190 



DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



MR. MANTLE: 



I was very sorry indeed to have to remind Mr. Nielsen of the passage 

 of time, as we were all very much interested in what he had to say, and I 

 realize he had come a long way to make this speech. 



All of us who try to keep in touch with world events, appreciate the 

 enterprising progressiveness of the various state governments of Australia, 

 and I think when we have men like Mr. Nielsen, a man who is a member 

 of the government in South Wales, we will understand how so many pro- 

 gressive measures have been put on the statutes of the government. 



We now have with us the representative of Greece to whom I referred 

 earlier in the evening, and without any further introduction, I will call upon 

 Hector M. E. Pasmezoglu, Grecian Consul-General at Saint Louis. 



Greece 



MR. PASMEZOGLU: 



1 was put down on the program for tonight but other business for a 

 time compelled me to be out of town, so I am unprepared; in fact I told 

 your Secretary that I was out and not to put me on the program, but since 

 I have arrived, here I am talking to you. 



Greece, which I have the honor to represent, maintains itself mainly 

 by agriculture. Most of the population are farmers. The southern part of 

 Greece produces the best quality of currants of any part of the world. 

 California produces them, but we can produce a better quality than the 

 domestic currants. On the production of currants we rely principally for 

 the greater part of our income. Besides that, we grow some tobacco and 

 in the northern part of Greece, Sicily, we grow'wheat. In the new territory 

 that we have acquired we grow the best quality of Turkish tobacco known. 

 This is planted about the month of May, and they do it out of sprouts that 

 have been prepared in hotbeds. They are put in plantation about May, and 

 about June they reach up about IV2 feet, making about 14 or 16 leaves, and 

 when the leaves get about yellow, they are picked and are left in the sun 

 until entirely dry. They are selected or graded several times. 



Now, besides the two things I have told you of, there is the cheese in- 

 dustry, which is done in a very primitive way. It is made out of the goat's 

 milk, and I find some Greeks in Colorado who have a herd of sheep of about 

 800, making cheese in the same primitive way as in the old country. Each 

 shepherd will have 800 to 2,000 or 3,000 goats, and leases a mountain range. 

 The goats are milked each day; and the milk is converted into cheese. The 

 most peculiar thing that will interest you is that it is absolutely impossible 

 for anyone to go into the village and procure a glass of milk. The milk is 

 all made into cheese, no milk being shipped into the town. There are abso- 

 lutely no facilities for shipping milk like they do here. I admit that Greece 

 has to do something as far as milk is concerned. 



As far as the government assisting the farmers, this is done very well. 

 We have many experiment stations and give the farmers good financial aid. 

 For about 80 years Greece was dependent, and most of the people are un- 

 educated as our system of education has been in progress but about 25 



