516 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



"Cattle Feeding Problems" is an all-significant topic these trying 

 days. We have problems galore, real, live, pressing problems that call 

 for real thought and real action. Parlor discussions and parlor thinking 

 have their advantages, but we must translate our thoughts into practical 

 deeds if we would accomplish our ends. 



Our problems as cattle feeders, in truth as meat producers in general, 

 may well be differentiated on the basis of the individual, and of the group 

 of individuals. Those problems with which we are each separately con- 

 cerned may be classed as "individualistic," whereas those that involve 

 the working of individuals as a group, in a common purpose, may be 

 classed as "co-operative." 



We have therefore two great avenues or sectors (really inseparable 

 hemispheres) ahead of us in the working out of our hopes and our ambi- 

 tions — the individualistic and the co-operative. There are a good many 

 problems, which at best are problems of the individual specifically con- 

 cerned, and for him, and him alone, to solve; but there are other problems 

 — some of them of a stupendous, tremendous nature — that call forth the 

 best collective and group instincts of all of us. For their successful solu- 

 tion we must get together and above all stick together; and then work 

 steadfastly in the common purpose, for a common ideal. 



The world moves steadily and conditions are ever changing. Evolu- 

 tion is the written fact of the universe. We as individuals must realize 

 this and take advantage of the conditions of nowadays by altering our 

 time-honored customs and traditions to meet the new issues. 



From the cradle we have been steeped and stewed in the dictum 

 that "competition is the life of trade," and that "God helps those that help 

 themselves." As farmers, as cattle feeders, as meat producers, we, all of 

 us, have gone, in major portion our "own sweet ways." In the meantime, 

 powerful interests the country over have joined competitive hands, and 

 capital, and brains, to thus better accomplish their motives. Individuals 

 in different, respective, but common lines of endeavor, have organized, 

 worked together, in short, subjugated themselves in a large measure for 

 the success of the whole. Witness the labor unions, the steel interests, 

 the packers, the wholesale grocers, and other organized efforts. 



Happily, we are witnessing the development of effective organizations 

 of farm and live stock interests, which gives us faith and encouragement 

 to go on, and on, doing the best we can, working together, realizing that 

 in union there is manifested a definite kind of strength worth while, a 

 strength that is necessary. 



A number of years ago one of my teachers impressed forcibly upon 

 me this matter-of-fact proposition: "To paddle one's own canoe is human; 

 to cooperate, divine." Independence of spirit and action means much to 

 us Americans, but of late we have come to more clearly realize that we 

 can help ourselves more by helping each other more. This, in other 

 words, means, do the divine thing — co-operate! 



In co-operation, vfe must learn to so conduct ourselves that others 

 will be glad to work with us, and then we must work as harmoniously as 

 we can with our co-operators. And when we decide to form a co-opera- 



