Evening star., 1936-02-01

Taking the stuffed -shirtism out of the
proud aristocracy of the barnyard is
task to which Secretary of Agriculture
Henry A. Wallace and group OF de-
partment scientists have set themselves.
They are engaged, under the leadership
of DR.. 0. E. Reed, chief of the Bureau OF
Dairy Industry, in compiling new So
cial register of pigs, sheep, COWS sand
other farm animals in which a good
many pampered, strutting creatures who
now wear blue ribbons at county fairs
will find themselves ignored.
The criterion of animal superiority,
Secretary Wallace maintains in the cur
rent issue of the Scientific Monthly,
should be actual performance rather
than tradition determined decorative
ness. He is disgusted with the pig stand
ard, for example, in which the status OF
a family is solemnly judged by sober pro-
fessors according to the twist OF the tail
or the shape of the ears, with complete
disregard for the quality of the hams.
A pigs job in the world, he maintains,
is to manufacture pork out of corn. The
pig who does this best is the best pig,
and if he can transmit the quality to his
progeny, then he is the sire of the best
family. His blood is the blood worth pre-
serving.
So, says the secretary, his committee
of geneticists are compiling from all over
the world an Almanac de Gotha OF
agricultural aristocratS. The lists will
show where superior breeding ma
terial is available and tell concisely
why it is superior" The surprising
result up to the present, he says, is that
in most classes the scientists have had
no precedents to guide them. They have
examined the superior lists" of Europe
and America. These have been compiled
painstakingly. No royal families have
more research devoted to their lineage
than do families of blue-ribbon pigs.
But why are these families superior,
The geneticists ask. The genealogists
have no good answer. Says Secretary
Wallace:
There are strains that have become
famous, that are in wide demand and
command a permium on the breeding
market. But when it comes to appraiS-
ing these strains from the standpoint of
superiority in characters that really mat
ter, economically or practically. we find
that we are standing on very unsure
ground. There is very little in the way
of standards to measure this kind OF
superiority, which is the only kind that
should count. Such standards as do exist
are almost entirely based on conforma-
ton, color, type and other show points
that make pretty animal, but not nee
essarily a useful one. Yet these show
points, along with the pedigrees, are the
ones that guide the breeder, and they
have become so firmly imbedded in
tradition that we have come to associate
them with merit-which Is very much
like saying that people with lantern jaws,
or a prominent nose, or royal ancestors
belong, ipso facto, to superior race.
"The analysis shows that very little is
being done in the way of making Wig
orous and direct effort to break the jam.
It may be said that the situation Is in
evitable. Certain logical possibilities for
progress are rather widely accepted by
forward looking animal geneticists, but
there is doubt and hesitation in trying
these possibilities"
Already, the Secretary reveals. the re-
search has had some practical results.
There have been importations OF Danish
and Yorkshire swine, red Danish cattle
and Hungarian horses. The swine are
not so pretty to look at, but they are
champions at producing bacon. 1t may
be possible to transfer some Of this abil-