646 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



A short talk on the importance of the beef cattle industry and of the 

 organization of cattle breeder in the state was made by President R. A. 

 Pearson of the Agricultural College. 



At the afternoon session the following officers were elected, to serve 

 for the year 1913: 



President, Charles Escher, Jr., Botna, Iowa; Vice President, Cyrus Tow, 

 Norway, Iowa; Secretary, George H, Burge, Mount Vernon, Iowa; Treas- 

 urer, C. H. Hechtner, Chariton, Iowa; Membership Secretary, A. R. 

 Leffler, Bentonsport, Iowa. 



Board of Directors: W. B. Seeley, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; Fred McCul- 

 loch, Hartwick, Iowa; Ira McVicker, Eagle Grove, Iowa; D. McArthur, 

 Mason City, Iowa; W. W. Vaughn, Marion, Iowa; Ralph Sherman, Grin- 

 nell, Iowa; John Shambaugh, Booneville, Iowa; C. W. Huntley, Chariton, 

 Iowa; C. W. Hunt, Logan, Iowa; Charles Russell, Carroll, Iowa; R. W. 

 Cassady, Whiting, Iowa. 



WHAT CAN IOWA DO TO RELIEVE THE BEEF SHORTAGE? 



An address delivered at the annual meeting of the Iowa Beef Producers' 



Association, January 29, 1913. 



BY HOiSr. CHAS. ESCHEE, JK., BOTNA, IOWA. 



President of the Iowa Beef Producers' Association. 



The year just closed has been a remarkable year. The volume of our 

 crops was never so great. The United States harvested her first three 

 billion bushel corn crop. Other grains have been harvested in about 

 like proportions. There is a general abundance except in live stock 

 production. That the supply of live stock for 1913 will aggregate less 

 than the supply for 1912 is the consensus of opinion by those capable and 

 in a position to judge. That it will require seven years before the United 

 States can again get back to producing her normal supply of cattle is 

 also predicted by one who is regarded as a keen calculator. And by 

 that time our population will have increased another ten million, proving 

 that the shortage will continue and become greater as time goes on. Big 

 crops are always principal factors in the general prosperity of an agricul- 

 tural people. The wheels of commerce are oiled by the hand that feeds 

 the cow and holds the plow. When the farmer is prosperous, it stimu- 

 lates the nation, but when an agricultural people begin to neglect live 

 stock production, sooner or later, poverty will knock at the door. The 

 population of the United States has doubled every twenty-five years since 

 1685. During the past twelve years our population of the United States 

 has increased 25% while our supply of beef cattle has decreased more 

 than 30%. These figures do not indicate any immediate relief. Next 

 year and each succeeding year for the next decade to come will see 

 decreasing receipts in live stock markets. Whom among you will doubt 

 the vital importance of this organization. Iowa is the greatest of all 

 the agricultural states in the Union, because of her fertile fields. Iowa 

 has been famous as a cattle feeding state, and if Iowa continues to hold 



