372 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



defects. I like the public sale system first rate and I like also to 

 sell privately. If I had a large number to sell I would prefer the 

 public sale. From the standpoint of the seller, I have had some 

 difficulty along that line because in buying by proxy sometimes a 

 man will buy an individual for another man and the man is not 

 satisfied and if he is not he will find fault with me while perhaps 

 I had no knowledge of it at all. The blame comes on the man that 

 it does not belong to. 



The subject, "The Swine Breeders' Ability to Control the Supply 

 of Pork," which was on the program for general discussion was 

 taken up by W. D. McTavish, of Coggon, Iowa, as follows: 



"In the decade or more that I have been connected with this Swine 

 Breeders' Association we have passed through many vicissitudes and 

 undertaken many things that have seemed easy and found they were 

 difficult. We have undertaken other things that seemed difficult and which 

 we were told were impossible and by united action we have accomplished 

 those things which we were told were impossible. 



Now it may be all of you have noticed that when the swine raisers, 

 especially the swine raisers of Iowa, owing to the large number of hogs 

 produced in Iowa, take a concerted action, it has a marked influence on 

 the market regardless of what the buyers think or what their predictions 

 are or what they want it to be. You have all noticed this past year 

 when hogs went down below a certain point the swine raisers simply 

 held their hogs. What was the result? They came up and when they got 

 up to a certain point they got the hogs. They would have dropped back 

 again, but the swine raiser held his hogs for his price. The result 

 was that we have got right around nine cents right along. When they 

 dropped below we held the hogs and they came back. Now, of course, 

 this cannot always be done, yet it shows that if a concerted action was 

 taken and the producers were united as all other institutions are and 

 we had a community of interest to the extent that we would co-operate 

 we could hold our swine business to a profitable level. I am not saying 

 that we should hold it at nine cents. I think myself that it would have 

 been better for us in the long run if the market values had not gone 

 as high this year and yet that is what we have done. 



Now, you say, how can this be done. If the swine breeders of 

 Iowa make up their minds they will do it, they can do it. It will 

 take organization, the same as the grain men have done in the past. 

 They organized and carried their point. It merely means that we will 

 have an agreement or community of interest. We will have to be 

 organized. 



I have not given this matter very much thought and yet it has occurred 

 to me that we could have our township organizations. We could have a 

 representative man in every township to interest the farmers in that 

 township in the organization. We could have a small membership fee 

 which would go to pay our secretary. Under conditions of this kind we 



