The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 57, July 1953 - April, 1954 Page: 156

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

omy and while they continued to believe that "they were the back-
bone of the nation, that their calling was the most important,
the most deserving, the most fundamental of all, the collapse
of which would bring down the pillars of civilization itself," they
implicitly acknowledged the superiority of industry's methods by
developing a program for agriculture which was largely an
attempt to apply the practices of industry in farming.
Finally, it becomes clear that the agriculture program in the
United States has been the outgrowth of trial-and-error experi-
mentation rather than the result of any "masterplan." As agri-
culture is one of the most hazardous of all occupations, so the
agriculture statesman has faced constantly changing conditions-
climatic, economic, and political-and has perforce modified his
policies almost continuously. It is clear, too, that no final answer
to the farm problem had been found in i939-as remains true,
apparently, in 1953-
It is rather surprising, if not disconcerting, to find a university
press book without a bibliography, which is true in this case.
There are, however, numerous footnote citations.
BETTY BROOKE EAKLE
Southwest Texas State Teachers College
Come an' Get It. By Ramon F. Adams. Norman (University of
Oklahoma Press), 1952. Pp. xi + 170o. $3.75.
Like the stagecoach and the prairie schooner, the chuck wagon
has almost vanished. But many oldtimers have pleasant memories
of the grub it carried and of the expert, if sometimes cranky,
cook who prepared Dutch-oven steaks, sourdough biscuits, and
son-of-gun stew for hungry cowhands. Ramon F. Adams of Dallas,
who has dug deep into the lore of the cow country, has caught
some of these recollections in print. They make good reading.
Adapted to the needs of the roundup and the long trail, the
chuck wagon was a highly functional vehicle. It could be made
from almost any sturdy, broad-wheeled wagon. The distinctive
chuck box, built on the back end, was a closed cupboard for
food and utensils. Its rear end, when opened out, served as a
kitchen table. The wagon bed had space for the larger pots and
pans, as well as for the bedrolls of the men. Beneath was a raw-

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