1907.] DISCUSSIOX. 2."]}^ 



owner's premises, it would be all right. I think that will 

 largely settle the matter, I do not see why that cannot be 

 done. 



Mr. Phelps. Mr. Chairman, I have taken very much in- 

 terest in this question of the sheep industry in the last two 

 years. I believe when the time comes that Connecticut 

 farmers really wish to undertake to build up the sheep in- 

 dustry that the dog question will become a secondary question, 

 as our President has said. It seems to me it is belittling to 

 the intelligence of Connecticut farmers to say that this ques- 

 tion is too big a question for them to handle. I believe that 

 the prophecies that are made by men Avho have made a 

 study of the sheep industry show that there is money in it 

 when it is rightly handled, and when the farmers begin to ap- 

 preciate that there is money in it on these New England hills, 

 the dog question is a question that will be settled by the in- 

 dustry and skill and intelligence of our Connecticut farmers. 

 I believe it can be easily settled and will be settled when that 

 time comes. Now I believe also, Mr. Chairman, that the con- 

 ditions are rapidly becoming more and more favorable to the 

 building up of that industry, and that those conditions, as our 

 President has said, are very largely economical questions. 

 The low price of Connecticut land today as compared with 

 western land is one reason why the sheep industry is likely to 

 increase in the next five, ten or fifteen years. The nearness 

 of good markets, and the convenience with which you can get 

 transportation to good markets, and particularly the improve- 

 ment in the methods of transportation that have arisen, all 

 these things are going to contribute to a rise in the sheep in- 

 dustry in Connecticut. The people are beginning to realize, 

 especially those residing in our cities and towns, that they 

 have been eating chicken and lamb, and other lines of meat 

 that have been kept in cold storage for periods of four, five, 

 or six months, and then delivered to their tables by the grocer 

 Age. —18 



