ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 389 



only carts little or nothing for the quality of the cream he buys but he 

 also stretches the test to the very limit of the endurance of the creamery 

 for which he buys. But it is not my purpose to simply bring to mind the 

 conditions as we all know they exist today, all too frequently but I shall 

 also endeavor to lay before you some plans which I believe if carried out 

 would revolutionize present conditions and do much toward relieving them 

 and eliminating much of the present loss. I believe a system of field work 

 could be established in the principal dairy sections, looking toward the 

 betterment of methods and conditions in the hands and on the premises 

 of the producer. 



But before this system there must first be a determination on the part 

 of the managers, secretaries and buttermakers that the standard of Iowa's 

 butter shall be raised. It will also be necessary to gain the aid and co- 

 operation of the producer. I do not believe that compulsory laws, state 

 or national, would bring about the pleasant and profitable results that 

 hearty co-operation Avould. 



When these ends have been gained, let a field man be placed in these 

 principal dairy sections to do personal work on the farms and dairies that 

 will bring about the results. Let these "field men" be men of ability not 

 the fellow who can be hired cheap; but the man who can show results 

 of his labors. Let him be a man who can go to the producer and instruct 

 him in the proper methods of handling and delivering his cream and in 

 care of the separators and other utensils, and not only must this "field 

 man*' be able to instruct the dairy men privately but he must be able also 

 to speak to them collectively in public. Neither can he visit the farm 

 once and expect results but he must visit it not less than once in every 

 thirty days and as much oftener as the conditions seem to require. While 

 at the farm he can also, if he be a man of abiliy, aid and insruct the 

 dairy men in breeding, feeding and testing of the cows. In this way he 

 will not only aid in producing better cream, but more cream and more 

 profit for every dollar invested in feed and labor. "But," says one, "this 

 system would require the expenditure of a vast sum of money to 

 keep these field men in the principal dairy sections." True, there would 

 be some expense connected with it but, my friends, have you ever stopped 

 to figure how much the dairy men of the state are loosing today under the 

 present state of affairs? Few of us have. The report of the dairy com- 

 missioner for 1909 tells us that nearly 102 millions of pounds of butter 

 were made by the creameries of Iowa in that year. Only fifty-one cream- 

 eries were "whole milk" the other four hundred seventy had more or less 

 "gathered cream" and a very large per cent no milk at all. We find that 

 there are comparatively few of the creameries getting nothing but cream 

 that get the highest market price for their butter at all seasons of the 

 year and I verily believe that the present loss over the state is amply large 

 to keep a "field man" in every dairy section in the state, giving him such 

 territory as could be properly handled and pay him $1,200 or more annu- 

 ally and traveling expenses, even if the expense must come directly from 

 the territory served independent of any aid, state or national. But it 

 seems to me, from my view point, that at least part of the funds now 



