Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1905-01-24
FERGUS County StOCkman Tells Dem
oCrdt of the Great Livestock
Gathering.
A VERY UNFORTUNATE SQUABBlt
Contention Over the Admission of
Railroads and Packers DetraCted
From Benefits.

The Hon. B. G. White returned
Wednesday evening from Denver
where he attended the annual meet
ing of the National Livestock associ
alton, being the only regularly &C.
credited delegate from Montana. Fri
day afternoon Mr.. White was seen by
a representative Of the Democrat and
lie gave an interesting account of the
meeting, which was the most exciting
in the long history Of the association
cit was great gathering Of repre-.
sentative stockmen from all over the
United States" said Mr.. White. "In
point Of numbers it was the best
meeting Of the kline. ever held, and it
required but glance to tell one that
it was. for the most part, made up OF
men from the plains, men who have
had actual experience, and much OF
it, in the livestock business. The
greater number Of them were tanned
by exposure to the elements and there
prevailed that free and whole-hearted
sociability which is Characteristic OF
this class of men.
There were five of us down from
Montana, John M. Holt and "Skew''
johnson Of Miles City, John Board
man Of Helena, w. E. Miner of Fort
Benton, and myself. OF the five |
was the only Woolgrower, the other
four Montanans being cattle raisers.
Altogether there were 500 Or 600 men
M the conventions.
"The city Of Denver certainly did
herself proud ii Tho matter Of enter
tainment OF the visitors. There was
always something doing while we
were not engaged IN the regular work
Of the convention. We were given a
reception at the Brown Palace hotel
one evening, q masquerade ball at the
Windsor hotel the next evening, en-
tertained at the Orpheum theater on
another evening, and, in fact, had
something to do every evening of the
week.
'The convention was notable for
the great fight which arose over the
proposition to admit to membership
in the association representatives of
the railroad and packing hous COM
panies. A more persistent and, at
times, bitter fight was never seen in a
convention Of the sort. The rail-
road companies and packing house
concerns applied for membership on
the grounds that they were allied in
dustries.' They were represented by
an array Of the most brilliant attor-
neys in the country and had the ad-
vantage Of the active support OF Pres
ident Hagenbarth OF the association.
Hagenbarth had secured the proxies
from several western states and had
at his command q majority of the
votes OF the association.
".Ihe opposition was led by Sam
Cowan Of Texas. He made nagniti-
cent light for the rejection OF the APP
locations of the railroads and packing
houses. He successfully refuted every
argument that they advanced. He
said that inasmuch as the railroads
liked freight rates and the stockmen
are compelled to pay such rates, their
interests could never be in sympathy;
that 1t would be us reasonable for the
railroads to permit the stockmen to
have IN equal voice in tho fixing of
freight rates as for the railroads to be
given voice in tho management of
the business OF tho stockmen. He
scored telling point when he cited
the fact that the president IS having /.
rigid Investigation made OF the AL
legged determinations on the part of
the railroads and packing houses
against the stockmen, and that if the
stock growers ally their interests with
the railroads and packers they cannot
expect the investigation to amount to
much.
But Chairman Hagenbarth re-
malned firm in his determination to
admit the railroad ard packing house
representatives to membership in the
association, and when the vote was
taken he threw a majority of the
votes that way. This speedily brought
about the crisis. Finding themselves
outyoted, and believing that the Ma