The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-11
M E N :, w o M E N
 A ND THIN c s

'AA Birmingham with his great Red Cross pull sale scheme, and I got interested lh 1t first from a standpoint of news, then as a money raising affair, but when the bulls began to arrive I soon discov- cred that l was falling for them.
 
 had talked like a great mary --,y men in general way about the need of Alabama getting into the cattle game, but as to whether it was really suited for it, I knew not. It was just a new sloganS that was being exploited by bankers, merchants and chambers of commerce. and so I learned just enough cattle talk to get by when was called on to speak on the subject
 
 Frank Derby fired my imagination and Bob Scale interested me in pedigrees, but l got my first practical schooling in cattle under Fred Jones during the two weeks we raced over the state boosting the Red Cross sale. It was way to visit a town and get the business men together at the courthouse, school build ing or hotel. I was to put on the ''arousements," as the negroes call it, while Fred was to give out the facts Crank and Bob were at the fair).
 Now, when I get started on a new line, being a bookish man, I always want to study up on it first through what has been written, and then I feel that I am in a better position to understand the practical side when I get a chance to try out the theories I have let soak in. I soon found out that a great deal of in- teresting reading matter had been pub lished in book form on the proper way to handle cattle. ,The books gave me an appetite for the special government and state bulletins, and they in turn gave me relish for live stock papers.
 
 I'm giving this to show that if a man gets a taste for a new subject and will take the trouble to inform himself about it, it won't be long before he will become ar enthusiast I switched from poultry which had held my interest for several years, to live stock A few years back, the first place I would have made for on entering the fairgrounds would have been the poultry show, but don't let Miles Bradford know it, but from day to day went near it without so much as even glancing through the building.
 
 When the gates swung open Monday cattle pens, and I put in nearly the whole day taking them in herd by herd. It was only on Tuesday that I began to pick out individual specimens of the best known breeds. I wanted first to get general idea of the offerings as whole tween the beauties shown in every class. do not profess to be a judge. but own up to being an enthusiast.
 I was fortunate Tuesday in putting in several hours with my good friend, Jack Phillips, Papa Jack" as they all call him out at the Birmingham Packing Company. If Fred, or Charley, or Phil, his three sons, come down to the pens locking for him they will ask, Have you seen Papa Jack?' If any of the office force or statesmen, or men from the kill ing floor want him they use the same term of affection, and what's more every negro on the place has adopted it. think it speaks well for any man to have such a nickname.
 Having gotten up pretty well on the literature of cattle, my next move was to study the raising of them for the markets. The only way to do this was &- e. r T Al~t not only visiting the men operating on large scale like Dunaway & Lambert and others, but getting a peep at every small herd could, for I wanted to get an angle from the standpoint of the big and the little producer. For years, when ever I take a meal in a country home or spend the night, about the first thing do is to go out and look at the cattle.
 
 Travelling as I do all over the state. have been able to learn just why cer- tain breeds have made good in certain sections and fallen down in others. l got put wise by Fred Jones at the begin hing that it was a waste of time and almost criminal to urge the raising of cattle on large scale in certain DOT tions of Alabama. Some of the city boosters were accustomed to go out on their speaking tours urging everybody to abandon cotton for cattle, without the least regard as to whether the lands were adapted for pastures or the ranges sufficient to carry them.
 He never made the mistake of trying to hurry any one to get into the registered or show end of the cattle industry until they had cut their eye teeth on the grades. Mighty sensible advice, for too often men in the past were rushed into buying high-priced stuff without knowing how to care for it. He talked regis tered bulls for every cofnmunity This meant that the surest way to build up a paying herd would be through the na- tive cow We saw some fine herds built up in this way.
 I have set all this down to let you see what a privilege it was to inspect the exhibits st the fair in company with Papa Jack for he has been lover of cattle all his life. getting it on the old home place in Wales. and every now and then he sees COW and says 'it reminds me of one my mother used to own The advantage of having him along is that he knows every angle of the cattle industry. He knows breeds and a judge is in requisition all over the country at the big shows He knows all about feeding, and is an expert when it comes to the grasses best suited for the various types.
 But the thing he knows about which ninety-nine judges out of hundred have no knowledge whatever about. is the way in which cattle will kill He knows the marketing end having literally bought and killed and dressed countless thou sands, and so when it came to picking out the prime ones in the fat steer contest would rather have had his opinion than a score of ordinary judges. for when he gives an animal the all over ne