Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1922-10-12
DAIRY STATE
FOR 80 YEARS
Dean II. L. Russell Urges That the In
dustry Be Built Up Still Further
in State,

College of Agriculture, University O
Wisconsin, written by Dean II. L
Russell, in which the author tells o.
Wisconsin's progress during fifty
| years of dairying, and predicts thai
the next fifty years may bring still
greater progress and improvements.
Mr.. Russell points out that dairyine
has stood the test of def1ation since
the Great War better than any other
branch of husbandry. The benefit
that this has brought to the state as 8
whole has been noted lately by Roger
w. Babson, the eminent statisticiar
and economist, who says that no state
in the union in which agricultural in
terests predominant is in better fnan-
cial condition than Wisconsin. He de-
clares it as his unqualified opinion
that the present advantageous fnan-
cial position of the state rests more
upon the basis of the dairying indus
try than upon any other factor. This
is exemplified in hundred daily con-
versations among farmers of this and
other sections of the state in which
one dairyman is sure to say to an
other, 81 don't know what we would
have done if it hadn't been for our
milk checks" Many manufactur-
ed article would have remained in
storage Or upon the merchants shell
YES, many boy or girl would have
remained out of school, many a ma
chine would have stood idle and many
factory worker would have been I'M
employed who has had steady work,
if the dairy COW had not stood by as
: the mainstay Of the farmer, and kept
his purchasing power from falling to
the absolute minimum. Indeed, if the
dairy Industry as whole had not
been upon a sound basis and we'll or
gained all along the line, Wisconsin
and the whole nation would have suf-
fered imlm ensely more than it has.
Land values and the business have
rested more comfortably upon the
foundation that dairying has provided
in this state than they have in the
states where dairying is not an i'm
portant factor.
Dean Russell points out an inter
esting array of figures as to the num-
Der of cows in the state and in the
Union. He shows how Wisconsin is at
an advantage as to markets with
many large industrial and mining
cities nearby, SO that much of the
product of the state need not be con-
densed nor put into cold storage in
order to be sold.
An interesting fact in this connec-
ton is brought out. The price of
dairy products in Wisconsin is not de-
pendent upon exports to foreign coun
tries to any great extent. In 1918,
before prices had been greatly in
creased by the war, only 10 per cent
of Wisconsin's dairy products were
being exported to foreign lands. In
1919, this rose to 25 per cent, but in
1920 it dropped again to 1.8 per cent
and in 1921 it had fallen to one and
one-tenth per cent. So whatever the
condition Of foreign trade in dairy
products, Wisconsin's dairy indus
try has very little cause for worry.
Another factor which is worthy of
consideration is the fact that there is
great diversity of products from
dairying each product being a food
stuff that enjoys a wide popularity,
is highly nutritious and palatable for
people of all ages and is easily shipped
from place to place. Butter, cheese:
condensed milk, ice cream, as we'll as
fluid milk all find prominent place
in the nations dietary. This also
leads to the brisk domestic trading
mentioned above. The farmers who
sell their cream to butter makers must
buy cheese and ice cream, those who
sell to cheese factories must buy but
ter, etc. The rapid increase in city
population in Wisconsin and adjacent
states has added much to the market
for fluid milk as well as to that for
all the other products. Prohibition al
so has increased the consumption of
ice cream and ice cream CONNECTIONS
of all sorts, as we'll as for candies,
many of which are made with milk
as basis.
This trading OF dairy products a.
mong the farmers who are interested
in it's various phases and products has
| been stimulated Of late in Wisconsin
| by a definite campaign against the
consumption of competing products
| like olemargarine and filled milk. We
| are told that in the dairying countries
of Europe such as Denmark a large
| percentage of the farmers who are
| engaged in the dairying business buy
| and eat substitutes for their own pro
ducts. In Wisconsin the ruinous eff.
fects of this policy have been foreseer
and combated. When the dairymer
in the cheese producing sections eat
margarine, they cut down the market
for butter. This leads to a lowering
of the butter price, which may in turf
1 lead to the production of cheese in
/ stood IF h,14ay- on tho now Of +bo ut ba,