388 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



I shall omit further reference to the centralizing plants after the dis- 

 cussion of the afternoon. A system has been introduced into your state 

 and into mine which increases the cost of making, pays the farmers less 

 for fat, lowers the quality and decreases the quantity of our butter 

 then injures everyone but the defiant owner, then impudently asks as 

 we heard this afternoon what are you going to do about it? We shall 

 show them in Michigan what we are going to do about it. We have a 

 law on our statute books prohibiting the use of unwholesome material 

 in the manufacture of any product used as human food. Our Dairy 

 and Food Department has an annual income of $50,000. Our commission 

 is ardent to enforce the law. As a result the centralized plant is extend- 

 ing its churning stations. After this year cream will not be snipped 100' 

 miles or more but will be churned nearer the point of production. The 

 commission will see to it that bad cream is not received. Go thou and do 

 likewise! 



Again where farmers have tried the distant plant in comparison with 

 the offer of the local concern they are coming back to their first love. 

 They find the naked fact better than the bare possibility. 



You can fool all the people part of the time but not all the people 

 all the time, and any system combining filth and dishonesty is bound ta 

 failure. Let us stick to the plan that gives us tne best quality and the 

 highest pay to the farmer. 



Do not understand me as fighting the hand separator, but its abuse. 

 I have somewhat against the commission men in this matter. Does 

 butter sell on the eastern markets solely on its merits? It does not. The 

 commission men are said to be urging forward the butter from these 

 large centralized plants almost regardless of quantity because of the 

 loyer quantity and the consequent profit to them. I can hardly believe 

 it. The consumer has his rights in the premises. He has a right ta 

 insist that at no time in the process of manufacture shall half rotten 

 material be used. 



After all the important thing for us to consider is the responsibility 

 of the milk producer in this matter. 



The quality of the butter and cheese and of the milk sold for city- 

 consumption is dependent, primarily, on the treatment it receives when 

 it first issues from the cow. The responsibility of the milk producer even: 

 antedates this point. Whoever consumes a dairy product, whether it be 

 butter, cheese, cream or milk, has a right to demand that it proceed from 

 healthy cows, through clean air, clean vessels, and clean surroundings, 

 that it be kept cold and that it be delivered at the proper time to the con- 

 sumer. 



Were It not for the danger of just accusation of repeating stale dog- 

 mas it might be well to begin the discussion by saying that the first- 

 responsibility of the dairyman relates to himself. It is useless to talk 

 about cleanliness to a man who by nature, and habit is filthy. He may- 

 adopt the forms of cleanliness but will never enter into the spirit. It is 

 the duty of every dairyman to be a dairyman indeed. He must be a man 

 who thinks, who profits by experience gained on his own farm and 

 gained through reading. I have no time to defend the agricultural press- 

 from accusations just and unjust. It is true that many contributed- 

 articles are written by men who dream rather than work. It is true that 



