ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK—PART VIII 40:'. 



I am interested in the dairy interest of this state. I am interested in 

 it as I am in very many other things that pertain to the state's welfare. 

 My interest in the dairy business is a conservation proposition, but I 

 will confess to you frankly that I never realized the full purport of the 

 thing as I realize it now after listening to that speech by Mr. Marsh. I 

 had not studied the commercial side of it to the extent that Mr. Marsh 

 has suggested to us. 



Two or three years ago members of this association commenced to inter- 

 est themselves in getting a state appropriation in order that they might 

 broaden the scope of their work, and they approached me as a candidate 

 for office. Now I am rather shy to make promises, but I did say to 

 them that if, in the wisdom of the legislature it believed that a small 

 appropriation could be spared without curtailing in any way the work 

 of other departments I should be glad to see an appropriation made. I 

 didn't then understand the reason why they were asking for that appro- 

 priation as I understand it tonight. If Mr. Marsh's address could be laid 

 upon the table of every farmer in Iowa it would be worth hundreds of 

 dollars to the state. 



The members of your committee said to me that they were not able 

 to carry on to the extent they wanted to the work of the Iowa State 

 Dairy Association. I understand better now what they meant. "We can't 

 get all of our farmers interested in attending these association meetings," 

 they said to me, "but if we can provide means and expense money where- 

 by the representatives of this association could go among our farmers 

 and organize them into associations and carry on schools of instruction 

 we could greatly enhance dairy interests. We are making money hand 

 over fist in getting people interested in this matter to the extent that 

 they will improve their herds. That isn't all. Mr. Marsh has suggested 

 to you that we can take from the soil in the form of butter many more 

 dollars than we can take in corn and impoverish the soil much less. He 

 might have continued and said that when we are taking from the soil 

 corn, we are not getting the benefits of anyways near the amount of 

 production that the soil could yield. I am leading up to another side of 

 the dairy question. 



I have been traveling over the state a little more recently than here- 

 tofore and I see signs of conservation along the lines I am thinking just 

 now. Instead of permitting the fodder to stand on the fields and be 

 plowed under or burned up, I see that we are putting our fodder into 

 s ; los. I am not an agent for any silo manufacturing company, but it 

 is a question of conservation or rather of waste when we grow corn 

 on our farms and lose a large percent of the revenue in the fodder. Mr. 

 Marsh has shown you the conservation side of the milk and butter proposi- 

 tion. He has shown to you the advantage of knowing the character of 

 stock you are breeding. He has discussed that so much better than 

 I could that I am not going to try to add anything to it. But it is a 

 great waste if we are using more of the soil of this country than is neces- 

 sary even to feed Mr. Marsh's cows. He has said to you that a cow to 

 which he referred was producing four times as much butter-fat as the 



