STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. Y53 



money for us, and we thought if we could have a regular equipped milk 

 train for the convenience of the business it would be a good thing indi- 

 vidually and for the company. The railway company agreed if enough 

 would sigu a petition agreeing to ship so it would pay them, they would 

 put an accommodation train on. Someone went up and down the section 

 ti'ibutary to the Grand Trunk soliciting, and several farmers agreed to 

 ship the grand total of 16 cans. With very small hopes we reported to 

 the officials of the railroad, and told them farmers were rather slow in 

 taking hold of a new enterprise, but we believed when they saw their 

 neighbors putting milk into Chicago they would join in, and the business 

 would rapidly increase if they would put on a train. 



They seemed to think so too, and it was put on, and it has made its 

 regular daily trips from that time to this. The Grand Trunk is now and 

 has been for some time carrying daily about 450 cans. The Erie Rail- 

 way delivers in Chicago 555 cans, besides unloading a large amount at 

 Hammond, Hegeswick and other suburban towns. The Pittsburgh & 

 Fort Wayne 350 cans daily to Chicago, and as much more to South 

 Chicago and other outlying towns. The Monon handles 125 cans; Balti- 

 more & Ohio, 200 cans to Chicago, besides supplying Indiana Harbor and 

 Whiting and other towns; the Panhandle, 100 cans daily, besides drop- 

 ping some before they get to the city proper. Total number of cans ship- 

 ped to Chicago from northwestern Indiana, 1,313. That is what goes down 

 town— about one-tenth of the total amount that enters Chicago. These 

 figures are given me by Mr. Eugene Smith, of the firm of Richmond- 

 Smith Company, who are the milk agency of the city. He says, from the 

 best figures it is possible to gather, there is a total of about 14,000 eight- 

 gallon cans of milk entering Chicago daily. 



Up to about 20 years ago, the Elgin, Dundee and other sections north 

 and west of Chicago furnished most of the milk for the city. Prices and 

 the demand were good, and the shippers made money. With the growth 

 of the city the growth of the milk shipping territory to the south and 

 east more than kept pace with it, until there was more milk than there 

 was a demand for, and shippers once in the market would sell their milk 

 at most any price to most anybody until the price got down below the 

 cost of producing it. Besides, a great many selling to irresponsible deal- 

 ers lost milk cans and the whole business was in bad shape. In 1895 

 and 1896 we received on the average for the year 58 cents per can after 

 the price of the ticket was deducted. The producers virtually had noth- 

 ing to say as to price. The dealers in Chicago were made up of all the 

 nationalities on earth, and as to their moral and business reputation there 

 was good, bad and indifferent, and at times it seemed as if the bad were 

 in the majority. 



Farmers were so anxious to ship their milk to Chicago that they would 

 send it to any old thing that had any kind of an old horse and wagon if 

 he would only say he would take it, and the bargain was he would pay 



48-Agri. 



