484 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



with the judgment of the association, that the matter be placed with the 

 state dairy commissioner the members of the dairy school and the officers 

 of this association to grant the licenses, and we would weed out some 

 of the butter makers of the state, and raise the wages of those who are 

 trying to do their best correspondingly. 



There is another thing, and I do not wish to find fault about it as 

 I don't see how we can avoid it. It is the practice of commission men in 

 giving a premium, and just so long as the butter makers can say "I am 

 getting y 2 above New York and I do not care to do any better" what 

 can we do about it? I do not wish to stand up and say this with a 

 spirit of criticism, but it looks as though something was wrong. I can see 

 no reason why they should keep this practice up so much to the detriment 

 of our butter makers of the west. 



We want a spirit of reformation to sweep over Iowa again. We 

 want it to start in with the patron and end with the commission merchant 

 I have been talking about. As far as the intelligence of the butter maker 

 of Iowa today is concerned tbey stand equal with the butter makers of any 

 state; we only want the same chance the butter makers of other states 

 have. We want to inaugurate a movement of reform not only with the 

 patron, but with the butter maker, the supply men and the commission 

 men, and with the united effort of all, and with the license law we can 

 bring Iowa again back to the proud position she held once before. I thank 

 you. 



Mr. Raines of Independence, whose name appeared on the pro- 

 gramme not being present, the convention was faverod with a 

 vocal selection by Mr. Farr of Cedar Rapids. 



President: Iowa is favored with a real live dairy com- 

 missioner. He is alive. And the worst hardship I have endured 

 the past year has been trying to keep up with him in his travels 

 around the state in the interest of butter making. The only way 

 I have ever had opportunity to get even with him is that I have 

 borrowed money of him a few times. We have this gentleman 

 with us this evening and I have the honor of introducing Com- 

 missioner Wright. 



ADDRESS. 

 H. R. WrigM, Dairy Commissioner, Dcs Moines. 

 Mr. President: A great deal has been said about the decline of dairying 

 in Iowa, and a number of people have gone so far as to suggest that 

 dairying was not suitable for Iowa conditions, and hence, not at all profit- 

 able, and that these were the reasons for the falling off in our product of 

 butter for the last several years. Without discussing the reasons why we 

 do not make quite so much butter as we did in the hard times of '96 and '97, 

 we may, with profit to ourselves, consider the question of the suitability 

 of dairying to Iowa's conditions and the profitableness of the business in 

 this state. 



