Decorah public opinion., 1923-02-07
DIRT MAKES IOWA
BIG SAYS SPEAKER
No State Can be Big Unless it Has
Dirt Upon Which, 10 Plant
Its Feet.
IOWA RICHEST FARMING
CENTER IN UNITED STATES
Little Town Of Spillville Prodaced
Twelve World Characters, In
GLIDING Present Ruler sf
the Czecko-S -Slovak
Republic.

''Dirt makes Iowa big" Royal Hol-
brook, Iowa State College, Ames, told
masterbakers at their recent meet
ing. mo state can be big unless
it has dirt upon which to plant it's
feet. Iowa is big. Big means larger
than large. Iowa is only one-fifth
as large as Texas, but Iowa is big
in resouroes-bigger in fact, than
any state in the union.
Asking the questions, "What makes
Iowa big, who made Iowa, when was
] Iowa made, and how was Iowa made,
the speaker took his listener in am
interesting reflection on this section
of the continent thousands and thous-
ands of years ago, down thru the
different ages, the stone age, the
coal age and finally the glacial age,
when five great glaciers moved
across what is now Iowa, ersding the
rocks, grinding up the elements OF
good soil in them pushing it ahead
and finally depositing it in our val
leys. Our glaciated soil is worth
$4,000 more per square mile than
any other soil, he declared, because it
has all the elements in it and plenty
of them.
Mr.. Holbrook then entered upon q
discussion of the resources and the
great diversity of the manufactured
products of the state. 'Iowa Is the
richest farming center in the United
States and the farmer is worth more
than the average banker, including
surplus he said.
1--WE have just the right amount
of rainfall in Iowa for growing crops,
and our temperatures are just right.
"The greatest Belgian horses in
the world are found in Iowa and
more than half the Belgian horses
in the United States are found on
our farms. Then we have other
breeds as well.
And cows. We are long on COWS,
Iowa is known the world over for her
cows, for her Herefords, and hogs,
the great mortgage litter of Iowa.
If all che hogs in the. state could be
put into one big hog, he could drink
at the mouth of Mississippi and his
old tail would be awagging in Green
land
i. Il hn
largest gold fish farm in the United
States. Over in the eastern section
we had some marshy land that used
to serve as a duck feeding ground.
Then an enterprising man built
dams there and now we have, the big
gest frog farm in the country. Frog
legs for eastern tables are raised.
Talk about the resources of Iowa.
We have sheep, millions of bees,
mules, the biggest basket factory in
the world at Burlington, the button
industry at Muscatine, the only fish
hatchery for baby clans in the coun-
try at Fairport, the biggest broom
factory in the world at Davenport,
the biggest cream separator factory
in the world right in Waterloo,
as well as a factory that supplies
60 per cent of the gasoline engines
on the farms.
''In this state we have the biggest
steel car works in the world, and we
make fine pianos, too. The little
town of Spillville produced 12 world
characters, including the present rul. !.
er of the Czecho-slovak republic. and
Dvorak, composer of the immortal
Humoresque.
! T'hen we have fine educational in
stitutions, the finest normal college In
the country, the university, with one
of the three best medical colleges in
the world, and we have the college at
Ames, second largest school of its
kind in the world, with one of the
three best engineering colleges in
the country"