The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-07-02

should be toward the missionaries who
go around the state and at so much
per diem from the government show
the benighted people how to do things
in an uptodate way. Following is one
of his recent editorials:
Milk Clubs and Cattle Ticks
Miss May Morse, who is described
as dairy specialist and supervisor of
milk clubs in Jacksonville, has been
interviewed by the Florida Times
Union and her interview, more than
likely written by herself, appeared in
that paper of the 21st inst.
Insofar as Miss Morse's work con-
tributes to an increased consumption
of milk among children, and even
adults, she may be said to be doing
good. But Miss Morse does not stop
there. In the course of her "inter-
view" she is quoted as saying:
'"The cattle ticks have been the
greatest handicap to developing the
dairy industry in Florida, and l find
that members who live in counties
where systematic tick eradication
work is not in progress are voluntari-
ly dipping their cattle if there is a
dipping vat available, or else resort
to greasing their stock to keep the
ticks off.
"All of them have learned that the
COWS give less milk when carrying a
| lot of ticks than when they are tick
free, and as increased milk production
is the main object of the club which
was originated and fathered by Mr..
F. C. Grower, the members are doing
everything in their power to keep
their stock free of ticks. There is no
doubt that with the release of counties
from tick fever quarantine there will
| be a great increase in number of
mich cows owned and they will be of
much better quality than those now
| found in the state"
| Miss Morse is city bred woman
and what she doesn't know about cows
would probably require as much book
room as is afforded by the shelves of
the Congressional Library.
That she is part of the syndicated
crowd engaged in the propaganda for
tick eradication in this state is ap-
parent. That propaganda is fathered,
not by Mr.. F. G. Grower, a wholesale
druggist who would profit by the sale
of tick eradicating chemicals, but the
beef trust.
| 1t was this trust, aided and abetted
by the press of Florida, that came
mighty near causing the enactment
by the late legislature of a bill COM
polling the cattle men to dip their
cattle every fourteen days for long
period of months and which would
have compelled the counties of the
state to build innumerable dipping
watts at the expense of the people.
But it would have done more than
that. 1t would, had it became a law,
have compelled every cattle man now
doing business in this state to retire
from business. And simply because
he could not have complied with the
law and remained in business.
The tick no doubt has been largely
responsible for keeping the cattle in
dustry in this state from taking the
place to which it is rightfully en-
titled. And it is gratifying to know
that cattle men in all parts of the
state are waking up to the Importance
of dipping their stock as means of
Kidding them of the handicap to a
greater prosperity.
But this beef trust for which Miss
Morse is at least indirectly working
is not plugging for the prosperity of
our Florida cattle men. Had they
been successful in passing the ingeni-
ously worded law which they present
ed to the legislature in the guise of
philanthropic legislation, the men now
in the business would have been ruin
Ell and the beef trust would have been
in the saddle in Florida.
Miss Morse has no reason to wor-
ry about the quality of milk produced
in Florida Having consumed milk
in at least ten different states of the
Union, it is our private opinion, here.
by publicly expressed, that a gallon
of Florida milk will produce as much
cream as the same quantity in any
other state.
Tick eradication is coming, but II
is not coming to the cattle men of
this state of Florida through any ar
bitrary acts of the legislature. 1t Is
coming through the education of the
men who own the cattle to the prime
Importance of such eradication.
But the city philanthropist who
never owned cow in her life, who
knows nothing of the COW business,
and who would shrek and run from
a grazing Shorthorn, is contributing
nothing by her learned diatribe on
"Milk Culture and It's Relative Rela-
ton to a More Amicable Baby Crop"
is going to contribute nothing, and