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The Omaha
PART THREE
unday Bee
FOR ALL THE NEWS THE '
OMAHA DEE
BEST IN THE WES1
tHALF-TONE
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PAGES i TO 4.
X
VOL. XXXIX-NO. 2!.
OMAIIA, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 2, 1910.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
.WHEN THE CHICKENS AND DOGS GO ON DRESS PARADE
High Bred Fowls and Aristocratic Dogs Afford Amusement and Instruction for Thousands During the Week at Transmississippi Association's Annual Show at the Omaha Auditorium
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TWO thousand fowls, noisy belligerent, Insistent, gathered
Into a cackling, crooning, crowing concourse that was
the Transmississippi Poultry show neld at the Auditorium
last week. ,
In the mind of the city dwelling consumer this vast
gathering of show birds was more than likely to appeal from a
utilitarian standpoint rather than from the enthusiastic but technical
side of the fancier. Think of It, If you fan, with the present prices
fresh In mind arter the holiday expenditures. Two thousand fowls,
meaning In all nearly eight tons of poultry, worth at the prevailing
prices something like $5,000. Then, while fancy ranges consider
the possibilities if each fowl would condescend to lay an egg a day at
r0 cents a dozen for eggs. Seventy dollars' worth of eggs would be
he dally output. But the show birds were Just vain objects of ad
miration and really too proud themselves to be considered from so
material a viewpoint.
There was erne prevailing note In the poultry show room. The
unmistakable mumur of the bellicose spirit of the birds arose from
the long rows of coops. The Auditorium resounded with the one
vlbiation, the war cry of the feathered clans. It was the enforced
peace of stout cages alone that prevented the shedding of many feath
ers and much blood. Fair tradition to the contrary notwithstanding,
and despite the dove as the emblem of peace, the bird 1b a natural
bcrn fusser, a scold, a combatant.
Just to give vent to the tenseness that surcharged the atmosphere
of the show, a few of the sturdy game cocks were allowed to mix It
with gloves on for little harmless three and four-round goes.
Yes, sir. Cock-flghting In sedate old Omaha of 1909t.. It was a
long way from the kind of sport that the olden days have seen,
though. The Transmississippi "mains'! were lively contests, but as
bloodless as a reading circle debate. The honors of the arena went
to a strutting little bantam cock, of course. This little red pyle game
W ouldn't stand long in a finish fight, but for points he was clearing
the I'claaslest what Is," as Muggsy would put it.
There were many fighting birds at the show. The tall, spare
built, rangy fellows, those were the games. Some of the game birds
at the Transniisslsslppl show have a pedigree that runs half way back
to the revolution, a regular family tree, with everything but a coat-of-arms.
Just a Part of Breeding
In these days of reform th; game has become little more than a
how chicken. Brooders find tho game useful, however, In Injecting
a strain of stamina In the production of more valuable and remunera
tive birds. Then, It is just natural that the game should be healthy.
becauso there has been no effort to take the fight out of the game
chicken and he has developed unbridled.
With all due respect to the game cock, he may be said to be a
fort of frontier fowl. His services as an entertainer have been dis
pensed with as civilization has gained maturity. The cock fight, by
the way, so the historians would have us believe, Is but a survival of
the old Roman days when combats of the beasts made the Coliseum
0 bloody.
At the poultry show a most interesting collection of Plymouth
Rocks was to be seen. The Plymouth Rock is the most entirely
American member of the chicken family. Just to size him up, a
bared Plymouth Rock cock gives a sort of sturdy stars and stripes
eftMit. The antecedents of this very American bird are somewhat
llkeahe nation's peoples, rather uncertain and highly complex. Ex
pertsSve many theories, but the fact remains that no one can tell
Just what the Plymouth Rock 1st made of. This bird is the pride of
P the farmer and the despair of the breeder. He is a hard-working,
persistent chicken of good, sober habits and a home-loving disposi
tion. He bas, however, a careless way of reverting back to ancestral
traits of color and form In a most unexpected, way.
It must be just a whimsicality, but the Plymouth Rock cock in
sists on feathering lighter than his sister, and that sister persists in
getting darker generation by generation. The breeders are busy all
the time keeping the Rock family at a happy average for the show
pens. Then there is a hidden streak of yellow In the Plymouth
Rock, not his disposition, but Just his colors. Down there in the
Auditorium show one could see' this yellow streak cropping out in a
few of the birds. The fanciers giow grey hairs trying to keep down
that brassy tint, for in prize-winning Plymouth Rocks there must not
even be a suggestion of the yellow. This is quite right, too. Who
wants a real American chicken to show the yellow?
To the close observer the cages of the big show exhibits told
many Interesting chapters In the history of the chicken family. The
chicken is an old Institution. He originated, according to the most
reliable information obtainable, somewhere near where the human
race Is supposed to take its beginning over there among the mysteries
( of Asia.
Evolution of the Chicken
, To first chicken was a jungle fowl. Long association with man.
and frequent removal to distant climes has wrought many changes
in the bird and In the fat, sleek beauties of the show there is little
that suggests the pheasant-like jungle fowl, the, unchanged descend
At of the same parent stem.
A mlgnt be expected, the Chinese put this Jungle fowl to work
long before tho western civilisation got acquainted with it. This
may account for the oriental origin of chop suey, of whlch.chlcken is
fclkg.-l to be an Important component. This hazy Asiatic origin
must, of course, also account for the Inherent scrapplness of the
chicken. Down there In the Malay provinces, where the chicken first
grew Into glory and prime, they fight for pastime.
The heathen Chinee has bullded un from the
llr by accident, possibly by desicn lone axo conceived
Langshans are Asiatic chickens. Then there Is the big black Shang
hai bird. His Outlines are those that suggest the sturdy Mongolian
coolie build. Just to be outlandish, these Asiatic birds are given to
the frivolity of crowing feather leggings, making them look clownish
and ungraceful.
The real sports of the chicken show were plenty. Taken all in
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all, of course, the bantam, naturally Impressed with its own impor
tance, was the Beau Brummel of the exhibition. There is more
strut, crow and vanity in a bantam than any other chicken born in
captivity. The bantam tribe of the Transmississippi chicken show
has some claim to real blood, anyway, for the premier bird, of the
1908 show was "Omaha," a red pyle game bantam. "Omaha" is a
real sportive gent in chickendom. The bantam's aggressive nature
is said to be in inverse geometrical ratio to his size. Like wrens,
chickadees and other puny but pugnacious petlts of the bird family,
the bantam is much to be heard from in the councils of the barnyard.
Along Top-Knot Row
A Council Bluffs fancier showed some" high-bred ornamental fowls
more distinguished for their eccentricities of garb than utility. Sev
eral coopa of crested Houdans and white-crested Polish fowls consti
tuted "top-knot row." The crested Polish birda appeared in public
wearing atriking collections of home-made millinery in pure white
and silver grey surmounting bodices and vests of the Jettiest black.
The effect waa altogether charming and chic, as the soe'ety editor
would remark. Then there were silkies chubby, sweet disposl
tloned birds that do nothing of consequence but grow long, fine coats
of glossy hair-like feather?.
"Angora hens" waa the designation that a conscienceless visitor
placed upon the silkies. The silkies' feathers, by the way, are deli
cate as satin floss and about as easily rumpled and tangled. The
birds spend most of the day at their toilet. They don't have to work
for a living, though, on account of their good looks.
In the Mediterranian group one big, black Minorca cock was the
king. His claims to especial prominence were the biggest comb ancT
wattles that ever grew on a chicken, and two iridescent sickle feath
ers in his tail, which gleamed like black pearl. Besides a high
sounding name and a proud Spanish ancestry, this cock had a crow
ing voice that was the envy of the whole looster congress.
The Leghorns, brown, white and black, gave the show a good
representation of the most typical of the chickens where originated
about the Mediterranian coast. The Leghorn is very properly a proud
fowl. Besides being very shapely and cheerful, the Leghorn Is much
given to the production of eggs, a quality which cannot be over
looked. The Omaha show was more than usually strong in the show
ing of Leghorns. j
The Plymouth Rocks are finding a close rival in the contest for
supremacy as the American chicken In the Columbian Wyandotte,
the latest edition of the Wyandotte family. The Columbian fowl
has assumed the colors of the Brahma, minus the leggings, with the
blocky but pleasing lines of the typical Wyandotte.
Chickens in the making was the subject of a most attractive dis
play by an Incubator concern at the show. In a glass-covered incu
bator one could see the fuzzy hasn't-scratched-yet chicks come peep
ing out of their shells into a motherless world. The incubator chicks
found their way into another machine BubBtituto for the mother hen,
the brooder. Given a good, enthusiastic hen to lay eggs, modern
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poultry science can produce chickens by elec
tciclty with greater certainty than unassisted
nature can.
One great bronze turkey cock graced the
Transmississippi show. He gobbled and fluffed
and strutted with an amusing air of grandeur
quite befitting '. the roya American bird. Ha
was probably the only turkey who got through
the holidays alive.'' This handsome bird was
raised over at Dunbar, la., by Mrs. J. J. Nelli. -
A college Scientist has just made the start
ling announcement that the American turkey,
the only turkey the world has ever seen, is
doomed to extinction. It has come just 'this way.
The turkey has had too much civilization and he
is falling prey, the professor says, to that patri
cian disease of appendicitis. We might have ex
pected, however, that the turkey would follow
the noble redskin, his one human contemporary In the primitive
wilds, over the border into the past. It will be generally admitted
that the too close touch with civilization of the city has been hard on
the turkey. There is not a case on record of a turkey going to a
banquet and surviving the indulgence. This, however, cannot be at
tributed to the Iowa professor's diagnosis of appendicitis.
The Transmississippi show barred the guinea. It may be that
the guinea is a vociferous bird, but still he ought to have been wel
comed Instead of barred out on that score. A few professional
noise-making guineas might have put the less able fowls to shamo
and secured a few minutes of ultimate quiet during the show.
There was a small showing of waterfowl. Despite the smallness
of the pond-paddling delegation, they were much to be heard from In
the general discussions of the feathered congress. The white China
geese took the palm by a continuous concert in their native tongue.
The China goose makes a bigger hit on the table than in the display
pen.
Much Chicken Chatter
The show gave the breeders of this verntory a great opportunity
for talkfests. There were busy groups of animated arguers all about
the show. The chicken "fever" ran high. , There is no limit to the
possibilities in poultry breeding and plenty of room for argumeut in
the questions involved. The Omaha show aims at the one greatest
object of the business, the production of eggs and flesh fowls. The
"show" side of the exhibition was subordinated to the material in
terests of industry.
The work of preparation of the chickens for the show is an art
of which the public knows little. Show chickens are always given
a most elaborate toilette and special dress for the occasion. Careful
baths are administered to put the feathers in their finest conditions.
Leg scales and wattles must be oiled to bring out their colors in the
brightest tints and claws and bills must be polished and scraped.
K MEW' WIDOWS
It is true, too, that the vain show birds are given to the use of
paint. The practice of staining birds to improve their marking Is not
allowed In the annual Transmlssibsippi shows, but experts can accom
plish makeups that defy detection. Butter coloring or anallne is
used to give the Blades of the legs and bills fuller coloring. Inks of
various colors can be deftly applied with a brush to make up nature's
deficiencies in markings. Even false feathers can be attached to the
show bird. Should a long, sweeping sickle feather of the proud
cock's tail be damaged It is but the work of a minute to replace it.
The old feather is cut off at the base, leaving the hollow quill at
tached to the matrix in which the substitute is placed. A drop of
glue on the splice makes it secure and the rooster's tail waves once
more. -
Poultry alone did not claim the entire attention of he visitors to
the TranemlsslHsippi show. The Nebraska Kennel club held In con
nection with the fowl show the annual exhibits of Fidoes, Neros and
Towsers. It was a right merry collection of pups, with a wide rep
resentation of the dog family.
The aristocrat of the show was "Rodney," an English bulldog, so
homely that he looks like a cartoon of a bulldog. This valuable dog
is the property of Emil Brandeis of Omaha. This squat-built canine
has legs like an antique dressing table, a Jaw undershot like a shovel
and, withal, a sweet disposition.
Pat Liked the Limelight
Traits of the New President of the Union Pacifi
JUDGE LOVETT, Harrimsns motst
trusted lieutenant, who was recently
elected president of the Union Pacific
railway, is the subject of the following
interesting sketch by Garet Garrett in
the December American Magazine:
"Lovett is Harriman's conscience,"' said
one of the Union Pacific's bankers, impa
tiently, and Judge Robert Scott Lovett re
sented it, the more so because there Uvas
truth in it. A man with a big nose, wide
mouth and fine head, who has worked with
his hands and come out of the west, is apt to
be loyal. The legal representative of the
Harriman loads waa intensely loyal to Harri
man. He had brought the great spirit oi the
west to No. 120 Broadway, and had obliged
all men, even Mr; Harriman, to respect It.
To his office on the fourth floor of the Equi
table Life building Mr. Harriman was accus
tomed to summon men peremptorily. When
he needed Lovett he went upstairs to Lov
ett's office on the fifth floor and sat down
with him. No other man about Mr. Harri
man was able to maintain his Independence
In the same degree. In the last two or three
years of a tempestuous life Harriman leaned
heavily upon Lovett; at the very end the only
man whom Harriman perfectly trusted waa
Lovett. And Lovett, of all men who knew,
was the oiuy one who -did not jio to vail
street about Alr. Harriman's ueduii. Wail
street thinks Lovett honest, aud this is so
much foi Wall street to think of any human
being that the lact deserves to be promi
nently recorded. Ho is honest. In a most
old-fashioned way. He may owe it to the
Scotch stock ot which he is, but more likely
he owes it to himself. His father was a
Georgia siavo owner who moved to Texas
after the war in traditional circumstances
that is, with fewer of the world's goods than
one ought to have. What with farming end
tle-haullng and holding a job with a con
struction crew, young Lovett must have had
little time for school. He got as far as the
Houston High school; the rest was self-education.
As railroad station agent he found
time to read law. and in 1882 was admitted
to the bar at Houston. He was then 22 and
is now 49, which leaves him a young man.
At 40 he was perhaps the best known rail
road attorney in the southwest, having en
Joyed the confidence and fees of both JaJ
Gould, who had large railroad Interests In
Texas, and Collia P. Huntington, who owned
the Southern Pacific. When Harriman
bought control of the Southern Pacific he
found, among its other assets, Robert S. Lov
ett, attcrney and counsel in Texas. Mr. Har
riman's genius consisted partly In knowing
men, and in a very short time he knew Lov
ett oo well that he brought him to New York
to act as general counsel for all the Harri
man lines. Baptist, mugwump, awkward
and honest, he was regarded at first wkh
considerable curiosity in Wall street; pres
ently it was said of him that when the rough
corners disappeared with eastern wear he
would do. He Isn't much smoother today,
but that has ceased to matter at all to any
body. As the intimate legal adviser of Har
riman Lovett was drawn Into the fiercest ed
dies of the financial maelstrom and never
once, so far as anybody knows, grew dizzy.
His cool, good judgment pulled Harriman
safely through many tight places and was In
valuable in the trying times of 1906 and
1907, when the head of the Union Pacific
was the object of intense public interest.
Harriman was to most people an un
lovable man, a great speculator and a
marvellous money-maker. Lovett is to
everybody a lovable man, with no more gen
ius for speculation than had Lincoln, whom
be sometimes resembles."
JLlttle Pat, the mascot of the Merry Widow company, a Boston
bull from Boston, Mass., spent most of his time at the show sitting
on a pedestal, with many admit era about him. Pat wears a real
Back Bay air of reserve, but condescends to make a friend now and
then. He, of course, enjoys the limelight. He -was one of the few
seasoned show dogs of the Kennel club's exhibit. Most of the dogs
there were new at the game as compared with the entries in the east
ern shows. The real old-timer among show dogs gets into the game
and shows himself off with an air of consciousness.
Pat had plenty of competition among the terriers, however. There
are many well-bred Boston terriers in Omaha. They are quite the
proper pet now;
The fighting character of the show was Jack Wonder, a pure-bred
English bull. Jack weighs fifty-one pounds and don't care who be
meets. His running mate about the dog Bhow circuit is Toddy Bob,
a pit bull some twenty pounds heavier. Toddy Bob is the silent
partner, however Jackhas taken all the noise out of him by show
ing the power of pit science over mere force. Jack's average Is 1,000
per cent, having whipped Toddy Bob three times out of three times
up.
A woolflsh little vixen of Polar ancestry Is "Tootsle," a Spit be
longing to C. W. Irwin of Omaha. Tootsle and her family were at
the show in force. The mother dog considered herself the whole
show. She is fashionably attired in the season's furs, pure white.
A rare bit of vanity displayed was in her finely pencilled eyebrows!
perfect aerrfPcIrcles of pale yellow. She lorded it over the Ayrdale
terriers, the ugliest and wisest of the dog family. The average Ayr
dale terrier Is so homely he Is ashamed to speak to other dogs, or
maybe he is too wise and too proud.
The Dalamatlans, commonly known as coach dogs, attracted
much admiration at the show. The Dalamatian Is of no particular
use except to run around behind his master's four-in-hand or tandem
trap. The Dalamatian has a spotted hide and a wistful wandering
eye that betokens a wool-gathering mind.
Another show dog of unusual design was a tiny Italian grey
hound, a miniature of his big brother. The Italian greyhound ts
built on slight lines and wears big gizclle-like eyes that look hungry.
Carl Lambicht of Omaha had a sedate old St. Bernard about the
size of a Shetland pony on display. '"Nero" looks the part of an
Alpine hero and resembles the picture In McGuffey's Fifth reader.
Nero Is said to be very fond ot children, but he Is fed exclusively on
dog bLjcult