134 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 



To my notion, one of the greatest handicaps today is our freight charges 

 and I want to say in this connection, and I am sure you men and women 

 who are business men and women, will agree with this, that we cannot 

 reduce freight rates, we cannot have adequate control and direction of 

 our railroads as long as we have two organizations, one fixing the 

 price of labor and the other fixing the freight rates, and going in opposite 

 directions. There is need of placing together the responsibility as to this 

 proposition and having one board having charge of this proposition rather 

 than having one board having charge of one and the other having charge 

 of the other. But we are not going to secure results along these lines 

 unless something is done to bring this change about. 



It is necessary today that we encourage, as Mr. Barney says, the dairy 

 industry in Iowa. I want to congratulate the butter makers of Iowa 

 upon securing this splendid banner for Iowa. I am sure we are all proud 

 of the progress we have made in the dairy industry in Iowa. But if any- 

 thing is needed today it is more cows, it is better cows and better care 

 of our cows. As a matter of fact, we have in this state 1,400,000 cows, and 

 the average production of a cow in Iowa is 140 pounds. Not only is that 

 fact true but in Denmark it is 275, in Holland it is 300, in Wisconsin and 

 New York 225 to 275. The facts are we are guessing at results too much. 

 If we are going to farm this high priced land in Iowa we must not guess 

 at results, we must know. There are too many cows on the Iowa farm 

 today that are being kept there at a loss. Our agricultural college at 

 Ames is doing a great work along these lines and I have always been 

 imbued with the idea that as far as our expenditures were concerned, 

 they were out of step in many respects with the teaching of the day 

 and that care in the selection of our cows might result in better conditions. 

 The Pennsylvania railroad keeps a record of every rail on its roadbed. 

 They do not guess at results, they know. Now in this farm operation we 

 must quit guessing at results, we must know. It is no longer a question 

 of excuses, we are going to be called upon to deliver results. The question 

 is how we are going to meet this situation. It can only be met by a better 

 market, by a better farm system and I believe that insofar as the situation 

 in Iowa is concerned our real remedy has got to be worked out by us 

 individually. Our condition today is economic, not political. We have had 

 too much credit in this state and in this nation in the past and the order 

 of the day is liquidation and all that can be done in a sense in the general 

 financial way is to pass us over this present situation as best we can 

 expect to do and liquidate as we go on. That illustrates a situation that 

 arose up in Eagle Grove a short time ago. One of the farmers there at 

 Eagle Grove the other day went to the bank to borrow some money. He 

 said he wanted to pay his taxes, he had a farm out there, and the ques- 

 tion arose of giving security, and he said to the banker, "I am willing to 

 give you security on my hogs, my cattle and crops, if you desire it, but I 

 have got to have this money to pay my taxes. He didn't know whether 

 he was going to get the banker to loan this money. He says, "What se- 

 curity do you want?" And the banker says, "I don't care anything about 

 a mortgage on any of this property you have given me but I do want you 

 to bring in the hind wheels of your automobile and leave them with me." 



