508 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



In this connection, I think it proper to call attention to the fact that 

 during federal control of the railroads there was a general breaking down 

 of the morale of the me'n employed on the roads, and as a result of this 

 condition many strikes and disturbances occurred in the early part of the 

 season, which greatly added to a most serious situation and made it much 

 more difficult for the roads to move the traffic, so that in our criticism 

 of the railroads for their inefficiency, it is well to bear this in mind. 



As there has been so much written, said and printed in regard to the 

 recent advance of 35 per cent in freight rates, I hardly think it necessary 

 to go into the subject at any length. Suffice it to say that your associa- 

 tion made a most tremendous effort to hold down the valuation of the 

 railroad properties upon which the 6 per cent must be paid. Your attor- 

 ney was at Washington, D. C, during the entire trial of the case, and 

 your president was there for some considerable time, and testified before 

 the commission, placing the serious condition of the live stock industry 

 squarely before that tribunal and making a strong plea for special con- 

 sideration of the industry. While we did not accomplish for the farmers 

 and stockmen all we had hoped to accomplish in the case, we succeeded 

 in cutting down the valuation placed upon the properties about one and 

 one-half million dollars, thus reducing the advances that would have been 

 necessary about 10 per cent, and saving to the Iowa producers a million 

 dollars a year. 



Conditions confronting the agricultural and live stock industry are 

 most distressing and deplorable. On account of recent advances in freight 

 rates, yardage and commission charges, it now costs from $1.50 to $2 per 

 head to market your hogs and from $6 to $7 per head to market your 

 cattle. It also costs about 20 cents per bushel to market your corn and 12 

 cents to market your oats. With the present low prices that prevail, if 

 this condition continues for any great length of time half of the farmers 

 and stockmen will go broke, as it is utterly impossible for them to stem 

 the tide of reverses and continue in business. 



The prices of the things you must buy, such as farm implements, 

 lumber, groceries, coal and clothing, have been but slightly reduced if 

 reduced at all, while your products have declined from 100 to 150 per cent 

 in value. This unparalleled condition of affairs can not continue. The 

 farmers should confine their buying to absolute necessities, repair their 

 old implements and machinery, and get along with what they have and 

 refuse to buy until prices are materially reduced. Do the same thing with 

 your buildings and sheds, with your wearing apparel, and all else, and 

 refuse to buy, and you will find that prices on manufactured products will 

 come down as well as those on agricultural products; but unless you do 

 this, they will continue to bleed you as long as you will buy their goods. 



The very unusual conditions affecting agricultural and live stock prod- 

 ucts that have prevailed during the past season have imposed upon your 

 officers tremendous burdens. Conferences and meetings of various sorts 

 have been the order of the day. Scarcely a week has passed that they 

 have not been called in conference on matters directly affecting your in- 

 terests, and some weeks we have attended two or three of these meet- 

 ings; and while the outward results have not been as visible as we hoped 



