COOPER'S SHEEP DIP—A REPLY TO MR HOLDEN.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 207, 5 March 1897, Page 2

COOPER'S SHEEP DIP— A REPLY TO MR HOLDEN.

(Advebtisbmknt.) to the editor. Sir,— Having read Mr Holden's contributions to yonr paper npon " Sheep Dips," I feel it it only in common fairness that I ask pormisaion to meet the reckless and unprovoked attack on tho interest of my firm, whioh one of thei* contains. Com* petition in business, be it ever so vigorons, provided it is confined within tbe customary limits of fairness, no man can reasonably object to, but where, as in this case, a person resorts to damaging attacks upon opponents, as a means of advancing his own interests, instead of relying upon their own merits, such conduct deserves the condemnation of all fair dealing men. Mr Holden may find it a costly process besides, for only a few years ago, a rival Dip maker, tried, by similar taoties, to clear Cooper's Dip out of his way, but failing to prove his damaging statements, the venture cost him several thousand pounds. This part of the matter, however, rests with my firm. It is scarcely worth while commenting upon Mr Holden's opinions on Dips and Wools, for they seem unlikely to influence practical men. For instance, while he correctly describes tbe " yolk " as being " nature's protection to keep tbt cold, penetrating winter rains from the skin," he yet seeks to replace this satisfactory provision of nature by " Holden's Potash Soap." I use tbe word " replace " advisedly, for one of the reasons why the writer recommends this potash soap is tb»t the Yorkshire Wool Manufacturers always use it, and as these people nae it for the purpose of removing this no longor useful yolk from tbe wool, I fail to see v/hy Mr Holden advocates its use for a Sheep wash when tbe presence of the yolk is so vitally necessary. Moreover, soap is notoriously soluble in water, and tbe rain would therefore make short shrift of it. Mr Holden perhaps sees this when he advises farmers to dip twica, advice which has fewer objections to the makers of " Soap Dipt " than to the users. Whilst Mr Holden admits that Cooper's Dip is the best cure of scab, ha practically denies its efficacy for Ticks and Lice, which is inexplicable, seeing that the sulphur, which be says it contains, is equally antagonistic to all the lower forms of animal life. It will also come as a surprise to the owners of about one quarter of tbe Sheep now in existence, and who successfully use Cooper— mainly for this very purpose. Are all these men likely to be deceived ? or is it more likely that Mr Holden— being the interested partisan he is— is wrong ? Next to potash Mr Holden's strona point, is evidently " Sulphur." Ido not apply this remark to the smell of it which pervades all bis comments upon rival dips, but to the mineral itself. He assets this is injurious to the yolk— whether it is more so than the potash soap which is used to wash it out I won't say,— but after alleging there is sulphur in Cooper's Dip, he thinks this flimsy reasoning sufficient grounds for the Berious statement that Cooper's Dip " injures tbe wool " and for risking a libel action for heavy damages which may possibly follow. In " proof" of this grave statement he calls to bis aid the following extraordinary illustration: — He recommends somebody to " prepare dissolved sulphur " for spraying fruit trees, but instead of directing this spray on tbe trees, he asks the experimentalist to divert it on his own " beard and hair " which will, be assures us, afterwards become like bristles. When it becomes Mr Holden's happy lot to place evidence before a jury, he will find proofs of this sort bnt small protection against the consequences of his efforts to damage the business of bis rivals. It is not my duty to enlighten Mr Holden on the difference between Cooper's Dip and crude sulphur, or on the chemical stages each ingredient in the former is passed through — first separately and again in combination, during its manufacture, and which are sufficient to account for the notoriously beneficial effects of Cooper's Dip on both tbe skin and wool of sheep. I have before me as I write, a five years' record of clips which realised the highest prices in the London wool market, and these were Cooper-dipped clips. By the side of a solid fact like this, how stands Mr Holden's statement — supported though it be by his surphur spray experiment ? At the recent World's Fair, held in Chicago, was a great exhibition of sheep and wool, and over 800 awards were bestowed upon the Cooperdipped wool, and a diploma was also given, reading : " Excellent in its effectire destruction of insects ; promotes the health ; increases the strength of the fibre and weight and lustre of the fleece." Indeed, the Cooper dipped wool displayed such striking superiority on this occasion that tbe sheep judge issued an extra report regarding it, stating that : Tbo wool was more perfectly grown and commanded the admiration of all who examined it." Where is there finer wool grown in these colonies than in Tasmania, or sheep which realise greater values, and it is a fact, whioh we can prove, that five-sixths of these leading Tasmanian sheep • breeders— from the breeder of " President " downwards — habitually use no other dip but Cooper's. At the last show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, where the moot carefully-bred and carefully-kept sheep are exhibited, out of 151 prises, 100 (or two-thirds) were carried away by Cooper dipped sheep, leaving only one third or bo for all other dips and undipped sheep put together. These are but a few, selected out of a mass of similar proofs, of the untruthfulness of Mr Holden's statements, for it is inconceivable that a preparation with the defects he attributes to this, should, after surviving fifty-fire years worldwide tests, still retain tbe approbation of such a vast and increasing body of practical men. I can, however, cite another fact if the»e are not sufficient. In my own recollection, fully fifty attempts hare been made to place imitations ot Cooper's Powder on the market, Almost evexy dip-maker, doing a general business, now puts up a powder dip, selecting the original Cooper's Dip as his model. Now, if this original is only " a harmless pinch of powder," as Mr Holden describes it in one place, or an " injurious " dip as he consistently (?) charges it to be in another, why should all isheve opponents do Cooper's Dip the ecftDpiiment of imitating it ? I judge Mr Holden (I think not injustly) to be a most unlikely man to mix up benevolence with business, so that be cannot think these imitations are intended as mere forms of flattery. Mr Holden quotes the results of that Sheep Dip trial held many rears ago in Canterbury and points out that Cooper's Dip stood low down in the record of these results. Considering that several of the competitors which were placed " high up " on that occasion, have since become well nigh obsolete, I apprehend it matters little how the competitors were relatively placed, at least so far as practical value is concerned. Ido not, however, dispute the bona fideß of those engaged in carrying out that trial, but it was notwithstanding so devoid of necessary conditions to insure satisfactory results, that bad my firm any previous knowledge of the affair, which they had not, they would nerer have allowed their preparation to participate in it. But in addition to this general statement, I deliberately state, with a foil knowledge lof the circumstances, that Cooper's Dip, : a* « *tf<f by the local agent on thai occasion, bad noV«be ghost of a cuauce of sue*

ceading, and it is • wonder it was not placed quite at the bottom. My firm published their opinions on the matter at tbe time, and subsequent wants hare prored the correctness of onr state* ments. The people of the district, who knew tke real facts, showed their estimation of the erent, by afterwards increasing their use of Cooper until the local sale about eqaalled that ef all other Dips pat together, and the well known sheep breeder, who acted as judge on the occasion and who had the best opportunity of estimating its practical yalue, bas since returned to the use of Cooper, expressing his determination to nse no other dip in the future. I state these facts in simple fairness, and do not begrudge those of onr competitors any of the satisfaction this erent can afford them. Mr Holden objects to the stirring that is requisite in the use of Cooper and distorts tbe subject with unfair comment. For instance, I may just mention that the makers in order to facilitate this proojeM and which is equally nsefnl for All Dips, suggest a bandy form of stirrer--*, mere trifling matter, but amply suffirient, it seems, for Mr Holden to hang one of his "weighty" criticisms on, for an objection to the use of Cooper is, that " It must be stirred with a peculiar kind of stirrer." If stirring is a fatal objection to the use of Cooper's Dip, it is equally so to more than half the articles most useful in daily lifo. It is oaly misuse that occasions the difficult ties to which Mr Holden refers. If, in mixing a fine powder such as mustard, for instance, tbe operation is commenced by deluging it with water, a difficulty arises which otherwise would not, but the mixer is to blame, not the maker of the powder. If to ordinary care and cold water, you add bnt common sense, Cooper's Dip can be worked with tbe least trouble into a creamy fluid and the objections magnified by Mr Holden, would hare no appreciable existence. I have devoted more time to Mr Holden's utterances than they probably deserre, but whilst it appears to be an easy thing for that newspaper contributor to dash down reckless statements, as regardless of arguments and facts, at he is of tbe rights and interests of unoffending people, I feel that I hare no alternative. In riew of tbe fact that the owners of abont 140 millions of sheep who now annually nse Cooper's Dip are on our side and of the 55 year's reputation now extending orer the whole world, we might well ignore this Mi John Holden. But it is as well to warn him to rely upon tbe merits of his " potash soap" for success, instead of npon damaging aspersions on the repu* tations of rivals. He will find this course more honourable, successful, and lam sure less costly — in tbe cad. I remain, etc., Henby Harbowbu. Representative for Wm. Cooper and Nephews.