Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-11-14

PRODUCTION is BELOW AVERAGE
Statistics Seem to Prove That the
Hand or Farm Separator is Actu-
ally Driving Out the Creamery Sep
arators - Great Loss Somewhere is
cated-ExpIanations Due.

Special to Times-Republican.
Des Moines, Nov. 13.-lt is up to
the makers of hand cream separators
to do some explaining. If statistics
prove anything they show that the use
of the hand separator is decreasing the
average output of butter where used
most. Now the hand separator agent
has long story of the wonderful use
fulness of his machine, and the TACT
that more than $4,000 of the machines
are now used in Iowa indicates that the
machine agent is convincing.
But according to the statistics fur
nished by the creamery men OF Iowa
to the state dairy department and en-
bodied in the annual report just filed
by Commissioner Wright with Govern
or Culnmins, 1t is shown that where
the hand or farm separators are used
and the farmers send their product to
the creamery as cream and not as milk
the average production per patron is
below the average and the average pro-
duction per COW Is very low. The
average production of butter per pat
ron In Iowa Is 927 pounds and the av-
erage per COW is 120 pounds. But this
is the average for all kinds Of cream :
cries. For the centralizing plants o.
where farm separators are used. the
figures are different. -Four of the larg-
est of these, for instance, report max
ing 7SS pounds per patron and eighty
per COW. In the case of thirty-seven
other smaller ones the report shows
so2 pounds, per COW and 10 pounds per
cow. The centraiizing plants all make
more butter on an average than the
creameries not following the system
To illustrate the difference between
the two methods the commissioner
gives averages from some individual
counties in the state, Including all
kinds of creameries. For instance. the
number of pounds per patron Is as fol-
lows In the counties named: Bremen,
1,7S1, Delaware 1851, Dubuque 1873,
Palo Alto 1887. And pounds per cow:
Bremen 142, Delaware 15S, Dubuque
1853, Palo Alto 153.
The Importance of these figures
may be realized when it is stated that
of the 720 creameries in Iowa there
are 383 which take cream from the
hand separators and there are 25,SS7
of these cream separators on the farms
of the state. There are sfxty-five
plants which take exclusively from
hand separators. A year ago there
We're 1916 creamery separators in the
creameries but the number has been
reduced to SIG. Thus the hand or farm
separator is actually driving out the
creamery separators, and today fully
40 per cent Of all the creamery butter
made in Iowa comes from the cream
gathered from the farm separators and
converted into butter in the centraliz-
ing plants.
But why should the use of th'. hand
separator reduce the production of
butter per COW? With the size Of
creameries increasing, and the number
of patrons increasing per creamery
why should the production in the CEN
tralizing plants be SO small per pat
ron? The figures would indicate that
there is great loss somewhere, failure
to save all the butter fat, or failure
to keep all the patrons active, or fail
ure to keep the COWS at work, or some-
thing of the sort And in view of the
twenty million dollar value of the
creamery product in Iowa, the inquiry
has close relation to the prosperity
of the state: Commissioner Wright
does not undertake to solve the riddle
in his report, but contents himself
with presenting the facts as they are
reported to him thru official chan
nels. The explanations are due from
other sources.
The late Governor Buren R Sherman
was an indefatigable worker. Per-
haps Iowa has never had a more in
dustrious governor than was Sherman.
He was early and late at his desk, tho
in this respect he did not stick to his
duties more closely than Larrabee and
Cummins. But Sherman did not ac-
complish as much work in the line of
his duty as some of the other gover-
nors He did too much Of the routine
of the office personally. He contract
ed the habit when he was in the Office
or state auditor. he lIlSlSlSu upon De-
ing his own chief in his own Office
and did not turn the work over TO a
deputy. And this custom has been
pretty generally followed in the Office
of auditor of state. Governor Sher-
man left little for his secretary or his
clerks. He attended to his correspon-
dence personally and answered practi-
cally every letter himself. He had no
stenographer with a typewriter and
practically all his correspondence is in
longhand written by himself. He made
it rule to answer every letter. 9th
er governors have followed the rule of
turning over very much of their work
TO others. Welker Given was priv
tie secretary to Governor Sherman
Turing the major part of his term, and
while he trusted him perfectly, Gov
ernor Sherman was never disposed to
leave any matter with others, and
mart of the tire he had no private
secretary. Another thing true OF Bur-
on r. Sherman while IN ONCE was that