The Idaho recorder., 1922-11-17

The dairy industry is so directly
related to many of our most staple
food products that few industries In
the United States surpass 1t IN I'M
portance. There are some industries
that offer such safe returns to SO
many people. Whole commemorative
have been saved from bankruptcy ana
made happy and prosperous by dairy
ing.
IL is commonly known that Wiscon-
sin is the center of the dairy industry
in the United States at the present
time. The quantity of milk produced
in that state staggers our imagination.
Reed Murray says it was 1O,00O,0OO,
900 pounds in 1921. But we cant
think ten billion pounds.
Some of US have seen the milk
trains speeding into the great cities
in the early morning hours. 1t
would require 1866 trains of 20 cars
each, every car double-decked and
loaded to capacity, to convey 10000
100000 pounds of milk. We can't
imagine it.
Such an unimaginable quantity
production suggests the danger of ov-
er production. Those who are in a
a position to be adjudged authorities
assure us that there is no such dam
ger, however. The facts are, the
growing cities of the east and middle
west are daily demanding SO great a
volume of raw milk that the conden-
series, creameries and cheese manu-
facturers are having difficulty in Sc
curing sufficient to supply their needs.
Because they must develop new fields
of supply is one of the reasons for
their interest in southern and south
eastern Idaho.
When j. l.. Kraft, Chicago cheese
magnate, visited Idaho last May, he
declared he might hinder or delay
the development of dairying on a
grand scale in Idaho, but he could
not prevent it. "It is" he said," the
natural development of our re-
sources"
Mr.. Kraft's visit was given wide
publicity over the satte. Governor
ID. w. Davis followed up Mr.. Kraft's
visit with an invitation to the leading
authorities in the various branches in
the dairy industry in the United
States to make an excursion through
southern Idaho.
The governors invitation was ac-
cepted by nearly all of the distin-
guished men to whom it was extend
ed. The excursion that followed was
history-making. 1t was an occasion
never to be forgotten by those partici-
pating in it. They ran the gauntlet of
emotions all the way from the joy of
discovery to the conscious dignity of
being empire builders.
They saw corn growing thicker in
the rows than they were accustomed to
seeing it elsewhere, with green leaves
way down to the ground, and so tall
that some inquired if it wasn't
spliced. 1t meant a tremendous ton
mage of ensilage for dairy cows.
They saw alfafa with high per-
centage of LEAKAGE and low percent
age OF fiber--great fields of it, grow
ing in perfect luxuriance, and with
scarcely weed anywhere.
They saw pastures maintained at
June efficiency in the hottest part of
the summer.
They saw combination of climate,
soil, feed and water that could not be
paralleled in any other part of the
country. All of this meant that dairy
products could be produced in southern
Idaho at very material saving in the
cost of production. Some of the ex-
perts estimated the saving at at least
25 per cent.
They saw as fine herds of dairy
cows as could be seen in Wisconsin.
New Hampshire or any of the other
older dairy centers. Yet the surface
OF ldaho's great opportunity had
hardly been scratched.
They looked into the faces of Sc
rious-minded farmers. Some of them
had thousands of bushels of potatoes
in the ground which they wouldn't
even dig. Some had bumper crops
of hay and other bulky products which
distance from the larger markets
might render unstable.
Then these distinguished guests of
our state spoke straight out of their
hearts to Idaho. 1t was a message
that combined hope and good, sound
common sense. They told how Wis
consin had been driven into the dairy
business by economic necessity, and
was now one of the most prosperous
states in the union. They pointed to
the economy in freight in condensing
forty carloads of alfalfa into one ear
load of butter or cheese by feeding it
to dairy cows. They said many other
things, and are st.ll saying them, the
effects of which will be felt in Idaho
for years to come.
In one golden sentence ]. l.. Kraft
wiped out our freight bugaboo, as
far as cheese is concerned, completely
off the map. When he offered to
purchase all the cheese Idaho could
produce at the same price, in f. o. b.
carload lots, that he pays for cheese
in Wisconsin, he put Idaho cheese
on the same market basis with that
OF the present dairy center of the
United States.
Will Idaho become the center of the
dairy industry of the United States ?
II seems altogether certain. II will
take time. Perhaps ten or fifteen
years, possibly more; but it will
come, and il will mean hundreds OF
millions of dollars to Idaho.
Q. Can you name the members OF