Charles F.
Curtiss, '87
Dean Charles F. Curtiss of the Division of
Agriculture, Iowa State College, Ames, will give a
lecture in the Toledo Commercial Club rooms next
Tuesday evening, March 27, at 8 o'clock, on his
recent trip to South America. His subject will be
"South American Agriculture and Our Relations
with the South American Republics." The address
is one of the features of a series of lectures given
this season under the auspices of the club and will
be heard with the greatest of interest.
A cordial invitation is extended to the public in
general to hear this important address. The farmers
especially are invited. In all probability the roads
will be bad, but the lecture by Dean Curtiss will
many times repay the extra effort which must be
exerted to attend. It will be the treat of the season
and invaluable to all.
Dean Curtiss is perhaps the most widely known man in
the live stock world. His correspondence concerning
agriculture in general, and live stock in particular,
comes not merely from all parts of the United States,
but also from Europe, Australia and the leading live
stock districts of South America. He is in demand
beyond his time to comply with the calls to judge
live stock at great expositions. Last year he
responded to a repeated invitation to go to South
American and there he judged in the great shows of
the Argentine republic.
It is now just twenty-seven years since Chas. F.
Curtiss became connected with Iowa State College and
its agricultural experiment stateion at Ames. He was
first made farm manager, a year or so after his
graduation, and then in 1891 he bacame assistant
director of the experiment station, when Iowa's
famous "Tama Jim" Wilson went to the
college as dean of agriculture. In 1897, when Mr.
Wilson entered President McKinley's cabinet. Mr.
Curtiss was promoted to succeed him, both as dean and
as director of the experiment station. In the years
that have followed, the growth of the agricultural
work in the college and the experiment station have
been extraordinary and the institution now ranks at
the top in its field and has high standing throughout
the world.
It is doubtful if any other agricultural college man
has such wide relationships with practical
agriculture as Dean Curtiss. Not so long ago a
Chicago reporter referred to him, in a story of the
International Live Stock Exposition, as "the
busiest live stock expert in the world." He
probably is, for he was at that time connected with
the directing boards of eight or ten national and
international agricultural organizations. In Iowa he
is constantly in touch with farmers and their farms
and that is why the work at Ames has always been kept
close to the needs of the farmer, and why its motto,
"Science with Practice," has been
fulfilled.
Dean Curtiss, it may be guessed, is a busy man, and
he is, but he manages to do a tremendous amount of
work and also answer the call for such speaking
engagements as his lecture in Toledo, by making use
of every odd minute. He is as likely to be at his
desk at 7 a.m. and at 10 p.m. as at midday. When at
his desk, or in conferencee, he thinks and acts
quickly. Those associated with him know that mere
palaver doesn't get by him and they talk business
straight from the shoulder when they confer with him
about the college and its work.
Dean Curtiss is a forceful speaker. He always has
something worth while to say and he says it clearly.
Particularly interesting is his story of his trip to
South America, where he had special opportunity for
seeing and learning.
~Toledo Chronicle
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Ira A.
Williams, '98
Williams Compiles a Picturesque
Treatise
Professor Ira A. Williams, '98, formerly connected
with the department of Mines and Mining Engineering,
of Iowa State College, is at present time, connected
with the Oregon Bureau of Mines and Geology. He is
the author of a splendid treatise on the Columbia
River Geology, its geological history, interpreted
from the Columbia River highway, Vol. 2, No. 3, of
the series issued by the Bureau of Mines and
Geological History of Oregon. the subjuect matter is
taken up from the standpoint of scenic features,
discussing the Cascade Range, the Columbia River
gorge, Multnomah falls, and other falls, Larch
Mountain, Basalt flows, Fossil bearing rock at mouth
of Moffet creek, Beacon rock, Eagle creek gorge,
Cascades of the Columbia, Shellrock and Wind
mountains, Mitchell Point, etc.
The treatise contains not only the scenic
description of the geology of the region, but it is
accompanied with splendid illustrations. The work
reflects credit not only on Professor Williams, but
also on the Oregon Bureau of Mines and Geology.
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Orfa Jean
Shontz, Ex-'99
Former Ames Woman Making Good in Legal World
Orfa Jean Shontz, Ex-'99, is referee in the
woman's department of the Juvenile Court at Los
Angeles. She was appointed by Judge Sidney Reeve of
the Juvenile Court and has the distinction of being
the first woman referee. Miss Shontz is making a
great record for herself and a recent issue of the Los
Angeles Times devoted a full page, featuring her
work.
After leaving Ames, Miss Shontz was the manager of
the Columbia Lyceum Bureau at St. Paul, Minn., for
several years. Later she went to California and
studied law at the University of Southern California
at Los Angeles, from which she graduated about three
years ago.
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J.H.
Frandsen, '02
Frandsen's Efforts Recognized
J.H. Frandsen '02, now head professor of dairy
husbandry at the University of Nebraska, enjoys the
distinction of having charge of the newest, largest
and most costly college dairy building at any
institution in the United States, and probably in the
entire world. Professor Frandsen had done good work
in helping to develop the dairy industry of Nebraska
and the building is largely a recognition of his
efforts. Its cost is $200,000. It includes the latest
and best facilities for all branches of dairy
instruction - buttermaking, cheesemaking, market
milk, milk testing, research, class rooms, offices
and a large hall with about 400 seats. The building
is located on the main campus of the College of
Agriculture in the outskirts of Lincoln. It is a
monument to the dairy industry, as well as the
enterprise of the state.
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J.W. Hook, '05
Hook's Example is Worthy of Emulation
While we hear much these days of
college spirit and college loyalty, it would be hard
to frame a set definition for either. Ths is due in a
large measure to the fact that practically every
individual would have a different conceeption of the
significence of these terms. So while there are
varying opinions as to the meaning of these common
phrases, concrete evidences of them are readily
accepted and fully appreciated. On various occasions
Ames alumni have given evidence that they are not
unmindful of the truest significance of these terms
and that they are endowed to a marked degree with
these most amiable and commendable qualities.
Many Ames alumni are in positions today where they
need the assistance of men scientifically trained in
the industries. The fact that they hold those
positions is due, in a measure, to the thoroughness
of their training at Ames. It should be natural for
them in such cases to turn towards their alma mater
for these technically trained men.
This has been done considerably in the past, but the Alumnus
believes it can be carried to a greater extent in the
future, to the mutual advantage of all concerned.
J.W. Hook, '05, who rendered such yeoman service as
president of the General Alumni Association last
year, has recently shown his faith in Ames men and
his loyalty to alma mater by drafting a number of his
fellow alumni into the service of his company.
Mr. Hook's rise in the commercial field has been
rapid. For a few years after graduation he held
positions with the Shoshone Electric Light and Power
Co., Cody, Wyo.; the Des Moines Edison Light Co.; the
Globe Machinery and Supply Co., Des Moines; and the
National Vacuum Heating Co., Marshalltown, Ia., of
which he was the manager. He then became affiliated
with the C.A. Dunham Co. of Marshalltown, and soon
rose to the important position of general manager.
The wonderful growth of that company was due in a
large measure to Mr. Hook's initiative and energy.
While he was connected with this company he showed
his faith in Ames men, and a larg number of them are
now holding responsible positions with the Dunham Co.
In the summer of 1916 Mr. Hook went to New York City,
to enter the employ of the American International
Corporation, which is a part of the National City
Bank. In about seven weeks Mr. Hook was made general
manager of the Allied Machinery Co. of America, which
is one of the affiliated companies of the American
International Corporation. This company sells about
$1,000,000 worth of machinery per month to foreign
buyers, which gives some idea of the responsibility
of Mr. Hook's position.
About two months ago Mr. Hook was given another
advance by being made vice president of the Allied
Machinery Co., and given the responsibility of
forming two new companies, "The Allied Sugar
Machinery Co." and "Allied Construction
Machinery Co." Since this last promotion several
Ames men have entered the employ of the company, with
prospects of more following. It is an example worthy
of emulation by other Ames alumni in responsible
positions.
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R.S.
Fuhrmeister, '08
His Name Sounded Dangerous
Washington - In these days of additional caution
by the United States government, some embarrassment
ensues to innocent parties. An instance of this took
place when R.S. Fuhrmeister of Cedar Rapids,
accompanied by his bride of only a few days, for
whose pleasure he was particularly solicitous,
applied for admission to the State, War and Navy
building. He told the guard at the door his name -
and that was sufficient....
The bridegroom and his bride promptly were refuese
admission.
The name Fuhrmeister is believed by guards at the
State, War and Navy building to be too pronounced a
German name to warrant admission of its owner to the
federal building, and despite the positive assertion
of Mr. Fuhrmeister that he was a native American
citizen and would fight for President Wilson along
with the first to go to the front, he was not
admitted.
Mr. Fuhrmeister is a graduate of Iowa State
College and a rancher. His family has been in this
country for three generations. Fuhrmeister graduated
in agriculture in 1908.
~Cedar Rapids Gazette
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J.E.
Kirstein, Ex-'10
Mr. Kirstein, after spending 3 years at Iowa State
College, was so anxious to get into the harness as a
breeder of Polled Hereford cattle, that he decided to
stop his college life and begin his big field of
activities as a live stock breeder. Having been
reared upon a 760 acre Wright county farm, Mr.
Kirstein had a very thorough knowledge of farm work
and the live stock business. However, he had had no
experience in handling pure bred cattle.
When a lad of sixteen, Ed's father, Mr. John
Kirstein, started him as a Hereford booster by giving
him a white faced calf for a birthday gift. This
animal grew faster than the other calves and Ed still
attributes this to the white faced blood she carried,
but some of us who know something of Mr. Kirstein's
tendencies, think it was partly due to his faithful
feeding of the animal, as feeding is one of Mr.
Kirstein's strong factors as a successful breeder of
Polled Herefords.
Soon after Mr. Kirstein's departure from Ames,
"he took unto himself a wife." While on
their honeymoon trip in the State of Missouri in
1911, Mr. Kirkstein purchased 15 of the choice cows
and heifers from the famous Wyant herd at Blythdale,
Missouri. Mr. Kirstein had his own good judgement and
his good wife's consent to back this undertaking. His
father discouraged the deal and so did his
father-in-law, but Mr. Kirstein knew he had the
chance of a lifetime and so the cattle were landed
upon the Pine Grove Farm in Wright county, Iowa.
The herd now consists of 75 head of Polled Hereford
cows and heifers, headed by the great bull, King
Jewel 4th, which cost Mr. Kirstein $1,000 in cold
cash, besides several hundred miles of traveling to
locate the animal. Mr. Kirstein says, "My first
crop of calves including seven bulls, sold for $125
per head before they were 1 year old; my next crop
averaged over two hundred dollars per head, and in
three years from the date I bought my 15 head of
foundation cattle they had paid for themselves. The
herd had doubled in number with six to spare and I
had $1,000 in cash to the good." Mr. Kirstein
has sold a few of his bulls at $500 and above, and
the 1915 and 1916 crop of calves looks like an
average of at least $500 and should bring more on the
present selling valuation of such stock.
Since starting in this field of live stock breeding,
Mr. Kirstein has converted the whole neighborhood
around him into Polled Hereford enthusiasts. He has
started his two younger brothers, George, who is now
a partner, and Fred, in the game. To drive past the
Kirstein farms as they are located all together on
the same road, one can enjoy the beautiful sight of
the red bodies and white faces grazing upon the old
bluegrass pastures, or snugly sheltered from the
winter's storms on the south side of good,
comfortable cattle barns and wind brakes.
The Kirstein brothers do not confine their efforts to
the cattle raising business alone. They are prodcing
big crops of corn, oats, clover, and alfalfa hay.
Some 400 pigs are raised and marketed annually.
These pigs are fed with self feeders containing corn
and tankage from the very first. Should you be
interested in knowing what it costs the Kirsteins to
produce pork by this method they can give you the
exact cost of the production on their hog raising
operations for the years 1914, 1915, and 1916.
Business principles are applied to every branch of
the Kirstein farms. They know what it costs to
produce stuff on their farms. No guess work goes with
these men. They are alive to the possibilities of
making or loosing upon their farm operations.
In addition to all these business duties, Mr.
Kirstein has time to devote to other activities along
with his farm work. He is fourth vice president of
the American Polled Hereford Association and was
chosen by this association to inspect the animals
that go into their annual sale January 31 at Des
Moines, Iowa. He traveled several thousand miles,
visited 70 herds in twelve different States and
selected the animals that make up the offering of the
association this month.
He is also a director in the Wright County Pure Bred
Live Stock Breeder's Association, director and a
member of the executive committee of the Wright
County Farm Improvement Association, and besides
these lines of work, he is a very active member of
the various township clubs and rural organizations
for which Wright county is noted.
At Mr. Kirstein's home you will find a wholesome
hospitality, housed in a modern, up-to-date
structure, that speaks of interest in home life. The
family now consists of Virginia, four years of age,
and a baby boy six months old, who, Ed says, has
already developed a preference for Polled Hereford
cattle.
~Iowa Agriculturist, Jan. 1917
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Ames Iowa,
Alumni Dine Their Guild in Portland
Graduates of Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, now
prominent in the dairy industry, who were in Portland
for the Western Dairy Products Show were entertained
at dinner at the Hazelwood Friday night by the Ames
Alumni Association of Oregon, of which Judge Thomas
Carrick Burke, collector of customs, is president.
Among the guests were: Ed H. Webster, former chief
of the dairy division bureau of animal industry,
department of agriculture, who is now assistant
general manager of the California Central creameries;
G.E. Frevert, a government milk specialist, who
served as manager of the Western Dairy Products Show;
Professor E.F. Goss, head of the dairy department of
the University of Idaho; and Professor G.L. Martin,
head of the dairy department of Montana Agricultural
College.
E.E. Faville, editor of the Western Farmer,
acted as toastmaster.
~Oregon Daily Journal, March 3, 1917
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Meeting of
Chicago Alumni Association
Chicago alumni, about one hundred strong, gathered
at the City Club on the evening of March 10, for
their 20th annual banquet. It is the custom of the
association to have a dinner in March of each year
and an outing and picnic early in September.
The tables were arranged in the form of a huge A.
Miss Maria Roberts, of the College, was the honored
guest of the occasion. It was quite fitting that a
woman member of the faculty should represent the
college at this annual meeting, as the association
has been presided over during the past year by an
active suffragette - Mrs. Cora Van Velsor Lambert '90
- who, in her inimitable manner, actied as
toastmistress.
Miss Roberts told a most interesting and informing
story of the work and progress of the college.
Statistical comparisons were made of the college of
1890, when Miss Roberts was a student, and of the
institution as it now is. It amazed the older
graduates to learn there are more teachers now than
there were students in those days. And the money they
get and spend at Ames - O, my! Our native state has
certainly grown much in wealth and liberality in
twenty-five years!
After Miss Roberts had made everybody proud of his
alma mater and impressed with the idea that his
diploma had grown in value, speeches were made by
Donald M. Carter '91, Mrs. Helen Kepner Barber '90,
J.F. Brown '03, Mrs. Grace Viall Gray '04 (by
marriage), Philip J. McGuire '93, Charles W. Lamborn
'89 and J.W. Bradford '86.
Officers for the coming year were elected as
follows: President, A.L. Evans '04; vice president,
C.H. Cooley '11; secretary-treasurer, C.E .Harris
'09.
A proposal was made to form something in the
nature of an employment bureau to assist graduates
who come to Chicago in finding suitable positions.
E.C. Higgins '02, who has given thought to the
subject, was appointed to act with the new officers
in formulating a plan. Many of the Chicago alumni,
especially in engineering lines, hold positions that
enable them either to furnish employment or render
assistance in this direction. The idea is to get in
touch with young graduates who come to Chicago and
give them friendly aid in finding good positions and
pleasant social surroundings. The committee will
later have something to say on this subject through
channels that will reach the graduating classes.
There are now about three hundred alumni in or
near Chicago, the majority of whom have a growing
interest in the welfare of the college and its
graduates.
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Pittsburgh
Holds Annual Banquet
The thirteenth annual banquet of the Pittsburgh
Branch of the Iowa State College Alumni Association
was held at the Fort Pitt Hotel in Pittsburgh on
March 3, 1917. Following the dinner, Pres. C.M.
Canady introduced the guest of honor, Mr. M.J. Riggs
'83, of Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Riggs then spoke to those
present, recalling early days at I.S.C. and calling
attention to the important work that school is now
doing. Mr. Riggs is a very enthusiastic alumnus of
I.S.C. and his talk was very much enjoyed by all.
Mr. Hendrix responded to Mr. Riggs' talk, also
speaking on other subjects of interest to the alumni
present. He concluded his remarks with an appeal for
loyalty to our country in the present crisis, and
proposed a toast that we pass through the next twelve
months honorably without war.
Mr. Schantz was then called on to suggest ways to
increase interest in the association. One suggestion
made by mr. Schantz was that those alumni who work in
the city arrange to lunch together occasionally. It
is quite likely the idea will be taken up by some of
th emembers of this association.
An interesting feature of the evening's entertainment
was a program of music and readings. A short business
session was held and the following officers elected
for the next year:
President, Wm. H. Jackson '91
Vice president, G.N. Mereness '04
Those present at the banquet were:
M.J. Riggs '83
C.M. Canady '87, wife and daughter
J.C. Banks '89, and wife
Geo. L. Christy '91, and wife
Fay Nichols '99, and wife
W.W. Hendrix '03, and wife
G.N. Mereness '04, and wife
H.S. Ayers Ex-'06, and wife
John Lage '07
A.A. Canady '08, and wife
L.C. Schantz '08
F.G. Schworm '09, and wife
J.W. Mason '10, and wife
Mrs. B.L. Palmer
J.C. Group '12
Miss Pringle
H.X. White '13
E.M. Bouton '14, and wife
Prof. C.B. Stanton and wife
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