Omaha daily bee., 1909-09-26

surroundings, did you ever think Of the ro-
nance OF the active life that makes 1t possible
for Won TO have the tender, Juicy morsel that
will aeon lie before you. sizzling and snap
ming on its hot plate morsel to tempt a
god7
Before that steak could be served to you
It was a part of the most wonderful life Of
the world today-that which has to do with
the production Of meat for the millions. Be-
fore ever man began to record his dolngs and
boast Of his conquests, thus making history
possible, he was compelled to take thought
for the inner man. Meat he ate as soon as
he devised some way to secure it. The
smaller cattle of the field were his first, but
as he developed in cunning and strategy, he
overcame the larger beasts, and with the dis
covery of fire and its application he treated
himself to roasts, and later, when he had
mastered pottery sufficiently to give the craft
n name, he had stews and, perhaps, soups,
and maybe a ragout. And later on, still be-
fore he began to write for ~posterity of his
doings. he was reduced to the necessity of
caring for a certain number OF animals that
his larder might not be empty times when
the chase was impossible. So there were
llOCh hldobOlo GNU hSAN
we're records. Not all men were thus provl-
dent, nor did all men achieve written records.
It was the fittest Of mankind who thus took
thought for the future, and provided against
It by establishing herds and flocks. The
savage today is no better of than he was In
that long-gone time when cooking was an
incident and not an art.
But Just as the strong, dominant element
of mankind set out along the lines OF the
stock-breeder in the very beginning of adj
v%ancement, so have they continued today
and it is a characteristic of the race that has
ruled the development of humanity that it
has raised cattle for the feeding of its men,
bers. 1t is no small part of the greatness Of
the American republic that it feeds the world
today. Its cattle, sheep and hogs, its chick
ems and other fowl, its grains and other food
products are found wherever civilization has
spread its light, and to the very ends of the
world, it's pioneers have carried American
food.
Out on a broad plain, where the sun rises
over a rim of hills that marks the winding
course of a sluggish river, and sets behinu "a
mountain range whose peaks pierce the very
heavens, the cattle roamed in thousands
not uncounted thousands, for their numbers
were jealousy set down and their markings
were registered and watched after with n
zeal that cannot be UNDERSTOOD by any who
did not come into direct contact with it. This
country itself is beyond the comprehension of
those who have had no experience with it.
The thought that a steer can be turned loose
on the open prairie and be allowed to shift
for himself all through the winter months.
and come out in the spring fat and ready for
the market seems incomprehensible to the
tender-hearted folks down east. who every
now and then pass resolutions condemning
the h~eartless western rancher, who doesn't
house his cattle properly. They forget that
each animal represents a certain sum of cold,
hard cash to the ranch owner, and that he
L. more interested In hat tact, perhaps, than