THE WAYWARD BOY, WHY IS HE?

Member Strief (presiding): The next paper is "The Wayward Boy, Why Is He"? by T. H. Stone, State Agent, Training School for Boys, Eldora; Iowa.

This paper will be found on page 130.

Member Strief (presiding): Mr. Stone's subject is now before the conference for discussion.

Miss Alice E. Hopper of Sioux City: I want to express my appreciation of what has been said, especially with reference tc the child placing work, because that is my work. phase of the discussion has been of vital interest, to me.

Every

I would like to speak of a boy who has come back to Sioux City from Eldora. We take the girls and the boys to the Home before sending them to Eldora or to Mitchellville, and keep them confined in rooms.

This boy had a good mother and a good-for-nothing father. He went to Eldora, was paroled and broke his parole. He then wandered around all over the Dakotas and Minnesota, and then came back to Sioux City just before Christmas. His mother is now working. This boy came back to us perfectly satisfied to get back to Sioux City, and become a good boy. And he has been true to the training he received at Eldora. He is living at the Y. M. C. A. and has a job at the packing house, and is making good. If it had not been for the training he received at Eldora, he never would have made good-never would be doing the thing he is doing now. That is just one of the many instances of those who have passed through the training schools and have made good. I appreciate very much being with you this afternoon.

Member Strief (presiding): I have a letter here which the board received from one who is very well known to some members of the conference.. Mr. Hines will read the letter.

"To the Secretary of the Board of Control of State Institutions:

Dear Sir:

I have just returned from Europe having spent one and half years in the medical centers of Europe and the Orient. I resigned my position as medical superintendent of the Norwalk State Hospital of California, July 1, 1924.

Kindly make some note of it in the bulletin because of my long service at Mount Pleasant and enter my name on your mailing list.

Thanking you in advance, I beg to be,

Sincerely,

Los Angeles, California. Charles Franklin Applegate."

Member Strief (presiding): I will appoint as a program committee for the September conference, Superintendent Donohoe, Superintendent Hutchinson and and superintendent

Mogridge.

Warden Hollowell will give the report of the program committee for the June conference.

1. Sterilization

Thomas A. Bess, M. D., Physician,

State Penitentiary,

Fort Madison, Iowa.

2. The Minnesota Children's Bureau and Its Relation to the State Public School.

Hon. Galen A. Merrill, Superintendent,

State Public School,

Owatonna, Minnesota.

3. Public Health Problems

Mrs. Carrie Harvison-Dickey,

Des Moines, Iowa.

4. Administration and Management of a State Institution. O. S. Von Krog, Superintendent,

Training School for Boys,

Eldora, Iowa.

5. Nutrition

Miss Elizabeth Healy,

Fort Dodge, Iowa.

6. The Budget System,

Mr. Ernest L. Hogue,

Director of the Budget,

Des Moines, Iowa.

The conference adjourned, sine die.

DAIRYING AND STATE INSTITUTIONS.

H. E. Colby, Superintendent of Department of Calf Sales, Oakdale, Iowa.

From three viewpoints dairying is an important adjunct of any institution maintained by a commonwealth to provide for its unfortunate citizens. In the dietary of the invalid in particular, and of all inmates in general, milk is essential. But there are varying qualities of milk and some may be decidedly injurious. The very nature of the food makes it extremely susceptible to deleterious influences and if carelessly handled it is sure to lack the quality necessary as a safe food. This implys the importance of controling production in order that the finished article may be put before the consumer with the assurance that it is the best obtainable. To realize this it is simply necessary that the herd be kept free from any suspicion of disease, that it be housed in comfortable sanitary quarters with an ample supply of pure air and sunlight, and that the milk be handled with the utmost care from the time it is drawn until it goes upon the table.

Everyone will admit these fundamentals and the most eloquent plea for the maintenance of a herd in connection with any institution is a visit to the stables of the men from whom one would be forced to buy the milk if it were not home produced.

In the first place, then, milk is essential. the safe assurance of quality is home production.

Quality is imperative and

The third point is of economic significance. This is vouched for by a glance at the animal report of the herds owned in Iowa. Last year the profit above the cost of feed was $107,000. This did not take into consideration the value of the offspring. There are 850 cows of milking age, of these over 500 are registered. This is quite a sizable herd and the surplus from each crop of calves is a factor of no mean proportions. Put these facts, especially the $107,000.00 across the front page in large type and the taxpayers will begin to take notice of our own dairy farms.

The above axioms are universally accepted. Every state in the union maintains farms and dairies in connection with its charitable and correctional institutions and in all but a few in the south where Jerseys predominate, Holsteins are the chosen cattle. The reason for the choice is obvious. In the final analysis the true test of a dairy cow is the ability to produce the largest quantity and the best quality of milk for every pound of feed consumed. Stating it in another way the greatest economy of production is the largest yield for each dollar's worth of feed. In this it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the Holstein cow excels all others. This is indisputable proof that she stands preeminently as foster mother of the world.

The Holstein cow is sturdy, yet she responds readily to good care.

She

is a most economical producer from the standpoint of both volume of milk and cost of feed, and Holstein milk by virtue if its molecular composition is most easily assimilated by the human system. This makes it the most nearly ideal food for both child and adult.

Undoubtedly Governor Patterson had in mind a Holstein when he said: "Her motto is service, and she always gives more than she receives. When the children are well, she makes them better, and they grow and flourish with her constant benefactions. When they are sick and wasted, she raises them up and starts them right again. Her milk is the one perfect food for young and old. It holds every element to sustain and strengthen life. The cow works for all humanity without a complaint. All she asks in exchange for the myriad blessings that she confers in enough to eat and a place to lie down and rest."

Admitting this much the next question is the matter of attaining greater success with the herds. A glance at what has been done by some other states may be helpful.

When dairy farming is mentioned the thought instinctively turns to Wisconsin. That state whose soil and topography preclude the wide fields and the ample prosperity of Iowa has had to look to other lines for her agricultural wealth and she has gone so far in dairying that she is termed the Denmark of America. In Wisconsin there are eleven state owned herds numbering 650 cows of milking age. About 50 per cent are registered. The average production of all is 8,000 pounds. In our own state the average is 9,000 and we have 850 cows and 60 per cent of them registered.

In Wisconsin official testing is being inaugurated gradually. In Wisconsin all the herds are in cow test associations and are averaging 400 pounds of fat which includes grades and heifers. The registered heifers are put on for a seven day test and when four years old they are given a yearly record. A standard of 10,000 pounds of milk has been established for every 4-year old cow, and all the herds are being developed toward that ideal. The work is thoroughly organized and is moving satisfactorily.

South Dakota has made remarkably rapid progress in the past three years, and it is due mostly to testing. There are six institution herds and all are exclusively pure bred. In this she is far ahead of most of the older states. Their largest herd is at the Yankton State Hospital. It numbers 180 head. The next largest is 160 head at Redfield. It is the Yankton plant that has been holding the most prominent place. During the past two years scarcely a copy of the official report has come out without several Yankton State Hospital records. The herd was started as a branch of the regular farm work in 1906. No effort was made to develop production. In 1920 official testing was undertaken. A man was put in charge of the dairy work, accurate records were kept of every cow in the herd, just as they have always been kept in Iowa, and the results were watched. At the start the daily production of a herd of 60 cows was 1,500 pounds. Today it is 3,000 pounds. Of course many cows are milked four times daily, for considerable short time record work is being done all the time. But