214 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
the benefits derived from the efforts of this Swine Breeders' Association, 
We have on our program many papers that are intended to shed further 
light on our industry and to be an aid to beginners and a help to the older 
ones in the business. 
The subject of "Iowa's Swine Exhibit at the International" was 
taken up by Prof. C. F. Curtiss of Ames, Iowa, in the following 
address : 
I, like your president, am gratified to be one of the attendants of this 
meeting. I have made it a point to spend a little time at the swine 
breeders' meeting every year when I can do so, and I have always found 
it of interest and profit to attend these meetings and listen to the discus- 
sions pertaining to the work of the great industry in which you are 
engaged. 
In considering the topic assigned to me I may say that as you probably 
know, there has been a prize offered at the International Live Stock Ex- 
position during the past two years going to the state that takes the 
highest rank for the toal number of prizes w^on on all kinds of stock at 
the International. This has been called the Rosenbaum Special and con- 
sists of one thousand dollars divided into three prizes. The first year 
the prize was offered, Iowa ranked third and was exceeded by Illinois and 
Indiana. Last year Iowa ranked second and Illinois first again. Now, 
naturally an Iowa man does not like to see Iowa in second rank in any 
live stock competition and I began to inquire into the reasons for Iowa 
ranking second in a contest of this kind. Iowa is recognized as the first 
and foremost live stock state in the Union and it was generally expected 
Iowa would take first place in that kind of competition, so w^e made a 
careful record of all prizes won in the live stock classes at the Interna- 
tional with a view to determining where the discrepancy was and where 
Iowa lost out and to our surprise we found that Iowa lost out where we 
least expected it, that is, in the hog show.There was enough there to have 
turned it to Iowa' favor each year I think, and it is quite surprising and 
should be alarming I think that a state having practically twice as many 
hogs and twice as great an interest in hog raising as any other state in 
the Union should drop down so badly in the competition of the Live Stock 
Exposition. 
In the first place, of course, it is generally recognized that it is not a 
show of breeding stock that we have at the International. I know that 
there is a difference of opinion on the part of the hog breeders concern- 
ing the advisability of holding a breeding show and there has been a 
good deal of demand for a show of breeding stock but for various reasons 
the International has not seen fit to establish that kind of show and as 
long as that condition exists, it seems to me that if there is to be a show 
there the state ought to be represented by a larger number of exhibitors 
than it has been in the past. Some breeds have been very poorly repre- 
sented and I think that the International awards on fat classes carry 
considerable weight and the breeds that are not represented will lose 
by it. 
Some of the associations have each year contributed considerable in 
the way of specials to supplement the International prizes. (At this point 
