Pathways to progress: The Great Lakes; Nutrition for the nation

Through the facilities of this station and the National Association of educational broadcasters Michigan State College presents a pathway to progress. My means of a grant from the fund for adult education an independent organization established by the Ford Foundation radio station WKRN by recording brings you the Great Lakes pathways to progress. The Great Lakes region is a dynamic composed by the

labors of millions of people working together in a home that of all the drivers of business activity. The beauty of nature and the utilization of natural resources promising future by time. Of the Great Lakes region. Pathways to progress. The great lakes like studying the rich green carpet of photo lab dense forests. Here a nation has invested its strength of today and its hopes for the future.

Here the bequest of nature's many blessings builds a cradle for prosperity. Here is a land of welts with no corners don't know great. Regions homes fall strongly for all to hear. But the song is softer. The temple was more leisurely the treatment more crime. As we visit the region for the notes of a crushing have their equivalents here in America playing of milk cans as they're loaded from a dairy truck to the train. Noise sung by the Bessemer steel converter is only a soft whisper and the waving corn fields stretching as far as the eye can see. And the word of city traffic fades into the chug of a tractor in the. Ballot question. Blended into the beef coupled with some good paying the symphony is stronger with their contributions and the listening ear will hear this new phrasing this pastoral movement that tells of

nutrition for the nation. Meat packing in America is one of the world's biggest industries. Thousands of workers there and their livelihoods in the meat processing plants. All those are employed in associated by product industries including leather goods beads and fertilizers chemical glue soap and farmers receive an average of 27 percent of their income from the sale of meat animals. The huge meat business means more jobs for more man more products for more people. And this big meat industry pivots around the Great Lakes and the Midwest. Chicago at the southern end of Lake Michigan has been the dominant center of the industry since 1861. And Chicago's position is reinforced from every quarter

of the region. This regional eminence in the production I was much to the bounty of Mother Nature and generous mother that gave this region an area of rich land known as the Corn Belt. This famous land belt stretches through portions of four Great Lakes states Ohio Indiana Illinois and Minnesota. It's ideally suited to corn growing hot summer days and nights and frequent show hours providing the growing corn plants with perfect climatic conditions and rich soil feeding the young green stalks sending them swiftly upward to yield a rich plentiful harvest. The corn belt was formed in the middle of the North American continent by great ice glaciers moving back and forth over the area. The Continental glacier leveled the surface scraping off the tops of hills and filling in the valleys mixing the subsoil with the topsoil and leaving and rich land for the farmers corn seed. But there are problems confronting the corn farmer. Only a small amount is used for food and the grain is Booky and cost

leadership. These problems are solved by simply feeding the corn to livestock. Yeah there's one thing sure about firing this corn belt. You gotta raise lots of corn and you've got to have plenty of animals to feed the current too. Why I calculate half my income is coming from selling hogs and cattle. That's about the same with my neighbors. Some folks say you could just as well call this the meat belt as well as the Corn Belt. Both cattle and hogs eat richly on McCaughan of the great belt and quickly fighting for the market when they're ready. The farmer ships them to the great stockyards at Chicago. I'll take that utility board right. Where do you go dress out a good 650. OK Bob I'll mark it all right now. The meat buyer is right on horseback through the stock and selecting the animals they wish to buy. One plants of an expert buyer tells him within 1 percent what an animal's dressed weight will be. The stock goes to the meat packing plant. It's processed

and shipped out to all points of the compass everywhere in the land of the last trade that goes along invisibly day and day out efficiently economically. In the earlier days of the livestock business selling system was more hit and miss than today. Sometimes payment was delayed until the meat could be sold in the east. Sometimes stock men failed to receive any pay for delivered animals. Isaac funk of Bloomington Illinois one of the large cattlemen of the day took action to protect his interests. He told his younger brother Jake I want you to move into Chicago for a while. Set up for slaughtering and butchering facilities and a place to sell our meat and most important see that we don't get stung again. We lost too much money on that last deal. I can't afford any more like it. The wisdom of Isaac Funk was quickly proved by a prosperity and growth of his business. Today his portrait hangs in the Saddle Club of the stockyard inn as the incoming cattle trade grew. We're

built on the highways leading into Chicago catering to the drover trade. Many of these offered pens to yard the livestock at night and even large pastures were grazing during the day. The first of these taverns stockyards was built by Willard F. Murray along the sandy ridge line the trail of the Detroit stagecoach line. Mr. MIKE That's what I call worthwhile after such a hot day. We'll be slow on it. Joy it moer Yeah you know would you mind if I get in my long trip right here and let the cattle find their own way to market. If they've been contracted and this lot Well I'd sell em a good price of that was a buyer handy right now that I would be real free and it appears you might be able to do day. Here comes one of the fastest players because he seems to get his stuff from downtown the minute he does down the route.

Good draw. Draw one off one right now and another one for me when this transaction can be carried out. Quick like your unpleasant Myrick blues Head Tavern on the southwestern Plank Road bureaus and Jacksons on the southern city limits. These were the famous names of the day and the livestock and the forerunners of the great union stockyards of today. The tavern yards were the centers of Chicago livestock marketing until the arrival of eastern railroads in 1850 to railroads revolutionize the industry. Thanks. Wiz railroad Chicago was a city on the move and the main business surged ahead. Prior to the eastern rail connections eastbound based shipments were seen as respected by the Great Lakes navigational limitations on the Michigan Central Michigan Southern rails reach Chicago livestock started going east on a year round basis.

The Stock Yards expanded always does get to be big business. Used to be just a tavern. Now we've got two lives coming right up to the front. My Ricks became the huge lake shore yards tavern but lacked rail facilities. I didn't plan. Even the famous Chicago plank roads were beginning to pass into history as the Iron Horse took over in 1856 a railroad was built across the great city. Then the cattle cars from the west could be moved to the eastern lines because the live stock volume increased again. Cincinnati had once been called Park accomplished because of its lead as a meat packing center but by 1861 the Ohio City regretfully watched the giant of the rails take the lead slaughtering a greater number of hogs on an ever expanding schedule. Once she had gained first place in the meat business Chicago never relinquished the lead today. The nation's farmers and ranchers send their livestock to the

markets on a regular and routine basis and receive cash payment within an hour after the animals are weighed in. Meat on the hoof can be consigned to commission farms up to stock yards or direct to the meat packers who has plans to join the stock yards. All livestock at public yards is purchased by case yardage charges and agents commissions are deducted from the cattle raisers check. The dealers quickly and efficiently close the farmer has his money and the market has the livestock and the nations dinner tables soon have them eat the finest in the world. The development of livestock marketing methods paced equally useful achievements in the meat processing and packing industry. The term meat packing of course

underestimates the functions of today's modern processing plant. But original Labor description was quite accurate. The first American meat packer was kept in Springfield Massachusetts 60 41. Mr pension I'm here to purchase food and supplies for a lengthy sea voyage. I've heard your goods highly praised in many quarters and I should like to trade with you. Very good please come in. And your name sir. Captain Joshua Tree with master of the sea. Well Captain tree was we were at your service. Now look in here you can see our cutting tables and packing Barrows. And over there are the salt bins. We have a goodly choice to offer not only pork and beef but venison even bad meat all packed tightly in good preserving salt set to withstand the ravages of any weather. Excellent for barrels of B.

One colonial meat packing plant pointed toward a great future for an industry in 1827. The first slaughter house at Fort Dearborn was built of logs on the branch of the Chicago River. The owner had a government contract to supply the fort with me here began the Chicago meat business with mast fed from forests and cattle driven in from the prairie. Others followed Cliburn into the slaughtering and traded cattle markets were established before 1850. Then came while the nation suffered agonies of internal conflict. Chicago became the great food. From new packing plants. There came food for the soldiers. The war ended but Chicago continued to grow up to the 1870s

and meat had to travel live on the hook. The slaughtering houses by force of necessity were located near the retail meat markets. And apparently nobody thought of doing anything about it but in those same years after 1870 two men came to Chicago both of them dust them to play a vital roles in developing the meat packing industry. One was going to stop us f Swift from New England the other. Philip de armor Swift came to Chicago to buy cattle for his meat company and during the trip he did some thinking. We shipped a thousand pound lives did over a thousand miles of railroad track to Buxton and only about five hundred seventy pounds of it dear will ever get to the meat market. Day-Lewis is away travelling has to be fed and watered on the way. Why ship the live animal. Why not ship only the breast meat. Swift and Company have begun experiments with refrigerated rail cars and other

large meat packing companies did likewise. Armor Morris Libby McNeil and the first cars built by the meat packers were iced before loading and iced again several times on route. They used natural ice come from Lakes frozen in the winter and stored in huge ice houses during the summer the idea worked. And again the refinement in 1877 when a car was fitted out with Brian tanks holding ice and salt brine and ice method gave lower temperatures that lasted longer. And then when George Frick devised machinery for making artificial ice in 1880 a modern refrigerator car was at hand. Now they're a familiar sight on the long trains that travel on land they can deliver any kind of fresh meat anywhere and in time the competition among the meat companies was keen on constant competition that raised meat packing to the position of Chicago's leading industry. The traditions of hard hitting business methods were psychic nature relatedly

moguls of meat Philip armor thought Nelson Morris is my toughest competition why he gets to the stockyard every morning before daylight. That's always getting the best of the hogs and cattle away from me. George I want to see all my buyers here in this office tonight. Now more as we're not going to let Maurice get the jump on us without doing anything about it. As you can see I've got a nice brand new lantern for each idea. I want you to take them and go out into the yards. Go to every pen get the owners out and buy all of the best stock you can vide. We'll have a surprise from as tomorrow as this morning. You know Samoa has met stratagem by sending his buyers into the countryside. They bought whole train loads of livestock and the competition continued. Meanwhile Swift was bending every effort to get more from each

dog. He made soap and fertilizer from what had been waste materials armors plants were quick to follow suit displaying great respect for his research people. Armor encouraged their efforts to glean more profit from the slaughterhouse animals. Every new waste savings was money in the bank and a step ahead of the competition buttons were made from bones blue from feet Combs and ornaments from hormones held from Will and the by products division of the meat business came into existence. The barons of beef the princes of pork they were the ultimate examples of the industrial giant type hardworking clever shrewd. Long after he had reached immense wealth continued to pry around the sinks of his vast packing plants searching for traces of grease in the water such grease meant waste. And when swift discovered waste somebody was involved. And Philip Palmer's millions didn't keep him from arriving at his plant before seven in the morning

and often as early as 4:00 a.m. the smart businessman their driving energy bill to great industry the prosperity they created was infused into the American economy. Streamlined operations and processing meat fostered the assembly line concept of modern manufacturing. Output is tremendous and started brightly with famous product names in the relief of diabetes liver medicines that fight rheumatic fever. Leather Sporting Goods need 100000 cattle hides every year to equip a sports minded nation chemicals by the dozens. Fertilizers to enrich the fields soaps detergents candles and clothing the mainstays of the American diet mass produced mass processed mass consume. And over the lakes and lands northward Canada also finds her banking center in the Great Lakes region. Toronto on Lake Ontario is sometimes called the Chicago of Canada with vast stock yards or great city owned slaughtering

establishment and busy meat packing plants. Ontario highways stretch out between fields of grain and farms for cattle sheep and hogs. Like the Khan belt farmers of the United States many Canadian farmers find it more profitable to feed their grains to meat animals for the livestock markets. Ontario Canada with annual livestock production averaging one hundred twenty million dollars a year living prove again all the international greatness of the Great Lakes region. Other animal products from the Great. Besides their milk for the children. For every. Hundred

from the grave to millions here in this region of the nation. This dairy belt exists today because of a combination of favorable factors contributing to a rich development first of all increasing popularity of dairy products in the diet. The first quarter of this century found that people eating more butter and cheese and drinking more milk the housewife wanted foods that were both appetizing and healthful. And she found them in dairy products. Then the pioneering of the meat industry and refrigerated transportation gave the dairy world a great boon. Minnesota and Wisconsin could enter the Eastern markets something that dairy products out in refrigerated rail cars. Another trend was underway increasing farm specialisation and the consequent decrease in the production of farm butter.

The Corn Belt farmer might well observe Sarah idle Lionhead collars but you know as well as I do with the milk and the hard shoulder early in the morning and late at night I'd be further ahead to concentrate on feeder animals and more corn for the harvest. That's why I'm thinking of cutting down the number of milk collars these Southern farmer all of them felt that takes all my time and strength to get out a good crop of cotton every year. Milk and butter sometimes don't hardly bring back enough to make it worthwhile. Now with cotton it's different than those farms in other parts of the country decreased emphasis on milk calls dairying was encouraged in the great dairy belt butter production moved from one to the creamery as milk manufacture became a specialized industry and at the same time the cities were growing bigger and becoming bigger markets for milk. The city dweller is far removed from the dairy cow and point both of distance and of experience all dairy farms grew up to

supply the needs of the Metropolitan industrial centers and the small towns as well. The interweaving these several factors formed a promising pattern and pointed the direction of progress to a young dairy industry. There are good reasons why a Wisconsin came to be known as the dairy land of the nation. Which is near the Cotton Belt. It has many acres of good pasture land is fortunately located in a high consuming Great Lakes region and she was blessed with great human assets as well. Yankee is no stranger to hard labor. Settled the land and they were followed by Danes Swedes now wage ans Swiss Germans who also knew the ways of hard work and knew dairying too. Leadership came in the person of William dumpster hoard. He was a first editor of a weekly

newspaper The Jefferson County Union. But he quickly became the foremost leader in the Wisconsin dairy business. Sage had a listen to this. The future prosperity of Wisconsin depends on the dairy industry it behooves every citizen to land his whole hearted support to the efforts of improving that industry and this state can no longer depend on grain as far as agricultural living. You read in Hoyts paper again asked by Jupiter and he's given more space to this dairy stuff every week. You know at first it was a column then a whole page and now a lot a whole section of the paper. First thing you know it would be a dairy magazine. There's an awful lot of sense in what he says here too. But I'll be plagued if I'd want to be tied to a cow for a living. Well it would be all right if there were enough good cows to make it a good living. Maybe that's what he means. If your crops aren't easy themselves you know. True enough but I ain't convinced by a long walk yet.

William Hodes writings on dairying did become a separate publication Hard's Dunham and was nationwide circulation and influence. He backed up the force of his convincing editorials with outstanding speaking ability during the state in every direction speaking wherever an opportunity arose and hailing a virtue of the dairy cow. And that's all I say to each of you ambitious farmers here tonight. Forget about trying to raise dual purpose cows. We should breed cattle for the milk producing abilities alone. We should build silos to store water and food for the birds and we should take advantage of every assistance we can get from science and the government agencies responsible for daring improvements is made Mr. hard. You think US farmers can make a living just by raising collars for milk. I certainly do Mr. Reynolds and a better living than most of you have been able to make otherwise. Well keep talking and that's what we're looking for a better living up the initial unpopularity of Horn's policy is gradually died away.

The ideas begin to sound better to German and Scandinavian farmers who are already experienced in handling dairy animals and the farm leaders saw the wisdom of his suggestions. 1872 horrid and the Chester Hasan had formed the Wisconsin diamonds Association and the same year saw the creation of the Wisconsin State Dairy I'm the food commission movement was underway and Wisconsin grew with the new industry while horde was convincing the farmers to specialize in dairy and other leaders were pursuing the roads of science seeking better ways of operating the new industry. One of these leaders was William Arlen Henry head of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. His penetrating analysis of dairy problems one day prompted him to call in his assistant a chemist named Steven Babcock. The bad guys we've got to find a simple butterfat test for our farmers. As it is no none of Norwich cows and their herds are assets and what your

liabilities. I see what you can do about it. Dr. Babcock returned to his lab and went to work. Time after time he rotated his mixtures of sulfuric acid and milk innocent critical machine hoping to separate the fats from the solid so they could be measured. He succeeded in 1890. Now the dairy industry was able to settle on a substantial scientific basis with Babcock simple time asked the farmer actually could measure the dairy value of each cone. Now the creamery could pay the farmer fairly for his milk on the basis of butterfat content. The famous Babcock tests could have meant personal riches to the inventor but in the most unselfish tradition of science Dr. Babcock donated his process fried to the dairy industry and the public. The names of Horde Babcock and Henry are not alone though in the dairy industry's Hall of Fame there's John Bascom and see our van has well made the University of Wisconsin the leading dairy school in the United States. William holic invented malted milk. James L. Kraft modernize the

cheese business starting in Chicago in 1940 with a $65 capital and a one horse wagon. Kraft revitalize the cheese trade with new packaging and advertising methods and with ideas that stimulated more housewife interest in cheese ideas that lifted per capita cheese consumption by more than 50 percent. From 1969 to 1936 men profits handsomely through his use of animal products American and enjoys the highest standard of living in the world made possible in part by the contribution of these products we eat better we live better our lives are healthier stronger and longer thanks to the region that cradles this inexhaustible horn of plenty. Here in the Great Lakes we find the heart of the huge meat industry and the heart of the great dairy industry as well from this region comes a fabulous abundance of meat and milk. Nutrition richer lives for.

The listening ear will hear it music of life in the living played in the theatre stirring and inspiring in its vitality and blending it for you know every voice in the ending modulation and. Promise of the future. The cadence is rising. From a minor key A. Strong theme returns and continues for ever. Use on the Great Lakes. As a way. To progress. You have just heard pathways to progress a series of programmes devoted to the Great Lakes and the people who have made this region such an outstanding area.

Pathways to progress is written by Alec wire directed by Dave Kirshner original music was composed and directed by Norman Kimmel Tom waiver is heard as the voice of the Great Lakes. This program was recorded in the studios of W.K. are on the Michigan State College campus and is presented by means of a grant from the fund for adult education an independent organization established by the Ford Foundation. This is the end of the tape network.