Missouri State Dairy Association. 399 



th^ term successful market we mean successful from the pro- 

 ducer's standpoint. In our educational work we never have a 

 word to say against a local creamery and cheese factory in a 

 community where conditions are just right to promote their 

 operating successfully. The nationality of the people is quite 

 as important as a sufTicient supply of raw material and good 

 business management. As a rule, we advise against the es- 

 tablishment of local creameries because there are few com- 

 munities where conditions are right. We have seen so many 

 of them fail, especially in the older dairy sections, that we 

 always feel that we have done a service to a community when 

 we point out the essentials for success in running a local cream- 

 ery and the many chances for failure. When a creamery fails 

 it gives the dairy business in a community a setback. No one 

 who has the best interests of the dairy industry at heart wants 

 to see a creamery fail. The best way to prevent such a catas- 

 trophe to a community is to go mighty slow about starting a 

 creamery in the first place. Starting a local creamery nowadays 

 is an entirely different proposition than what it used to be. 

 The almost universal use of the hand separator has changed 

 conditions entirely. More of these creameries made a success 

 fifteen years ago than at the present time. Such creameries 

 used to furnish the one market to a dairy farmer. They had a 

 complete monopoly on the business in the community. They 

 no longer have such a monopoly. Under present-day hand- 

 separator conditions the principle of the little local creamery is 

 entirely wrong. Such a creamery is limited to certain districts 

 and subjected to outside competition. We do not mean by this 

 that it is impossible for a small local creamery to do a success- 

 ful business. We simply wish to emphasize that the chances 

 are against it. 



Creamery promoters with machinery to sell have done 

 more and are still doing more to injure the dairy business than 

 any other factor. They go into a community agitating the 

 building of creameries where, in a great majority of cases, there 

 is and never has been enough cream to support a creamery, 

 even if a creamery got all of the cream in the territory. They 

 are out to sell creamery machinery at a good, stiff price, and 

 that is their business. In some states the work of these pro- 

 motors is made easy because men in the employ of the state 

 get too enthusiastic and advise farmers to build creameries 

 without a full knowledge of local conditions. They cannot 



