378 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



I would like to see the great dairy show that was recently held at 

 Milwaukee shifted from state to state for the next ten years at least, 

 thus bringing the best herds of dairy cattle that we have on the conti- 

 nent to the very doors of our farmers. I believe that the people of Iowa 

 should put forth a special effort to have that show held in this state next 

 year. It is not right to confine a good thing to one place, especially a 

 show of such great educational value to the dairymen of the United 

 States, as the National Dairy Show. 



Iowa, owing to its natural climatic conditions, its fertility of soil, and 

 its adaptability to the growth of forage plants, must necessarily become 

 one of the greatest butter producing countries in the world. 



The greatest menace to the future prosperity of the dairy industy is 

 the fraudulent sale of substitute butter. These frauds with various 

 names have been masquerading under the guise of butter. This is one 

 line of business that seems to be entirely based on fraud, as the manu- 

 facturers of the various substitutes are not willing to sell their goods on 

 their merits. They want to palm them off on the public as butter, and 

 I must confess that it is alarming how this fraud is perpetrated on the 

 consuming public, especially in the large cities. 



Some of our trade journals have foolishly championed the cause of 

 these fraudulent substitutes as the "poor man's butter." The Philadelphia 

 Times made a special investigation on its own account, to determine to 

 what extent oleomargarine and butterine were sold for butter in their 

 state. Out of 118 lots of supposed butter, bought at different stores in 

 the usual manner, at 30 cents per pound, it was found that 73 per cent 

 was oleomargarine. So we see that these men are not willing to sell 

 their goods for what they are worth, or as "poor man's butter," but want 

 to palm them off on the public at the highest price of the best grade of 

 butter. 



In seeking aid to get legislation favorable for the sale of their nefar- 

 ious product, they have raised the cry to our beef friends that it is to 

 their interest to aid the oleomargarine people in getting legislation fav- 

 orable to their cause, otherwise the price of beef would go down. Carry- 

 ing this same argument a little further and taking it for granted that 

 they succeeded in driving butter out of the market by this cheap substi- 

 tute or at least that they succeeded in lowering the price of butter to 

 such an extent that it would not be profitable to dairy, then the dairy far- 

 mers would turn to beef production. The result would be an increased 

 production of beef and a lowering of prices, so we find that that argu- 

 ment has no merit. 



Nature has designed the fats found in milk of all animals as a suit- 

 able nourishment to the young. They are easily digested. The normal 

 temperature of the body is about 98°. The melting temperature of butter 

 fats ranges from about 90° to 99°. The melting temperature of eleomar- 

 garine is usually from 102° upwards. This product that we call oleomar- 

 garine originated in France about 1870 and was entirely different from 

 the present cheap stuff that we find in our markets. 



During the Franco-Prussian war the French government asked Mege- 

 Monrier, their noted chemist, to investigate the problem of getting a good 

 wholesome and cheap substitute for butter for the use of the army. In 



