Television, which had just begun to invade our lives and living rooms, 25 years before, had become as ubiquitous as background music in a dentist’s office. The treat had become the treatment and TV was producing a bumper crop of its own celebrities.

One of them was Barbara Walters, then a twelve year veteran of the medium. She was sick of her morning show and wanted to shift to the evening news. Two of the networks obliged with job offers–she became the first million dollar a year woman on the tube. Amazingly enough, she is still around–so she must be a 37 year veteran by now. A million a year sounded might lofty in 1976. It was–and is. Never mind the fact that a good second baseman who can swing a mean bat might be paid more than that now. Interestingly enough, the “market watchers and analysts” still say we are not in an inflationary mode. For who?

This country has always been obsessed by big money. It is a strange hybrid of “ain’t that awful” and “roll out the red carpet.” Twenty-five years ago a couple of men, who were billionaires passed on. They offer some interesting contrasts. Howard Hughes checked out on April 5 at the age of 70. Born into wealth he added to it, first as a movie producer, later as an aviator and airplane builder and also as an early investor in Las Vegas casinos. The richer he got the more of a recluse he became. If he had been a flat broke recluse living in a shack down by the river, I suppose he would have been called a hermit and/or bum. Some fisherman would have found him two weeks after he died.

But he wasn’t even a little bit broke–he was a billionaire, thus worthy of a lot of attention. As it was, however, his emaciated (I understand real skinny) body was flown to the morgue in a Houston, Texas, hospital in a Lear jet, with a platoon of cops making sure no one disturbed him. He was a real enigma. But so is the bum down by the river.

The other billionaire who checked out was J. Paul Getty, on June 6 at the age of 83. The son of a Minneapolis oilman, he made his first million by the time he was 23. He did it by buying and selling oil leases and was, I’m sure, considered “quite a comer.”

Scarcely a recluse, he married and divorced five times. But, in his own way, he was as eccentric as Hughes. This guy, who in 1953 paid King Saud $9.5 million in cash and a million a year thereafter for an oil concession in Saudi Arabia, had a pay phone in his mansion near London. In other words, life was a pay as you go proposition. He did not embrace philanthropy, saying that the “passive acceptance of money” corrupts people. Except maybe for art–that didn’t corrupt. Easy for him to say.

So he spent oceans of money on alimony and art. He was reported to have left four billion bucks, three sons (who, you can be sure, worked their way through state college), several priceless art collections, and a few grass widows, all with fond memories, I’m sure. I have a hunch that J. Paul Getty, would be very much for elimination of the estate tax–after all, everybody starts equal. As for Hughes, I doubt if he would have taken a position.

Speaking of financial giants, on April 26, 1976 Pan American airlines inaugurated non-stop New York to Tokyo flights on Boeing 747 airplanes. Incorporated in 1923, they had made their first international flight from Key West, Florida to Havana, Cuba in October, 1927. For years they were the largest airline in the world. In the 1930s they were the big cheese in the air, just as the transcontinental streamliner trains were on the ground. But this colossus of the air disappeared too–much later than the streamliner trains.

One of Pan-Am’s top officials was Lloyd Wescott, owner of Mulhocoway Farm in New Jersey, home of great Guernsey cattle and Suffolk horses. In the late 30s, Wescott imported the best Suffolks he could find in England. He was determined that it was a breed “whose time had come.” And he was probably right about that except for a couple of things like WWII and the almost total mechanization of agriculture right after the war. I think I’m correct in saying that the last chapter of the Mulhocoway Suffolks, including some wonderful horses, was a trip to the killers. I never met Wescott but saw him at a national Guernsey meeting once. He was one of the most formidable looking men I ever saw. As saddle horse breeders are prone to say, he had “the look of eagles.” Very impressive. He was serious about his farm and provided both his favorite breeds with leadership. I’m not sure how Pan Am met its demise but they have been absent from the sky for quite awhile now. I don’t think it was his fault.

In May of 1976, red-faced officials in the U.S. Military Academy in West Point acknowledged widespread classroom cheating among the cadets. The Black Knights of the Hudson cheating? Our best and brightest–what happened to the honor code? Say it ain’t so, Joe. It shook the country up, so maybe we aren’t so cynical after all. As I remember, a bunch of would be future Army officers were kicked out. I have no idea what the cheating scene on college campuses is today–minimal, I hope.

In June of that year, the most widespread racial violence in fifteen years swept South Africa. Prime Minister John Vorster vowed to restore order at all cost. I suppose he did. But his successors couldn’t keep that lid on a boiling kettle forever, and apartheid was finally undone in our time. But I suspect it still has miles to go. There are no instant solutions to such things.

The middle east was also boiling, as usual. Lebanon was torn by civil war. Their neighbor, Syria, set out to act as peace negotiator but in the end took military steps to end the fracas. On June 16, the American ambassador and an aide were kidnapped and killed. Two days later, President Ford ordered an evacuation of Americans from Beirut. The U.S. Navy did take 263 Americans out of that city on June 20, but over 1500 U.S. citizens chose to stay. Pity poor Gerald Ford, I think he was motivated by honest concern and outrage, but it was an election year. So “Operation Fluid Drive” (that was the dumb name given to the exercise) was dubbed “Operation Iowa Primary.” I’d call that below the belt. What would they have said had he done nothing?

Toil and trouble everywhere. In our hemisphere, Argentina had a new government as a military junta seized control of the government in a bloodless coup. The head of government, Mrs. Isabel Peron, widow of the late dictator Juan Peron, was placed under arrest. Things didn’t look so hot for her.

But our country was celebrating its 200th birthday, and the 4th of July was just around the corner. And we had a lot to be proud of, so let the rest of the world stew in its own juices and we will go to the Summer 1976 DRAFT HORSE JOURNAL for the balance of this segment.

That was kind of a memorable issue, I suppose, because for the first time we splurged and came out with a full color picture on the cover. As with all luxuries, within a couple of years they became a standard feature. Some folks will say that is how the engine of progress works. I can attest that engines of progress had little to do with it. It was pride, pure and simple. Color pictures were “purtier.”

It was a neat picture, with a neat story. It came to us from Jerome and Maija Zaeska from Delano, Minnesota, and was taken sort of by accident. The Zaeskas were both high school German teachers and farmed 70 acres with three Belgians and a tractor.

It was a spur of the moment picture taken by Mrs. Zaeska to use up the end of a roll of film in their 35 mm camera. Jerome comes driving up through the barnyard with the team and spreader. Maija pops outside, snaps the shutter a couple times to finish the roll and gets back to her work. “Hey, these pictures are pretty good, let’s send one into the Journal.” We loved it and even though it was taken too late in the season to be a June cover, we jumped the gun and used it anyhow.

The first article in that issue was about the PMU lines, then concentrated in northern Indiana. There were eight horsemen in that LaGrange, Indiana area with about 350 mares on the line. The product at that time was being shipped to a lab in Michigan. The late Wm J. (Bill) Yoder, with 60 mares on the line, was the focal point of the 1976 article. There was an even more sizable PMU business going on in Canada. If I’m not mistaken, most of it was still concentrated in Quebec. I’m not sure when it moved lock, stock and barrel to the prairie provinces. In due time, it virtually petered out in the U.S. for awhile. In recent years, with a new lab in Minnesota, it has been reborn down here, but it is still substantially smaller than the PMU business in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

That article was followed by one about horse logging in Wisconsin. It honored Jack Morrison who, in the depths of the depression, built up a big horse skidding business, eventually working up to 29 skidding horses and had 40 men working for him. Jack was semi-retired by then, but his son Rich was still logging with horses.

Seems that a great many things happened without much planning in that issue. The late Orval Pierce had stopped by during the Waverly Spring Sale and given us a picture of his friend, the late Andy Amsbaugh of Ukiah, California, driving a six up of his Belgians through some shallow water just upstream from a little falls. It was a striking picture but I told Orv we needed to know a little more about it. He said, “I talk to Andy a couple times a month. I’ll have him send you the particulars.” He did and Andy did.

It seems there was an organization called the Sonoma County Trail Blazers and each year they would go on a week long wagon trek. Some 350 members and their guests would join in, over 300 on saddle horses and mules, the rest of them with teams, carts, wagons and buggies. The trek started about mid-June every year and would take a different route in a different part of California.

This probably wouldn’t do today, but Andy says, “The ride is strictly a stag party and costs $175 for all you can eat and drink.” On one of them, Andy had even taken a twelve mule jerk-line team.

Another of Andy’s paragraphs: “Every night there is a great party. You may see a farmer, banker, lawyer, oil man, millionaire etc. but they all come to let their hair down and everybody is equal under the stars, rain or shine. No butler or maid service here.” And so on, for about 3 or 4 pages.

Back in the 30s and 40s there was a very popular radio program called “Amos and Andy.” But in the 70s we had “Orval and Andy,” both great guys. Orval was a special friend of Jeannine’s dad, Foster Sarchett. Since they were both busy farmers, they would often fly together to sales in Indianapolis and Columbus. Jeannine and I, also pressed for time, would fly, but out of Waterloo rather than Des Moines. Generally we would stay in the same place but would arrive at different times, usually we were there earlier. One year I rented a little foreign car, I suppose to save a buck. Saving up for color covers, maybe. They got themselves to the motel via cab, and that was OK because it was just across the street from the Indiana State fairgrounds. We really didn’t need the little car until we went back to the airport following the sale. Jeannine, myself, Fos, and another passenger, Doug Palmer from Ontario, all fit into that thing very well, but Orval was a good deal taller than anyone needs to be–about 6’2”. I think we had to disassemble him to get him in. Getting him out was even harder.

In the California article, Andy raved on about his stud horse which he had bought from Orval five years earlier. By then he was working his daughters into the hitch. The horse’s name was Morry du Marais. I always flattered myself that Orv had named the colt after me. I was very careful never to ask him. If that wasn’t true, I didn’t want to know. Some things need to be accepted on faith, it is quite possible to know too much.

About 12 years later I bought a grey colt from Monroe Miller in Ohio. When Monroe asked me what I wanted him named, I told him, Maury Degas. I wasn’t taking any chances with that one. He was a good horse, too.

Another article was an account of the South Dakota wagon on the bi-centennial wagon train, owned and driven by our good friend, Walt Schaefer. Walt wrote up an interesting account but included no pictures. It was not my fault. I sent a Yashica Matt 154 with Walt. That camera went all the way to Pennsylvania in a wagon. I don’t know if it ever got unpacked. Last month, I sold it to a young man in a camera store for $140, seems they have become collector’s items. I still have a couple. I sold the young man the scruffiest one of the lot–the one that got hustled all around in a wagon for 1200 miles or so. At least, Walt didn’t run over it.

There were a couple articles by Cumberland, one on Using Walking Plows and the other about the market. And who was Cumberland? He was (and is) Lyle Bare, at that time FFA teacher in nearby Dunkerton, Iowa. From there he went to farming and doing a little substitute teaching. He and Elizabeth are still on the farm, their oldest son a junior in vet school at Ames, and we still see them–but not often enough.

James “Barney” Barnhart, Butler, Missouri was also a contributing writer. His article was called “Something to Crow About” (complete with a drawing of a rooster) and was all about the big special buffet dinner coming up at the Holiday Inn in Joliet, Illinois on November 22. It was to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Percheron Horse Association of America–just half as old as the country. Barney said that Elmer Taft, Harold Clark, Arnold Hexom and Maurice Telleen would be the speakers. Quite a few people showed up anyhow. It was cheaper than going along with Andy Amsbaugh at $175 for the week. The tickets were $6 for the Percheron bash. Now that sounds like a serious overload of speechifying but I swear four of us total didn’t even use up an hour. Arnold made the longest speech, Harold made the shortest, Elmer the best and funniest, and I have no recollection whatever of what I said. But as I recall, everyone had a good time.

Another good story in that issue was “The Departure of Old Dammit” which, Lynn recycled in the Spring, 2001 issue. The horse’s real name was Roosevelt, so naturally, I used it. It had first appeared in a Canadian farm magazine and was called to our attention by one of our readers up there. We got permission and used it.

That issue was 92 pages long, had a color cover and we were very proud of it. Still are. There were not a lot of names on the masthead, just Jeannine and myself as editors and publishers. We also had two very loyal housewives working for us–one full time, the other part time. Both are now deceased. The office was out here at the farm, not downtown. It was printed by the Hahne Printing Company, owners of the Aberdeen Angus Journal and there were also a couple women over there that were absolutely wonderful in the layout, etc.

We needed a lot of help and, as you can tell, we got it from friends all over this country and Canada–with articles, ideas, pictures, suggestions and friendship. We were, in fact getting way too busy–so at the Clydesdale Annual Meeting here in Waverly during the spring sale (and their National Sale) we officially ended our four year tenure as secretary/treasurer of the Clydesdale Association of the U. S. We had asked to be relieved about a year prior. It was a good experience for us and we retain some of our closest friendships today in the Clydesdale ranks. We were replaced by Betty Groves, who has done much more than we could have for the breed in the last 25 years. If I weren’t already a Swede, I would probably be a Scot. I really mean that.

Nowadays Lynn and his crew knock out 250-300 page issues with about 100 pages of color. Maybe more, I don’t count ‘em. It is a good thing he came along when he did. Jeannine and I couldn’t handle this 900 lb. gorilla today. It would kill us off. Of course, something eventually will, but it won’t be editing this magazine.

A photo from the first DHJ trip to France in 1971, thirty years ago. One of Lyle Bare’s articles dealt with the market for horses, so we had occasion to use this picture again in 1976. It shows a butcher shop in France with the golden horse head over the entrance signifying that horse meat for human consumption was sold herein. Bruce Roy from Alberta tells me that the drastic reduction in beef consumption on the continent was stimulating the killer market up that way. It has probably spiked it a bit down here as well.	M.L. Rupard, Wheat State Hame Co., 406 W. Adams, Pittsburgh, Kansas, sent us this photo of the Sparrow — O’s Gold 40 “on location” in Kansas that summer. Rupard said, “It was cherry pie (circus lingo for everybody works) for the O’s Gold — Sparrow 40 crew and all available help shortly after this photo was taken.” Local help was mustered on the double to assist moving the horses, bag, and baggage to higher ground. Mr. Rupard went on to say, “The crowd loved the shows and the 40 on parade and the publicity gained by the forced move made for a crowd of 30,000 by parade time. Dick Sparrow and Company deserve a great hand for a great show.”
Sampson Dan’s Frontier Store & Harness Shop in Woodbury, Connecticut carried a full page ad with the Mighty Sampson for sale. PRICED AT A LOW $25,000. . .a marvelous attraction for any business or enterprise.	Belleau Top of the entire offering was this Clyde mare, Belleau Lucky Girl @ $5,700 from Anheuser Busch Inc., St. Louis, Missouri to Fred Dunn, Alexander, Manitoba. Berry Farrell on the lead shank.	Elmview Second high was another Budweiser mare, Elmview Pioneer’s Flossie @ $4,800 to James St. Vincent, Medina, Ohio. See the Spring 2000 DHJ, Brood Mare issue for Jim Emmons’ fine story about this mare and her offspring. She went on to be one of the great brood mares of the breed.
		Jeannine’s dad, Foster Sarchett, carried a quarter page ad with Lynn’s picture. He wasn’t even advertising anything for sale but rather that he was looking for an exceptional colt to mate one he had standing 16 hands and just a year past. “ The best colt at his age we have ever had.” He was always looking for colts. I think it was mostly an excuse to run Lynn & Pat’s picture. There is an old English saying that “It takes three generations to make a horseman.” I guess Fos was working on that.