DAIRY MEETING. I9I 



ness of today a losing proposition? Is the average milk pro- 

 ducer running behind financially? Is he failing to get such a 

 return for his labor and capital as similar amounts of labor, 

 skill and capital return in other occupations? If so, why? If 

 it is found that the average dairyman is losing money, are any 

 dairymen doing well? If so, what is the difference between 

 them and the unsuccessful? 



It is noticeable in this study that there seems to be more 

 unrest among the producers of market milk, than among the 

 producers of milk for butter and cheese factories or for the 

 manufacture of butter and cheese at home, even when the re- 

 turns are the same. At the outset, therefore, it is interesting 

 to consider certain elements of human nature and certain psy- 

 chological facts. It is characteristic of human nature for those 

 in moderate circumstances to be somewhat distrustful and criti- 

 cal of those whom fortune has favored, especially when persons 

 of the two classes have business relations with each other. A 

 person keeping only 8 or 10 cows and selling milk to a powerful 

 corporation easily develops suspicion and discontent, and in 

 that frame of mind he cannot look at the situation logically or 

 judicially. He may possibly be making a larger per cent of 

 profit than is the prosperous middleman, but his dairy business 

 is so small that he cannot make a living; while the aggregate 

 profit of the middleman may be enormous on account of the 

 size of his transactions, even if the per cent of gain per quart 

 is comparatively small. When a number of such producers 

 discuss their common and often actual grievances there arises 

 the contagion of the crowd, and the grievance may be exag- 

 gerated and gain force as it attracts larger numbers. Then the 

 demagogue politician, the thoughtless sentimentalist, and the 

 superficial friend of the farmer come to the front — with pro- 

 fuse solicitude in his behalf, and all kinds of schemes for 

 help (?), but possibly misleading him after all. Meanwhile 

 he is in such a discontented frame of mind as easily to fall 

 a prey to plausible sophistry. If he is not making satisfactory 

 gains it is easier to attack middlemen or railroads than to study 

 his own methods. 



There should be honest effort on the part of dairy leaders 

 to examine the situation, to investigate for the purpose of 

 digging out the truth, and then to bring what information they 

 get to the real help of the milk producer. 



