ISO The Truth About the Poultry Business 



A short time ago I was talking to a dealer in poultry feeds 

 who was formerly a poultryman himself and who manufac- 

 tures a good poultry food at a price as low as possible under 

 existing conditions. He told me that a few days before on 

 coming into his store he had seen among his customers an 

 old man and woman standing at the window. They were 

 trembling visibly, and under repeated questioning the old 

 man broke down and said he did not have a cent left in the 

 world and did not know how he could get any more food for 

 his poultry or for himself and wife. The price of eggs was 

 so low and feed so high that eggs could not be produced at 

 a profit and he was ruined financially. He was without a 

 friend and threatened with the loss of his home. The dealer, 

 a large-hearted man, said to me, "Conboie, I pitied him. The 

 tears came to my eyes as I beheld that pitiful old man, 

 utterly ruined through his failure to cooperate with his fellow 

 poultrymen." 



This dealer, knowing the out-of-date methods that the 

 poultrymen are using, understanding the inside of the poultry 

 business, and knowing that I was writing a book on the 

 poultry business, added, "Go to it, Conboie, write a book and 

 tell the truth. Help to change the conditions for poultrymen 

 who work three hundred and sixty-five days every year and 

 95% of whom fail because of these conditions." 



In some localities the poultrymen cooperate and buy their 

 foods. In Petaluma many of them cooperate and through 

 Lloyd's establishment obtain their grains at a reduction. 

 Mr. Lloyd has been a great help to the poultrymen in this 

 vicinity; so great, in fact, that the interests are fighting him 

 in every way imaginable. Every possible means is used to pre- 

 vent him from obtaining foods, etc. The manufacturers of beef- 

 scrap, fish-scrap, and all kinds of poultry foods, and the 

 large flour mills in this State refuse to sell to him. There 



