The pioneer-review. [volume] (Philip, Haakon County, S.D.) 1920-current, 1922-04-06
Philip 1aakon County, South Dakota Thursday 1922
THE SAFE AND SANE COURSE

ING article IN the Faith Gazette
and pass it along to our reader.
for what it may be worth. w,
have always contended that thu
safe and sane course for the Haa
kon county farmer was that u
always keeping a few good milct
COWS on hand, and providing fee,
for them. They will lift the mort
gage and provide for the family
We happened to note recently
some statistics compiled from til,
last census returns in regard t.
the total returns from agriculture
+ by counties in the United States
/ and made the astonishing discov-
cry that Dane county Wisconsin
was the third on the list for total
amount of agricultural products
In the whole United States there
are only two counties whose re-
ceipts from agriculture are great
en- and these are the great orange
raising counties in California. Not
one Of the big cotton growing
counties of the south or the solid
wheat fields of Minnesota or North
Dakota can approach her. Now
we have been in Dane county Wis
consin, and we were not greatly
impressed by any natural advan-
tages that 1t possessed. Dldn t look
to us like it was any great agri-
culture paradise, in fact we re-
marked why you cant do d
blamed thing here but milk cows
And that comes pretty near beng
the literal truth. Then we notice
that when the recent bank furry
was at its height and they were
hunting the country over for pla-
ces to place commercial paper that
the banks in the dairy region of
southwestern Wisconsin were sail
ing serenity along and absorbing
millions Of that paper. They were
q very great stablizer and support
in a period of general financial
distress. Not bad record for
region that can't do a thing but
milk cows is it? Now the point ~
this. their great wealth and pros
perity, stability Of business, and
individual success is the result not
Of natural advantages or climatic
favors but because OF the nature
of the industry in which they are
engaged and probably has resulted
from the very fact that they cant
do anything but milk COWS. We
can milk cows in South Dakota, in
such things as producing feed
cheaply we have them skinned a
mile. When we lay aside all our
get-rich-quick visions which in
clude big herds and big debts, an
attempt to pay ten per cent inter
est on all the capital we have in
vested and usually upon more
than we ought to have invested
and recognize that a little steady
hard work is one Of the essentials
to success here the same as any
where else in the world, we can
duplicate all that has been done IN
the most favored dairy regions of
the east. The trouble with South
Dakota has been that she has al
ways been trying to do something
else besides milk COWS.
The homesteader comes in with
limited means and few COWS. ne
rapidly builds up a little herd Of
cattle and at once begins to figure
how to get away from the milking.
SO he rushes to town and mort
cages what he has for more stock,
then he works five or six years for
the banks and starts the same pro-
cess over again to get another lit
tie start. On the east side of the
river wheat used to be what clean
ed up the milk COW. They would
build themselves up milking until
they had credit enough to take a
plunge on two or three hundred
acres of wheat, then they would
spend the rest of their lives milk
ing cows to pay up their debts.
Why not stay by the old milk COW
in the first place and when you
have accumulated credit enough
put it into silos, good barns, and
better stock. Lots of work about
it, sure that's just the trouble.