Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-07-29
Compare. Statement Of Chamber Of
Commerce Journal With State Dairy
Commissioners Report to Show In
correctness Of Former-WideIy Diff
fersnt Claims Are Made.
special to Times Republican.

dependent creamerleS, on the theory
that they, rather than the centralizers,
are building UP Iowa butter industry,
some new and strange elements have
entered the contest. For instance,
the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce,
an organization of the big business"
OF DeS tMoines, and offshoot of other
booster organizations, has come into
the fight as defender and champion Of
the centralizer combination.
Commissioner Barney. having opened
war on the centralizer combine. the
secretary of the Chamber of Commerce
comes to their defense and denies
there is any trust or combine or any
concert of action, and generally claims
for the combine that it is the thing
that Is really making Iowa great by
establishing cream buying stations and
gathering up the cream and shipping it
to the cities for use. Now Mr.. Bar
ney comes back with the following
contribution to the controversy, which
will be read with general interest
wherever the creamery business is
live question in Iowa:
Reply Of Commissioner Barney.
"An article which appeared in the
Chamber of Commerce Journal July.
1914. and which bore the heading of
Creamery Trusts a Joke contained so
little Of truth and so much of error
that we feel impelled to correct some
false impressions which will remain as
a result of the article referred to- We
are assuming that the secretary of the
Chamber of Commerce is responsible
for the appearance Of the article in
question, and lest it be charged that
we merely give personal opinions as
opposed to those advanced in the said
article, we propose to answer by quot
ing from reports OF previous dairy
commissioners to the governor Of the
state of Iowa We believe no one is
better prepared than the dairy COM
missioner to report on the conditions
Of the dairy industry and to faithfully
record history concerning progress
made along dairy lines. y
1.-The article begins by stating that
there are thirty or forty so-called CEN
tralizers doing business in Iowa and
along with others mention IL made OF
the Swift Company in Dies Moines. The
dairy commissioners office has no rec
ord OF such a plant. Concerning the
statement that there is nothing in
common with the ownership Of these
plants; they are all competitive with
each other will say that we find in the
last dairy commissioners report list
Of creameries operated by the Swift
company at the following points: Wa
terloo, Clinton, Leon. Dubuque. Iowa
Falls. Keokuk, fCreston. Clarinda and
OttumWa.
Combination Is Diselaimed.
"In the face of the above facts the
49, - n mn hn
knows the facts will charge that there
is anything in common in the owner
ship of these plants Each one Is a
separately owned plant and all are in
competition with. each other for butter
fat Three to four and five Of them
oftentimes maintain collection stations
and buyers in a single neighborhood.'
After the above transformation Is Civ
err we find the question. why try to
poison the public mind against these
people by referring to them collective
" as a trust?' The writer then says
among other things: The co-opera-
tives which formerly were neighbor-
hood affairs and practically had their
little territory to themselves, are ex-
periencing some real competition
1--WE believe that statement to be
true as is indicated by the following
from the report Of Former Commits
sioner H. r. Wright in the nineteenth
annual report to the governor, No. Is,
1905: aess&
".With the beginning Of the cream
shipping system, the quality OF cream
has still further deteriorated for the
reason as already pointed out. that the
cream does not reach the buttermak-
er as soon as it did under the other
systems, and hence the greater deter
ioration. Competition between the
central plants and the local plants has
been so strong that in only few To-
calities is any kind of cream rejected.
Hence the farmer, instead Of having an
inducement for producing high class
cream is actually encouraged by the
situation to careless practices in the
handling of his product. 1t Is not
practicable for the local creamery to
reject his cream, because then he can
ship it to the central plant. Up to the
present time the cream has nearly all
been paid for at the same price. re-
gardless of its quality of cleanliness or
wholesomeness.
Statements Are Misleading.
~"The Des Moines writer states also
that 1T is a fact that with the central
izers the price OF cream to business
from point that made Iowa insignifi--
cant in the rank Of the butter produc
ing states. Contrast this statement
with the. following from page 10 Of the
dairy commissioners seventeenth an
nual report to the governor: While
Iowa Is the greatest dairy state in the
union. judged by the aggregate of but
ter produced Which would indicate
the fact that we are now holding sec
ond place is not due to the careful ma
turing Of the industry by the central
izer interests as claimed by the Des
Moines writer.
ALSO on page 4s Of Commissioner
Wrights seventeenth annual report
appears the following:
THAT the -centralizer plants have
in some greater or less measure sue
ceeded in decreasing the make OF but
ter in the state is certain.
1.-THE next page Of the same report
has the following:
Where Price 10 Paid.
The cooperative creamery has