Thirty-sixth Annual Convention 909 



ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT 

 E, H, Dollar, Heuvelton, IST. Y. 



During the thirty-six years that the Xew York State Dairy- 

 men's Association has been in existence, the dairy fanners of this 

 state have experienced many seasons of nnproiitable business ; 

 many seasons that the expenses of the dairy farm were as much or 

 a little more than the income, but the dairymen of the state for the 

 last few years and esiDCcially for the year 1912 have been more 

 prosperous than ever before. The prices of dairy products have 

 advanced to such an extent that many consumers believe that the 

 dairymen are receiving exorbitant prices for their products, and 

 yet we find that many times they are selling their produce actually 

 below its cost. The consumer oftentimes does not take into con- 

 sideration the increased cost of everything that the farmer has to 

 buy. For example, building material has increased over 10 per 

 cent, in a single year, and the dairyman uses large quanrities of 

 building material. He also uses machinery, groceries, clothing 

 and household goods, all of which have advanced from 10 to 50 

 per cent, in the last decade. Labor, which is one of the chief 

 factors in the cost of dairy products, has advanced in the last 

 fifteen years nearly 100 per cent,, and yet the farm laborer is not 

 getting larger wages than he should for the service required 

 of him. 



The farmer who makes a specialty of dairying must of neces- 

 sity demand from himself and his farm help a long day's work, 

 and even at present prices for dairy products, the dairy farmer is 

 the poorest paid tiller of the soil, in comparison to the efforts that 

 he puts forth, that we have in the state. Certainly dairy products 

 have advanced since 1893 in some instances more than 100 per 

 cent., but let us not forget that the prices at that time were so low 

 that it meant ruin to the dairy industry had they not advanced. 



There are several reasons why the dairyman in many cases is 

 an under-paid man. One reason is the failure of the present sys- 

 tem of paying for milk to stimulate better methods among 

 dairymen. We hear constantly from our city milk authorities the 



