DAIRY MEETING. H5 



RESPONSE, 



By Rutillus Alden, President Maine Dairymen's Association. 



In response to the able address of welcome extended to onr 

 Maine Dairymen's Association by the mayor of your beautiful, 

 inland city, which is the pride of our State, I wish to say that 

 this grand reception and cordial welcome have proven what we 

 have always heard of Waterville and its citizens, that they do 

 nothing by halves. 



The generous premiums you have offered to assist us in our 

 dairy work will never be forgotten but will be held in kind 

 remembrance by the members of our association. 



We also feel greatly indebted to this County Grange for the 

 noble and untiring efforts it has put forth to make this meeting 

 a grand success. We are very grateful and I trust appreciate 

 the liberal premiums offered by the leading firms representing 

 dairy goods. 



I want also to testify to our appreciation of the efforts of the 

 press of the State to bring home to our citizens the importance 

 and significance of this conference and our dairy interests. 

 Without this powerful ally our labors would surely fail. 



These facts ought to be an eye-opener to our young men who 

 are growing up on the dairy farms scattered over our State. It 

 should have a tendency to show them the possibilities of our rural 

 sections and the lasting value of our great industry. When we 

 realize the fact that the dairy products of Maine in 1900 

 amounted to between $8,000,000 and $9,000,000, as given by 

 Commissioner Matthews' report, and believe that it is just in 

 its infancy and that its growth in the next decade will surprise 

 our most enthusiastic dairymen, the question arises : Who among 

 our wisest men can comprehend the importance of this great 

 industry to the State of Maine? 



Here is a single branch of our farming that during the year 

 just passed has brought far more money into the State, created 

 it, so to speak, right out of the soil, than the most enthusiastic 



