TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 373 



sail! that Iowa creameries have made, and are making, rapid improve- 

 ment and I want to congratulate you on that success. 



What I had in mind to say tonight is the story that has been told 

 a great many times;, it is being told at almost every convention and 

 is no doubt tiresome to many. That story is the story of quality. It 

 seems to me that if there is any one thing that the creameries in 

 Iowa and other states need to realize more than they realize now, it 

 is the necessity of getting better quality and how it is going to be 

 secured. You know when the whole-milk creameries were flourishing 

 that the buttermaker with proper training didn't have much difficulty 

 in getting a fine grade of butter. The hajid separator came and as 

 a result quality has deteriorated. Yet I feel that buttermakers and 

 creamery proprietors have made a serious mistake in spending as 

 much energy as they have in trying to have their patrons understand 

 that the hand separator was a damage to the business. If they had 

 spent that same time and energy in trying to show the farmer how 

 to take proper care of hand separaor cream from the time of skimming 

 until time for delivery we would have been further ahead than we 

 are at the present time. We didn't know just what we were coming 

 to but; as matters have turned out, it was proper that we should be 

 alarmed. But we have the condition to cope with now. We have the 

 hand separator pretty generally and now it is up to us to devise some 

 means to meet that condition and to improve our quality. 



You have heard Mr. Joslin speak this evening and I presume you 

 all know what his duties are on the Chicago market. They are to 

 examine shipments of butter when requested by creameries and re- • 

 port the defects found to the creameries with suggestions for over- 

 coming them. Prom the number or requests for inspections we have 

 had it seems to us that the work is being appreciated, as the number 

 of inspections have practically doubled during the last fiscal year. 

 By analyzing these market inspector's reports, we get many startling 

 facts, and some of these facts I want to present to you at this time. 

 During the year ending April 30, 1911, there were 838 shipments 

 of Iowa butter inspected on the New York and Chicago markets. The 

 total amount of butter included in these shipments was 1,369,000 

 pounds. Out of that 838 shipments but 42, or 5 per cent, scored 90 

 points or more, while 95 per cent scored below 90. If we were to 

 determine the losses sustained by the creameries making that butter 

 on a basis of New York extras, we would have $27,000, or practically 

 2c per pound. You understand that I have based that loss on extras 

 in New York and extra firsts in Chicago. If it had been figured on 

 a 3c premium basis, which price some of the best creameries are 

 selling for, then the loss on this butter would have amounted to 

 $67,500. The amount of butter inspected was approximately 1 per 

 cent of the' output for the state and if the loss had been sustained 

 on the entire product, it would have amounted to over $6,000,000. 

 The losses were actually sustained by certain creameries which, ac- 

 cording to our records, comprises over half of those in the state or 

 292 different plants. 



