1952 Howard Remus Smith

FOREWORD
This biography of Dr. Howard R. Smith was presented at a meeting of the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement, October 17, 1952. The author, Dr. H. Clyde Filley, has been acquainted with the activities of Dr. Smith for nearly fifty years and has a personal knowledge of many of the incidents that he relates. He attended classes taught by Professor Smith when he was a graduate student at the University of Nebraska, and later, he and Smith were fellow members of the University faculty. Because Filley was keenly interested in the control of tuberculosis in the human race and in the economic forces affecting farm income, he followed closely the campaign directed by Dr. Smith to eradicate tuberculosis in livestock.

Dr. Filley is a present Economist for a Lincoln Life Insurance Company and Master of the Nebraska State Grange.

OTTO H. LIEBERS, President
Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement



Howard R. Smith was born on a 640 acre stock farm in Somerset Township, Hillsdale County, Michigan, April 16, 1872. His father F. Hart Smith, was a successful livestock feeder, and a member of the state legislature and the State Fair Board. His mother, Selina Burr Smith, gained more than local recognition as a fine mother, and excellent home maker, a tireless church worker, and an active supporter of the temperance movement.

Howard was the third of the four children in the Hart Smith family. The oldest child was a daughter, Mary Lena Smith. The second child, George Burr Smith, was nearly four years older than Howard, and the fourth child, Floyd Hart Smith, was four years younger.

The boyhood of Howard Smith was similar in many respects to the boyhood of other farm boys in the late seventies and early eighties. He attended school in district No. 9 and learned to do chores and other farm work at an early age. After finishing the rural school, he attended the Addison High School.

In at least two respects his experiences during the important formative years differed from the experiences of most of the farm boys of that period: He grew up in an educational atmosphere. His father had attended college and was a well read man, and his mother had taught school prior to her marriage. There was not only an amply supply of newspapers and magazines in the Smith home, but a good collection of carefully selected books. The parents believed in education. The daughter, Mary Lena, graduated from Olivet College after finishing preparatory school and became an English teacher in high schools. The eldest son, George, attended Oberlin College, later graduated from Hillsdale College, and then entered the legal profession.

A second respect in which Howard Smith’s youthful training differed from that of many other boys, was in the opportunity that he had to learn a great deal about buying, feeding and selling livestock. Hart Smith had a state wide reputation as a feeder of livestock and under his guidance and inspiration, the son learned more about the livestock business before he was twenty, than most men learn in a lifetime. In his early teens he was entrusted with the job of buying cattle and sheep for feeding purposes, filling out bank checks previously signed by his father. One of his greatest boyhood thrills was winning the Grand Championship at the Michigan State Fair on his Shorthorn steer.

Howard entered Michigan State College in the autumn of 1891 and graduated with scholastic honors in 1895. He had planned to go back to the farm, but prices of farm products were extremely low, so in order to earn money to pay loans that he had obtained while in college, he taught science in Tilford Collegiate Academy, Vinton, Iowa, 1895-97 and chemistry and physics in Rock Island High School, Rock Island, Illinois, 1897-99. He liked teaching and decided that he would take advantage of his early training and specialize in the new field of Animal Husbandry.

In the autumn of 1899, he registered in the Graduate College of the University of Wisconsin, majoring in Animal Husbandry. The next year he went to the University of Missouri as a substitute for Professor F.B. Mumford, his former instructor at Michigan State College, who had been granted a leave of absence for a year’s study in Europe. His title at Missouri was Acting Professor of Agriculture.

In the autumn of 1901, Smith came to Nebraska on the invitation of E.A. Burnett, Chairman of the Department of Animal Husbandry. Professor Burnett had been one of Howard’s instructors at Michigan State College when he was a student and assistant in the care of livestock on the college farm. Burnett later went to South Dakota State College as Professor of Animal Husbandry, transferred to Nebraska in 1899 and became Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and Associate Dean of the Industrial College in 1901. Because the major part of his time would be occupied with his new administrative duties, a well trained man was needed to take over the major part of his teaching and research projects. Smith was a logical selection for the position. He was farm reared, had made an exceptional record as a student at Michigan State College and the University of Wisconsin, and had demonstrated his ability as a teacher.

Young Assistant Professor Smith found an interesting situation at Nebraska. A college of Agriculture had been started in the early years but so few students registered for agricultural courses that agriculture was combined with engineering to form the Industrial College.

During the early nineties the regents became convinced that the future of Nebraska and its University were dependent on a prosperous agriculture. Since very few high school graduates were interested in registering for college courses in agriculture, the Board decided to start a School of Agriculture that would run during the winter months and would be open to any young man or boy who had an eighth grade education.

The School of Agriculture opened in December 1895 for a three months term. Only twenty-five students enrolled the first year, but this was considered an auspicious beginning. Student numbers increased rapidly and the school year was ultimately lengthened to three months and the course to four years.

The regents and the little group of faculty members who were interested in agriculture were delighted with the outlook. They visioned the possibility of increasing the number of students carrying agricultural courses and of expanding the work of the Experiment Station. They believed that farm profits could be increased by applying science to agriculture and that this increase in farm profits would increase the prosperity of everyone who lived in Nebraska.

H.R. Smith became a member of this enthusiastic group in the late summer of 1901. He did not need to be indoctrinated with their ideas, because he had long believed in the value of agricultural research and agricultural education. The Nebraska institution was an opportunity and a challenge.

How could the Experiment Station obtain more funds for research and what methods would be most successful in getting information to Nebraska farmers?

During the first year, he taught classes, continued the experimental work started by Professor Burnett and learned as much as possible about the feeding practices of Nebraska farmers. He spoke at Farmers Institutes and talked with students and farmers about livestock problems whenever opportunity offered.

Most Nebraska farmers of the nineties and early nineteen-hundreds knew but little of balanced rations. This lack of knowledge is not surprising since little research had been done in this field. The alfalfa acreage in the state was small in 1901 and limited quite largely to the Platte Valley.

In a farm to farm survey of feeding practices made by Professor Smith in April 1903, he found that many farmers were feeding shelled corn and prairie hay to fattening cattle. This aided him in setting up experiments to show the saving that could be made by feeding oil meal with the prairie hay, and the great value of alfalfa in comparison with prairie hay and straw.

While making observations on the Murphy farm near Vesta in Johnson county, Professor Smith noticed a blue-gray steer in a group of fifty that he thought had championship possibilities, and purchased the steer for use in his judging classes. The price was $67. The steer developed surprisingly well and Professor Smith soon began thinking about exhibiting him at the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago in December. The Chancellor and regents thought this would be an expensive innovation and did not wax enthusiastic over the idea. University funds were far from plentiful and the regents were continuously faced with the problem of trying to stretch them to meet the expanding needs of a growing institution.

But the young man from Michigan was not easily discouraged. He proposed to George Holdrege, Burlington Superintendent, that the railroad furnish transportation for Challenger and two other steers as an advertisement of Nebraska agriculture. Mr. Holdrege was interested and said that he would ship the three steers free, if the University would prepare a feed and forage exhibit that could also be used to advertise Nebraska. Professor Smith prepared the exhibit with the able assistance of E.G. Montgomery of the Department of Agronomy, and Mr. Holdrege was well satisfied with his bargain.

Challenger, a grade steer, was not only exhibited, but became Grand Champion of the International over all breeds and all ages. One of the other steers, Defender, won in the open classes, and the third steer won in the carcass contest. The feed and forage exhibit won a first prize of $75.00. Receipts to the University exceeded $1,000.00 over and above all expenses. Challenger returned $880.00, which included the sale price and the premiums won. The hide was mounted and Challenger became an important part of the Nebraska exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis in 1904.

Probably no previous accomplishment of the University in the field of agriculture received so much publicity as the winning of the Grand Championship at the International in 1903. Here was something that was practical and tangible. Every livestock man knew that Challenger must have not only have been a good animal, but that he must have been fed an excellent ration in order to have surpassed his competitors.

Following this initial success, the University exhibited regularly at the International Livestock Exposition for many years, and always received sufficient prize money to more than pay for expenses. The awarded included several breed championships and one carcass Grand Championship.

The calls for Professor Smith increased. The invitations that he received to judge livestock at county, state, and national shows would have kept two or three men busy during the late summer and early autumn. Only a few of the invitations could be accepted, but these few always resulted in more invitations. Professor Smith not only judged the livestock, but he gave the reasons for his placings and presented them so clearly and logically that the exhibitors were satisfied and the spectators felt that they had learned something worth while. It was teaching of a high type and helped to create respect for the School of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station.

When young Smith first came to Nebraska, he took over a large part of the detail work of the livestock research projects that Professor Burnett had under way. In one of these projects, the feed value of wheat was compared with the feed value of corn. The objective of another project was to determine the conditions under which grain could be fed with profit to steers on summer pasture. It is interesting to note that the results of these 50 year old projects are of use to livestock men today.

Nebraska is an important cattle producing state and Professor Smith was deeply interested in beef production. From his studies he knew that under normal price conditions, low cost gains cannot be secured from a ration deficient in protein. In order to drive this fact home to men who had been accustomed to fatten cattle on shelled corn and prairie hay, he carried out a series of feeding experiment comparing the profits returned from feeding shelled corn and prairie hay with those returned from feeding corn and alfalfa, and with the profit returned from feeding corn, prairie hay and a protein supplement. He proved conclusively that under price conditions then prevailing in Nebraska, shelled corn and alfalfa hay was a more profitable ration than one containing but little protein.

In 1905, Smith prepared “Profitable Stock Feeding,” a book of 413 pages, which was used extensively for many years as a college text and as a convenient source of information by thousands of farmers. The chapters on poultry were written by his sister, Mary Lena Smith, who went back to the Michigan farm after her health gave out teaching. She not only regained her health, but succeeded in the poultry business and as a lecturer on poultry topics at Farmers’ Institute meetings in Nebraska.

Professor Smith’s ability to analyze a problem and his vision of things to come were never better demonstrated than in the winter of 1911, when the Ollis Bill providing for the consolidation of the University on the Agricultural College campus was under consideration in the legislature. It would be difficult for a stranger visiting the main campus of the University today, to comprehend why anyone would have objected to removing the institution from its unfavorable surroundings and rebuilding on a spacious, well located campus. But many Lincoln residents evidenced little concern for the financial problems of University students and could not foresee that the population of the city and its suburbs would approximately double in forty years, and that a part of the residential section of that day would soon be occupied by factories, and wholesale and retail establishments.

Howard Smith looked ahead. Lincoln was then as it is now, the capital of the state, a railway center, the home of the University, and a fine residential city. If the state prospered, the Lincoln of 1911 was destined to grow. The original campus of four blocks was outgrown. Three railway lines were two or three blocks north of the campus. The Northwestern-Missouri Pacific depot was one block west, the Rock Island yards only a few blocks east, and the business district approaching from the south. Most of the University buildings were poorly constructed and the building program had not kept pace with the needs of the growing student body. The time to move was while opportunity was knocking at the door.

But short sighted men were able to defeat consolidation, and the students and the tax payers have been paying a part of the cost of that defeat in every year that has passed since then, and future generations will continue to pay the increased costs that result from a divided campus, and the main campus in a poor location. An opportunity to unite the major part of the University on a single campus will never come again.

Men who establish a reputation as able teachers and able research workers in an institution which pay relatively low salaries, usually receive offers from wealthier institutions at higher salaries. Professor Smith was no exception to this general rule. In the autumn of 1911, he accepted an offer to become Chairman of the Department of Animal Husbandry at the University of Minnesota, and began work in his new position, February 1, 1912. The evening prior to his departure, January 31, the livestock market interests of South Omaha gave Smith a farewell banquet at the Rome Hotel in Omaha. The tribute which follows was prepared for this occasion by Bruce McCullough, editor of the Journal-Stockman.

OUR TRIBUTE
Nebraskans have a pardonable pride in our State University and this being first and foremost an agricultural state, we are pleased to note the important place occupied by the School of Agriculture in the work of the University.

Those of us who are closely associated with the livestock industry of Nebraska and the West have been particularly interested in the work of the Department of Animal Husbandry which for the greater part of the past ten years has been under the supervision of Professor H.R. Smith, and it has been a matter of general congratulation that in no branch of the university’s efforts have the achievements been greater or the results more beneficial and satisfactory to the state.

Enthusiasm is infectious and it has been apparent to all that during these years Professor Smith has been able to impart to his students a genuine pride in their work. The farm and its wonderful possibilities of development presented new attractions to the young men who came under his influence, and those who have gone out from his classes have be precept and practice thrown the weight of their influence in favor of better farming, better stock raising and better living.

His work, however, extended far beyond the limits of his classes. He taught in a larger school. Having received his early training on a well equipped and well conducted stock farm, Professor Smith realized fully, and endeavored faithfully to live up to his realization, the utilitarian nature of his profession as a teacher of animal husbandry and from first to last his effort has been directed toward popularizing scientific agriculture, toward making the discoveries of science and the results of experiments of daily, practical use to the average farmer on the average farm.

Not only have the stock growers of the country, the breeders and feeders, appreciated this successful effort, but the buyers and sellers on the market, the dealers and the packers who place the final stamp of worth on the products of farm and ranch, have awarded to the Department of Animal Husbandry of the University of Nebraska full measure of praise for much that has been accomplished in recent years for the development and improvement of our livestock.

We, therefore, deem it fitting and proper, now that Professor Smith has decided to leave the services of this state for the greater emoluments and greater opportunities offered by the University of one of our sister states, that we, the representatives of the live stock interests of South Omaha, express our sincere regret at the severance of those relations that have always been so pleasant to us and so profitable to the country.

We desire also to express our deep appreciation of the splendid work he has done in the Department of Animal Husbandry for the improvement of the livestock of the West, and to wish our departing friend many years of health, success and usefulness in his new field of labor.

As a result of the leadership Smith had shown in the Department of Animal Husbandry and possibly influenced by his experience in high school teaching, the United States Department of Agriculture asked him to prepare copy for a publication by the Federal government. The manuscript was written in 1910 and issued January 16, 1911 as Office of Experiment Station Circular No. 100, “A Secondary Course in Animal Production.” In one paragraph on tuberculosis in livestock he wrote, “This disease is very prevalent throughout the country and seems difficult to cope with. However, it will be stamped out when once understood, and when proper laws are enacted to combat it.” Little did he dream that in later years, he would be called on to put these very words into effect.

The attendance in the School of Agriculture continued to increase steadily during the early years of the century. Nearly six hundred students were enrolled during the school year 1908-1909. The number of students registered for college courses in agricultural subjects also showed a substantial increase. These increases were in part the result of the glowing reports carried to their home communities by the students, but they were also influenced by the favorable publicity given to the findings of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Although I have limited my discussion of Experiment Station projects to a part of those in Animal Husbandry that were carried on by Professor Smith, the other departments were making many worth while contributions to agricultural science.

As a result of the rapid development on the agricultural campus, the Legislature which met in 1909 divided the Industrial College into a College of Engineering and a College of Agriculture. E.A. Burnett became Dean of the College of Agriculture - a position which he held until he became Chancellor in 1927.

The value of agricultural research and of training in agricultural subjects had finally gained wide recognition. Thoughtful men knew that the improvement in agricultural practices which had resulted from research and teaching was having an influence on farm income and the prosperity of the state. The College of Agriculture had arrived.

Howard R. Smith had also arrived. In fact, he had actually attained a position of distinction several years prior to the establishment of the College of Agriculture. His leadership and his ability had been recognized by the Director of the Experiment Station, by Chancellor E. Benjamin Andrews and by the regents. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1902 and to Professor and Department Chairman in 1903.

Professor Smith also gained wide recognition outside of Nebraska while still a young man. Livestock producers in all the Corn-Belt states, Animal Husbandmen at other Agricultural Colleges, and technical workers in the United States Department of Agriculture read his book and bulletins and accepted him as an authority in his chosen field.

Three annual events started by Professor Smith aided in bringing the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station, the School of Agriculture and the College of Agriculture into closer contact with the public. Two of these events were the annual visit of students in Animal Husbandry courses to the Union Stock Yards and packing plants in South Omaha each winter and the return visit made by representatives of the Stock Yards Company and Livestock Exchange the following autumn. The Department of Animal Husbandry always arranged a special program which included a display of the steers to be shown at the International in Chicago.

I recall quite vividly an incident that occurred in January, 1910, when I was a graduated student and in company with about 200 other students made the annual trip to the Stock Yards. The events of the day always ended with a banquet and program provided by the Stock Yards Company. On this particular evening, Everett Buckingham presided. Following the meal, he spoke briefly and then introduced a representative of the Stock Yards who mentioned the pleasure that the student migration always brought to everyone connected with the Livestock Exchange and the Stock Yards. Mr. Buckingham then called on Professor Smith who expressed the appreciation of the College for the fine entertainment and explained the value of the trip to the students.

At this point the program seemed to hesitate. We learned later that the men who were to take part in the next event, a wrestling match, had not arrived. Some toastmasters might have explained the situation, but not Everett Buckingham. He arose, fairly radiating confidence and good will, and said, “We have heard from a representative of the Stock Yards and from a member of the faculty. We are interested in learning what students think of the handling of livestock at a terminal market and the processing of meat in a packing plant. Professor Smith, will you call on one of the students to represent the group?”

Professor Smith rose slowly. His face flushed and he was noticeably embarrassed. The fact is, he was in a very hot spot. Most of the students were either freshmen whom he had never had in class or Short Course boys whom he knew were not accustomed to giving impromptu talks. His eyes swept gradually around the room. I sympathized with him in the embarrassing situation. But my sympathetic attitude ended very suddenly, for his eyes stopped moving and I saw that he was looking squarely at me. He turned to the toastmaster with his usual poise, smiled and said, “I will call on Mr. Filley.”

At the close of the feeding tests in the spring of 1911, Professor Smith invited the public to come to the Agricultural College Campus and inspect the cattle that had been on feed during the winter. It was a pleasant April day and the farmers who came sat on the fences around the feed lots, looked at the cattle, listened to Professor Smith’s explanation of the results secured from each of the rations fed. The cattle provided ample evidence of the value of protein in a feeding ration. Feeders’ Day has been held annually since that time and the number attending has increased until it taxes the capacity of the Student Activities Building.

Professor Smith returned to Lincoln in the spring of 1912 on a very important mission. He and Hazel Neu were married April 3, and for the next several years made their home in Saint Paul.

At the University of Minnesota, Professor Smith followed the teaching, research and public relations pattern that had brought such significant results at the University of Nebraska. Because Minnesota was a larger institution than Nebraska and better financed, success came quickly. Cattle selected by him and fed under his supervision were soon winning prizes at the International Exposition in Chicago. The carcass of a steer, “Star of the North,” was awarded the Grand Championship in 1913. In less than three years, his name and work were known to practically every livestock farmer in Minnesota. He also became acquainted with many of the leading business men of the state and helped them to recognize the contribution of the livestock industry to the prosperity of the Northwest.

Professor Smith believed that a grain farmer could increase his net income by keeping a herd of cattle on the farm. Nearly every farm has some rough land that is better adapted to grazing than to grain production. Cattle condense bulky feeds into concentrated form for shipment and sale, and utilize oat straw and other farm products that would otherwise be wasted. They aid in distributing the labor of the farmer through the year, provide a variety of food for the farm family and are an important factor in maintaining soil fertility.

“A farmer, a region, a state, or a nation,” said Professor Smith, “does not become wealthy by reducing production or taking something from someone else. Wealth is created by producing useful goods and services, and exchanging the surplus for the useful goods and services produced by other persons. The income of the farms of the Northwest can be increased by increasing the production of livestock. The spending of the additional income will aid the farmer in raising his standard of living, will provide jobs for factory workers and increase wholesale and retail business. Railroads will haul more goods, bankers will handle more money, and professional men will have more clients. In the final analysis, goods are paid for with other goods, and the more grain and livestock the farmer can produce without increasing his operating costs, the more goods he can buy.”

James J. Hill, builder of the Great Northern Railroad and principal stockholder of the First National Bank of Saint Paul, heard Smith talk, agreed with his ideas, and admired the clarity of his presentation. He had previously read Smith’s book, “Profitable Stock Feeding,” and in an address, “Livestock for the Northwest,” given at the Minnesota Bankers Convention in 1914, he spoke of it as the most practical book on the subject that he had ever read. Within a few weeks after hearing Professor Smith talk, Hill had induced him to resign his position at the University and become livestock specialist for the First National Bank and the Great Northern Railroad.

Smith began his new work in 1915. His task was to develop the livestock industry in the Northwest. Since it was impossible for one man to meet all the farmers in the area, he began his work by calling on bankers and appearing on programs at their group meetings. If he could convince the bankers of the value of livestock in a farm program, the bankers would pass the idea on to farmers, because nearly every farmer talks with his banker about business problems. When a man wants a loan, he is inclined to listen carefully to the suggestions given by the man who is making the loan.

The First National Bank of Saint Paul was the correspondent bank for a large number of country banks in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas, and this connection aided in obtaining a friendly reception for Mr. Smith and his ideas. He prepared a booklet, “Cattle for the Northwest,” for general distribution from Wisconsin to the Pacific coast. Mr. Hill died in 1916, but the First National Bank and the Great Northern Railroad wished Smith to continue his promotion activities.

In January 1917, Howard Smith was invited by a committee of meat packers and market officials in Chicago to undertake educational and promotional activities that might lead to a national campaign for the eradication of tuberculosis in livestock. Meat packers had become deeply concerned over the rapid increase in livestock and meat losses resulting from tuberculosis. Condemnation of cattle from this disease trebled from 1907 to 1917 and of hogs quadrupled. The hogs and cattle condemned for tuberculosis in Chicago in 1917 would have filled a stock train 10 miles long and those condemned in the nation would have filled a train 22 miles long.

Smith had served as a member of the Minnesota Livestock Sanitary Board, and thus gained a first hand knowledge of the tuberculosis problem in the state and a general knowledge of the situation in other states. He recognized the offer of the committee as an opportunity to perform a great service and a challenge to his ability. He accepted and became Livestock Commissioner for the Chicago Livestock Exchange. His instructions from his committee were, “Formulate your own program and keep within your budget.”

Thomas E. Wilson, President of Wilson and Company, was one of the members of the committee. He was a man of vision, who saw the possibilities of educational work and took an active part in raising funds which were subscribed by the market interests and the western railroads.

Mr. Smith began an educational campaign to arouse the public to the seriousness of the situation. Livestock producers whose cattle and hogs were free from tuberculosis also lost because the packer buyers took average condemnations into consideration when bidding on slaughter animals, and the public lost as a result of decreased meat supplies and higher prices. The rapid spread of the disease was emphasized. Farm magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, motion pictures and farm meetings provided publicity.

Smith and his assistants traced shipments of tubercular cattle and hogs back to the farms of origin and notified owners and Livestock Sanitary officials. Most of the officials responded by saying that no funds were available for applying the tuberculin test. It was evident that funds for paying a part of the losses suffered by owners of tubercular herds must be made available, if the campaign was to succeed.

Livestock Commissioner Smith went to Washington and conferred with Representative Charles Sloan of Nebraska, whom he had known for many years. Sloan was an attorney who had practiced law in a country town, purchased land, and became deeply interested in farm problems. He recognized the seriousness of the situation and introduced a bill providing adequate legislation and a liberal appropriation.

At the first hearing before the House Agricultural Committee, January 14, 1918, Smith explained the situation and stated, “Progress cannot be made without partial reimbursement to owners of reacting cattle that are slaughtered.”

One of the committee members asked, “why should the Federal government pay farmers for their sick cows?”

Smith explained that the disease came to this country from importation of cattle from foreign countries long before any tuberculin test for detecting the disease had been developed, that the disease in cattle was readily transmitted to people, and therefore, in the interest of public health, all taxpayers should be willing to do their share in eliminating the disease.

A member then asked how much the Federal government should pay. Smith suggested that the cost should be shared equally by the Federal government, the state or county, and the owner, within certain limitations. This proposed division of cost was incorporated in the bill and it passed the House carrying an appropriation of $250,000. Smith knew that this was not enough to get the work well done, so he got in touch with many farm and livestock associations and urged them to cooperate in getting the Senate to increase the appropriation to $500,000. He then arranged for a hearing on the Senate amendment before the House Conferees. Livestock officials from fifteen states attended. The House approved the amendment.

As Chairman of the Legislative Committee of the U.S. Livestock Sanitary Association, Mr. Smith arranged each year for hearings before House and Senate Committees, attended by representatives from many states, who reported on progress in testing and urged increased appropriations, until by 1928, Congress appropriated $6,000,000, when no further hearings were necessary.

Since the Federal Statue required that each state was to pay at least as much toward reimbursing the owners of condemned cattle as the Federal allotment to the state, appropriate legislation was required in each of the 48 states. Sanitary Boards and various Livestock Associations aided in getting bills introduced, but it was necessary for Mr. Smith to help prepare some of the bills. Smith was also called to appear before many state legislatures to explain the need for and purpose of the proposal and to justify state appropriations.

State appropriations were small in the early years, but increased at each legislative session until in 1932, at the bottom of the depression, state and county appropriations totaled $13,000,000. These funds enabled Federal, state and local veterinarians to test many herds. Pure bred cattle were usually the first to be tested. When the area plan of testing all breeding cattle in selected counties was started in 1921, Smith aided Federal and State officials in preparing the regulations. He persuaded the Board of Supervisors of Hillsdale County, Michigan, his boyhood home, to appropriate $3,000 to supplement Federal and State funds for testing all cattle in the county -- the first county in the nation to take such action. Thirty-three Federal veterinarians assembled there and tuberculin tested practically all cattle in the county in twelve days.

To stimulate county area testing, Mr. Smith secured in 1921, the consent of nearly all of the larger packing companies to pay a premium of ten cents per hundred pounds on all hogs properly certified as having been produced in an officially accredited county, practically free from bovine tuberculosis. A county was officially accredited when on the last completed test, less than one-half of one per cent of the cattle reacted. The ten cent premium was justified because that was the average loss caused by tuberculosis in all hogs slaughtered under Federal inspection in the United States at that time.

Mr. Fred Bowditch, Osseo, Hillsdale County, Michigan, was the first farmer in the United States to receive the ten cent per hundred weight premium. It was paid on a car of hogs shipped to Buffalo. Mr. smith was present when the hogs were slaughtered in the Jacob Dold plant. Not a hog condemned, but the throat glands of a few were infected. Arrangements were made with the chief U.S. inspector to send the infected glands to Dr. L. Van Es of the University of Nebraska, who found that the glands were infected with the avian type from contact with tubercular chickens. Other infected glands were sent to the laboratories of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to various Universities. Those from hogs raised in accredited counties were invariably found to be of the avian type. Packing companies paid a total of $3,000,000 in separate premium checks to hog producers in accredited counties from 1921 to 1928, which greatly accelerated cattle testing in the Middle West.

In 1921, the Committee authorized Smith to secure an assistant for the Chicago market territory, so that he could give the major part of his time to the raising of funds at other western markets for hiring men to carry on similar educational work -- all to be coordinated through the Chicago office. Mr. H.R. Davison of Springfield, Illinois was employed. Smith was then asked by the local market committees to recommend men qualified for the work. The recommendations were W.A. Peck, South Saint Paul; H.J. Hoyts, Sioux City; Dr. W.T. Spencer, Omaha; Dr. J.I. Gibson, South Saint Joseph; R.L. Cuff, Kansas City; Dr. D.E. Luckey, East Saint Louis; and Dr. A.J. Knilans, Milwaukee.

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Dr. J.A. Meyers of the Medical College of the University of Minnesota, a leading authority on human tuberculosis, in his recent book, “Man’s Greatest Victory Over Tuberculosis,” says on page 301, “The lion’s share of the livestock commissioner’s work in the various counties was education. Through newspaper publicity, meetings with farms and local civic organizations, such as Chambers of Commerce, Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, and public health officials, their cooperation was received in area testing. Individual farmers in each township were personally interviewed to secure the signatures of at least a majority of the cattle owners, and in some states the names of considerably more than half the farmers in the county were required on the petition. The organization work necessary to accomplish this was prodigious. Even after the signatures were attained, the commissioners often appeared before the county boards to convince the members of the desirability of making the appropriation. This health educational program, from the standpoint of magnitude and success, has never been paralleled in the world’s history . . . Throughout all this work, from the time he became affiliated with the Chicago organization in 1917 to present, H.R. Smith has demonstrated his ability and has served as the key man . . . The work of Smith in this capacity has been monumental.”

Under the area plan, the tuberculin tests were made by Federal, state and local veterinarians under the capable supervision of Dr. John R. Mohler, Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, his assistants and the sanitary officials of the various states. It was a fine example of cooperative effort.

By the end of 1930, all counties in North Carolina, Maine, and Michigan were officially accredited, followed by Indiana in 1931, and Ohio, Wisconsin, Idaho and North Dakota in 1932. In the interest of public health, and as a means of applying pressure, Smith met with boards of health in many large cities, inducing them to pass ordinances to required that not only milk, but butter sold in these cities should come from accredited areas. He worded the label printed on packages of butter, which read, “Made of cream from tuberculin tested herds in officially accredited areas.” This proved to be a helpful measure since it serves to maintain the accredited status. By 1938, every state except California had been officially accredited.

Portuguese dairy farmers in California engaged an attorney, as happened in many other areas, to oppose the test. The State Department of Agriculture requested Smith to appear before a joint session of the California Legislature to urge large appropriations so that the test might be quickly completed. He was also asked to prepare a twelve page illustrated bulletin, “The Conquest of Tuberculosis in Cattle.” This publication was given wide circulation in the counties opposing the test. California, the last of the states, was officially accredited in 1940.

As a result of the testing of all breeding and dairy cattle, the slaughter of the reactors, and the disinfection of the premises, the condemnation of cattle for tuberculosis that were slaughtered under Federal inspection in the United States decreased 99 per cent from 1917 to 1952. The number of hogs condemned decreased 90 per cent during that period. The avian type of tuberculosis, which is found in many poultry flocks, continues to cause some tuberculosis in hogs, but not in cattle.

The almost complete eradication of tubercular cows has been an important factor in decreasing the human death rate caused by non-respiratory tuberculosis from 22.5 per one hundred thousand population in 917 to 1.4 in 1952. There are now very few cases of glandular, abdominal, and bone tuberculosis in the United States. Hunchback were fairly common forty years ago, but are not rarely seen. This affliction was largely the result of bone tuberculosis, mostly of bovine origin.

The United States was the first nation to eliminate bovine tuberculosis. The man who was largely responsible for planning the campaign and carrying it to successful conclusion was Howard R. Smith.

Mr. Smith, who is a modest man, says that the real credit for whatever has been accomplished is due to the men and women who voluntarily subscribed funds to finance the educational and legislative activities of the committee, and to the farm organizations, such as the National Grange, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the livestock associations which backed the program. He also states that the work of the U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry, and state and county agencies was magnificent.

In 1934, when the end of the tuberculosis eradication program was in sight, the men interested in marketing and processing livestock organized The Livestock Loss Prevention Board. The purpose of the organization was to reduce losses from disease and bruising in the marketing process. Mr. Smith was made general manager, and the other men on the staff were made regional managers. Good progress has been made, but the unnecessary losses which result from careless handling will probably never be entirely eliminated. In 1951, the National Livestock Sanitary Committee and the Livestock Loss Prevention Board were consolidated into one organization - Livestock Conservation, Incorporated.

Any man who makes frequent trips to the more important livestock markets and expects an occasional call to each of the 48 states might have difficulty in deciding where to locate his home. Smith moved his family to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1922, in order to be nearer the western markets and thus facilitate the supervision of their educational activities. By 1933, his field work had decreased and he was able to spend a large part of his time in the Chicago office. He, therefore, moved back to Chicago, so that he might spend more time with his family.

There were two children. A daughter, Genevieve Louie, who is now Mrs. George V. Whitford, lives at Wyncote, Pennsylvania. Mr. Whitford is secretary of the Fire Association of Philadelphia. They have three children. The son, Hart F., was an instructor in flying at the Naval Air Base in Corpus Christi, Texas, during World War II, where he is now engaged in business. He is married and has three children.


In 1944, the University of Nebraska conferred the degree, Doctor of Agriculture, on Howard R. Smith in recognition of his accomplishments in tuberculosis eradication and his other contributions to the livestock industry. It was a well merited honor. Relatively few men have done so much for either the livestock industry or the human race as Dr. Smith.

In the late forties, Dr. Smith prepared bills providing for treating cattle for grubs under the area plan. These parasites caused an annual loss in the United states in excess of $100,000,000. Senator Wherry of Nebraska introduced the measure in the Senate and Congressman Gillie of Indiana in the House. It passed, carrying an appropriation of $60,000 annually.

In June, 1952, Dr. Smith received an Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from Michigan State College. His public services, which extended over a period of more than 50 years, have affected every one of the 48 states and reflect honor on the institution where he secured his undergraduate training.

For many years, Dr. Smith has been a member of the American Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science. He served as president of the National Agricultural Society. He is also a member of the Saddle and Sirloin Club of Chicago, and his portrait hangs in their gallery with the portraits of other men who have made significant contributions to the livestock industry. He was a member of the Lincoln, Nebraska, Kiwanis Club for several years, and has since served as chairman of the Support of Churches Committee of the Addison, Michigan, Kiwanis Club.

Like many other persons whose ancestry traces back to New England, the Smiths are members of the Congregational Church. The democratic principles of the Congregational faith fit well with their ideas of religion and government.

Dr. Smith is a Republican. He abhors deceit, dishonesty, hypocrisy, and fraud. He does not believe that the wealth of a country can be increased by printing fiat money, clipping coins, or wasteful spending. He has an abiding confidence in the value of such cardinal virtues as industry, thrift, initiative and courage.

Dr. Smith retired, January 1, 1951. He and Mrs. Smith bought a beautiful brick house in Somerset, Michigan, only two miles from the farm where he lived as a boy. The house was built by an uncle.

Although past 80 years of age, Dr. Smith is active and optimistic. When I called at his home one evening last September, I found that he and Mrs. Smith were attending a concert in Hudson, about 15 miles from their home, and helping to raise money for a hospital. He keeps in touch with world events, has modernized his home, and continues to plan for the future. His face is ruddy, his voice resonant, his eyes bright, his hand clasp firm, and his body as erect as when he represented his college class as Commencement orator in 1895.

Dr. Smith has lived a full life. He has gained recognition as a scientist, as an effective speaker, as a teacher, and a man with vision and initiative. His friends are numbered by the thousands. They live in every one of the forty-eight states, in Hawaii, Alaska, and half a dozen foreign countries.

Although Smith’s work in college classrooms ended thirty-eight years ago, he keeps in touch with many of his former students. He has often said, “In whatever I accomplished in life, I take the greatest pride in the successful careers of so many of my former students.”

Why has Howard Smith succeeded?

Back of his success is his native ability, the environment of his boyhood years, the ideals of service and honesty, and the joy of accomplishment that has lightened his labor through the years.