Thirty-sixth Annual Convention 921 



And in the last three months I have bought 50 per cant, cheese 

 and fonnd them to contain from 11 to 12 per cent, of fat. 

 This is the temptation, and the object of my reference to it 

 is to suggest whether it wonkl not be a good phm for this 

 association to ask the hiw-makers of the state for a law nnder 

 which skimmed cheese should l)e branded as to the percentage of 

 fat contained. I believe that the time for this law has come. 

 Cheesemakers have said to me, " IIow am I going to tell what 

 percentage of fat I have in my cheese ? " If you have a Babcock 

 tester and a torsion balance scale you can tell in 15 minutes. I 

 do not dare to put my money into skimmed cheese without testing 

 for butter fat. Xot a single shipment of skimmed cheese has 

 come into the Lowville cold storage this fall but what it is tested 

 for fat. We have a man for that purpose and the tools to do it 

 with. If we arc buying a 50 per cent, skimmed cheese and a 

 man sends a cheese with as little as 10 or 12 or 14 per cent, of but- 

 ter fat, we dock him on the price. It is proper, it is common hon- 

 esty. You cannot afford to do it in any other way. Now then I 

 ask if this association should not take the position, by reso- 

 lution or otherwise, that a law in regard to skimmed cheese 

 be passed making it obligatory upon those who skim cheese in 

 factories to place upon the cheese itself, not on the box but on the 

 cheese, in letters of readable size, three-eighths or one-half inch 

 high, a statement of the percentage of fat in that box of cheese. 

 My impression is that in Wisconsin the law almost prohibits the 

 making of skimmed cheese for this reason; that they have to be 

 made of certain size and appearance so that you can tell them rods 

 away and know they are skimmed cheese. Their shape, size or 

 color distinguishes them from full cream cheese. A further rea- 

 son for branding a skimmed cheese is the fact that many dealers 

 who buy skimmed cheese are selling the public a skimmed cheese 

 that has no brand on it whatever, and they are selling for prices 

 that the consumer cannot afford to pay considering what he 

 is getting. ISTow how does this hurt you ? Assume that I am 

 a grocer in western Xew York and I buy five cheese from 

 Rochester or Syracuse that are skimmed. I take them into 

 my store. You come in and M^ant a pound of cheese. I cut 

 you off a pound and charge you 15 or 20 cents, and you take 



