Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1916-09-13
IOWA SUPERIOR CATTLE
PRODUCING STATE
South American Stock Fanciers Adj
nit Fact to Dean Curtiss of
Ames, Now i'm Argentina.
COME TO
IOWA TO BUY CATTLE
One Breeder of ShOrthOrns i'm Louisa
County Averaged Nearly 5000
Head at Recent Sale.

Something has happened during
the last year that is of vital impor-
lance to Iowa, though not very many
Iowans realize it.
At the Panama-Pacific interna-
tional exposition last year, it will be
remembered that Iowa won the
worlds grand prizes for draft horses,
in each of the five classes in which
Iowa competed. 1t will also be re-
membered that the California au-
thorities became perturbed and i'm
mediately after these awards were
made, succeeded in having Iowa
cattle prohibited from competition.
There was great disappointment
in Iowa when it was known that her
beef and dairy cattle would not be
judged, and the Iowa commission
was disappointed because great
many wealthy foreigners had gath
cred at San Francisco to inspect the
prizewinning cattle and to make
purchases. The commission did the
next best thing and gave several
dinners at the Iowa building, to
which these foreigners and the Of
fetal representatives of foreign gov
ernments were guests. The owners
OF the prize-winning Iowa horses,
and the owners of some of the herds
OF cattle from Iowa, that had been
sent back home, were also guests at
those dinners. Acquaintance devel-
oped into friendships.
Those foreigners did not buy very
many cattle at the exposition, but
they bought railroad tickets to Iowa
and combed the state for the best
stock we ha0. One breeder of Short
horns, in Louisa county, averaged
nearly 5000 head at a recent sale,
while over in Crawford county an
other one of those cattle breeders,
who was present at the dinners at
Iowa building in San Francisco,
broke all existing records by averag-
ing SLOT per head at a sale in
which forty-nine animals were dis
posed of. Those South Americans
had the money and they wanted the
best live stock. aLI- II
A week or two after these sales,
the Argentine government sent a for
NAL and official invitation to Dean c..
F. Curtiss of Iowa State college to
come to Argentine as the guest of
the government to help them for a
month or two in their national horse
and cattle show. This was the first
time that the great cattle section OF
South America had officially recog-
nized Iowa's supremacy in animal
husbandry.
Dean Curtis is in Argentine now
and will remain until November. He
writes to the Greater Iowa associa-
ton that, in Argentine, cattle is the
principal industry and that amongst
the cattle breeders OF Argentine,
Iowa is recognized as being the head
quarters for pedigreed stock. Mr..
Curtis says that acquaintance and
friendships begun at the exposition
are being developed and that in the
years to come Iowa will find an ex-
tensive and very profitable market
in South America.
The same friendships exist in 9TH
er South American countries.
throughout Central America, Can
ada, Australia, New Zealand and the
Orient. Representatives of those
countries were guests of the Iowa
commission on several OCCASIONS
and the story of Iowas predomin-
ance in animal husbandry was told
over and over again.
The real Importance of this devel-
opment goes beyond the mere mar
ket for cattle; a great increase in
breeding of pedigree live stock
means directly the conservation of
Iowa's soil. When we combine the
worlds market in live stock with an
increased production in agriculture,
1t takes a man with a great deal of
courage to even estimate the value
that will accrue to Iowa in dollars
and cents.
Iowa's participation in the Pan
ama-Pacific exposition cost $4,000
What was it worth?