The Days the Cowboys Quit
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Elmer Kelton
The Day the Cowboys Quit
Texas Christian University Press, Forth Worth
The Day the Cowboys Quit written by Elmer Kelton is an old western novel based on the events of the strike that took place at old Tascosa in the Texas Panhandle in 1883. It portraits in a very unique and interesting way the social, political, and economical changes that were taking place in the years before and after the Civil War in Texas; how the cowboys who for long had being men that in a way represented freedom itself (For being able to go anywhere they wanted to, at any given time, and could survive with little to no money on their pockets)? Were falling victims to the stereotype of being a bunch of drunks, and downgraded to a regular employee, that was slowly losing its privileges shortly after the arrival of the wealthy corporations drawn in by the “Beef Bonanza”.
In this story we meet Hugh Hitchcock who is the main character, his friends Rascal and Law McGinty who like him worked for another friend called Charlie that owned the W ranch. This were the old days, in which being a rancher and cattle owner, was one of the few ways to get wealthy and every cowboy knew how to become one if they really wanted to. It wasn’t until the big corporations and bankers got involved in the beef market that the cowboys like Hugh Hitchcock and his friends were prohibited to own cattle at first and slowly stripped down from the things they had long considered birthrights, lowering their wages to an unsubstantial amount and suffer exploitation by being forced to work long hours, pushing them far enough to a breaking point that made them organize and eventually go on strike to face the new evil that human greed had brought over them.
The degradation is such that even cowboys who used to believe in each other’s word, now in the name of big corporations would doubt each other’s word and even get into arguments and fights if necessary over cattle ownership; all in the name of the ranch they worked for. The story begins with the dispute over an old cow and the involvement of the general manager of the Figure 4 ranch showed up to discuss changes in the business shortly after with Charlie Waide. One of the main changes was the proposition that any man that was hired for money would not be allowed to own cattle; due to the fact that it would be too easy for a cowboy to brand an unbranded maverick with his own brand, instead of the rancher’s brand that he worked for, a common practice in the old days that had produced many successful ranchers in past times, thus making the big corporations believe the cowboys could not be trusted; eventually with their political and economical power were able to pass strict laws that not only took away the right to own cattle, but also the right to have their horse on the rancher’s property, making the cowboy an easy prey for horse thieves.
As a result of all these strict and ridiculous laws many cowboys organize and went on strike, refusing to work for the ranchers and big corporations that enforced these rules. The strike fails to save the old lifestyle of the cowboy, but does not leave the big bankers and investors a clear full victory. Some cowboys stayed and found jobs doing something else, but the corporations did not stop there, their greed and lust for power drove them to commit more vile acts against the remaining cowboys. Their next step was to try and take away all the cattle that was still owned by the remaining cowboys like Hitchcock and his friends Rascal and Law. In a clear example of corruption and abuse of power the big ranchers make the decision of hanging Law McGinty under the accusation of stealing cattle, and carrying out the hanging without a proper trial. This was an outrage and the cowboys organized one more time and got Hitchcock to run for Sheriff. After being elected Sheriff Hitchcock yield the power to convict the big corporations for the murder of his friend Law McGinty and for stealing his cattle. By becoming Sheriff Hitchcock help to insure that the big corporations would no longer be able to run over good honest people by buying political influence anymore.
The Day the Cowboys Quit takes us back to a time of change in our country’s history, and gives us a more in depth perception on what the life of a cowboy was like back then, the changes that were taking place at the time thanks to the advancement of industrialization in our country, and the often abuse of power that characterized many of the big corporations of the 1880’s. The main settings for the story are the ranches in the Texas Panhandle during the 1880’s. The particular style of Elmer Kelton’s writing make this book fairly easy to read and understand; by using a simple way of writing, avoiding big words, and useless