408 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



thoughts were as follows: First, that no male cattle of any breed or 

 grade, or of any description, should he slaughtered under twelve months 

 of age; second, that no farmer or producer should ship, nor any rail- 

 road company or public carrier transport, from one place to another, 

 any calf under six months of age, unless accompanied by its mother! 

 I told him what I thought about it, and then I sent a copy of the bill to 

 the editor of one of the leading papers in this congressman's state, and 

 suggested to himi that he give it his hearty and unqualified endorse- 

 ment on one condition — that the congressman be substituted for the 

 calf! I think we have too many would-be statesmen in congress and 

 out of congress who were either weaned too soon or who ought never 

 to have been weaned at all. It reminds me of the story about the Iowa 

 man who wanted to go to Texas, and wrote to a friend, asking him what 

 the conditions were, and the chances for an honest lawyer and a re- 

 publican.. His friend told him they were very good, and to come on; 

 that as an honest lawyer he would have no competition, and as a repub- 

 lican he would be protected by the game laws. It seems to me that 

 some of the state&men who are proposing that kind of legislation ought 

 not to be exempt under the game laws. I don't believe we ought to 

 have any closed season on that kind of legislation nor on the men who 

 are responsible for it. 



If the conditions are right, the farmers and cattle feeders will pro- 

 duce the beef; and we can produce beef, as has been amply demonstrat- 

 ed, that compares favorably with the very best that can be produced in 

 any country, and we can be depended upon to maintain that supply so 

 long as the farm has a fair chance and profitable conditions for pro- 

 ducing; and by that I mean reasonably profitable conditions. We will 

 have competition from the Argentine — there is no question about that, 

 and we will have especially keen competition from the Argentine in 

 m,utton production, particularly in the production of what is known 

 on the market as a milk-fed lamb, because their lambs can come there 

 at the beginning of our winter, which is the beginning of their spring, 

 and they can be grown and marketed from these alfalfa pastures in 

 prime condition, without the expense of housing and high-priced grain 

 feeding. We will undoubtedly have to compete with that product when 

 we get back to normal conditions, and when they have sufficient ocean 

 carrying boats. Probably the competition in beef will not affect us so 

 much in foreign markets, because if our country is prosperous, we 

 are going to have a good market here. When they get into the hog 

 business down there, they will undoubtedly furnish competition in pork 

 production; and when Brazil develops her cattle industry, which may 

 come about within the next quarter of a century, they will have consider- 

 able surplus beef to market. But it is not likely that their beef will 

 approach the quality of the beef from this country in many years to 

 come. Those two great countries down there are the ones that are 

 going to haye the surplus of beef. Australia and New Zealand have a 

 surplus of mutton, but no considerable surplus of beef, and probably 

 will not get into the field of beef production; but the beef-producing 



