons exist by which certain :" fancy grades
of shorthorns, as you term them, are sought
to be kept up above their real and actual
market value by a system of false and de-
ceptive bidding.
70 this l reply that of such "rings and
combinations I have no knowledge. The
cases in my own sale to which | allude did
not include a single animal belonging to
what you designate the "fancy grades )"
they were simply pure, well-bred shorthorns
of what would in cattle parlance be termed
"plain" or "mixed " pedigrees, but were
of such merit and individual excellence as
to excite strong competition in bidding for
their possession.
Your assumption, therefore, "the propo-
sition to fix a price on certain animals in
advance Of the auction, and then bid long
figures on them in the sale, leading the pub
lie to believe that the long price was bona
GLa lonJys ~ ,,9 xaexy rn,,ab 1;Iyn tho yuor1r-
ings of a ring to keep up fancy grades"
falls to the ground as applied to fancy
grades by which / understand you to refer
to animals of the leading "Bates " families,
which have, for some years past, command
ed high prices.
Sincerely DESTROYS, Messrs Editors, Of aid
ing you in getting I" out of the fog" on this
question, / state again that, during my whole
experience as a breeder, / have never known
or heard of q combination between the SELL
ers and buyers at a public sale where q
Duchess, Princess, or a representative of
any other Of the leading and fashionable
shorthorn families, or /" fancy grades" as
you term them, were forced above their true
market value by false and deceptive bidding.
Was there any "ring" or combination
at that most remarkable sale ever known in
this countryside New York Mills-where
bales Of greenbacks and bags of golden
guineas were tossed against each other with
such reckless desperation? Or will you con-
tend for a moment that the published
prices" of that sale-prices never before
l,nov.1 #nr jrnor,n1 IF s. yxyora NOT tho ranl
prices, that the values were fictitious ?"
The fact is, Messrs. Editors, you are part
ly tight and partly wrong in this matter.
The fancy grades as you term them,
command high prices for the reason stated
in my former note, and the sales made Of
such animals are just as genuine as those OF
other and cheaper classes.
But the mere "jobbers !" aud s%sspeculat-
ors' who buy to-day and sell tomorrow
make little difference in their tactics with
these different classes of cattle. Give them
the SPECTATORS or peddlers' profit, and they
care little what class or family the animal
belongs to. Whether it be a "goothn or. a
aBates,' q good animal Or a bad one, so
that they make a satisfactory margin or
profit they are content.
In the case to which you were an eye wit
ness, it was, very evidently, the sharp prac-
tice OF one or two parties jointly interested
in the animals, trying to make high prices
by deceptive or sby-bidding." But in such
cases the good judgment of the breeder and
purchaser must be his guide, andif the par
ties to sucn d%ishonorable practices bid more
than the bona ,Jfde bidder can afford to pay,