FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 531 



WORK OF INSPECTORS. 



We have been trying out the plan of having some of our in- 

 spectors do all kinds of work. Those designated in the list given 

 in this report, as "Assistant Dairy Commissioners and Food In- 

 spectors," have been looking after the enforcement of all of the 

 different laws in the territory they cover. By reference to our 

 former reports you will find that this plan of work originated in 

 the Department some three years ago, and not with the Commit- 

 tee on Retrenchment and Reform, or the special Efficiency Com- 

 mittee as some have been led to believe. 



We put on two men over two years ago so that we might know 

 from experience whether there was any advantage either by 

 reason of saving in expense or efficiency in handling the work. 

 If we only had the enforcement of a few laws the plan would be 

 quite acceptable and in certain territories it works fairly well, 

 even with the enforcement of the thirteen different laws. In 

 other sections of the state, we find it practically impossible to 

 handle the work in this way. We have found that the work of 

 an inspector, if properly looked after, is a "real man's job," and 

 that this is especially true since the Sanitary and Weight and 

 Measure laws have been added. There is no saving in expense 

 under this plan, and as we all know that this is an age of special- 

 ists in all lines, we do not know why it should not apply in a 

 measure to work in this Department. If houses like Marshall 

 Field & Company and Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company 

 find it necessary to employ from two to five men who visit 

 Des Moines and other large cities in the state, representing the 

 different lines of merchandise they have to put on the market, 

 they do it because these men are specialists in the various lines. 

 In the memory of many middle aged people, the doctor acted as 

 surgeon, dentist, eye, ear, nose and throat specialist, veterinarian, 

 etc. Today, specialists in these lines do this work and the man 

 who claims to make good in all these various lines is generally 

 sized up as a fraud. 



INCREASED INTEREST IN DAIRYING. 



As an indication of the increased interest in dairying, we quote 

 the following with reference to the exhibit of dairy cattle and 



