SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII. 263 



as in quantity, but all who are familiar with the situation will agree with 

 me that it is not to the extent that it should be. 



The introduction of any new system, or the departure from any estab- 

 lished custom, is bound to be attended by more or less confusion. The 

 introduction of the hand separator and the centralizing creamery is caus- 

 ing a revolution in the manner of handling the raw material from the 

 dairymen, and' so far has resulted in materially lowering the quality of 

 our butter. But while we may view this with regret, and even alarm, we 

 must not fail to remember that the greatest good is always accomplished 

 when the greatest number are benefited; and that the coming of these 

 two factors, or institutions, has opened up a large area of our State to 

 the possibilities of dairying that has heretofore been deprived of it, and 

 that they are now adding materially to the wealth of the people and the 

 State. While we may deprecate, and with good reason, some of their 

 methods, we might also criticize some of the methods of the old and 

 established individual and co-operative creameries. 



There is one thing, in this relation, that I wish particularly to speak 

 of at this time, and that is the practice of certain railroads making a rate 

 to the centralizing creamery that encourages the shipping of the raw 

 material cut of the State, or, in other words, discriminating against cer- 

 tain cities in the State in favor of cities at a much greater distance in 

 other States. I believe the practice to be wrong and pernicious in that 

 it takes away — and gives credit to other States — that which properly 

 belongs to Iowa. It is discriminating against a home manufacturer in 

 favor of a foreign one, and is not in keeping with the principles of justice 

 and right which should govern railroads or any other corporations; and 

 I believe if the laws of the State will not reach and do away with this 

 practice, the creameries would be justified, so far as possible, in refusing 

 to do business with railroads engaging in this business. 



We have just passed through a year of unprecedented prosperity in the 

 dairy industry. Prices of dairy products have ruled higher than for 

 many years past, and this in the face of the large losses made by dealers 

 the year previous. A year ago we went into the winter season with a 

 surplus of 76,000,000 pounds of butter in our storage warehouses. The 

 quality of this, and the heavy production of fresh goods, proved ruinous 

 to the holders of this butter, and it was freely predicted that as a result 

 of these losses the price of butter for the coming year would rule low; 

 but, in spite of all this, prices have ruled from three to five cents higher 

 than for many years. We are going into the winter season again with a 

 surplus in our storage warehouses of about 65,000,000 pounds, and an 

 unprecedented demand, being nearly 15 per cent in excess of what it was 

 a year ago. 



These high prices of butter will undoubtedly attract more attention 

 to this industry. Already we can see evidences of this in this large out- 

 put; more and better cows are being kept, more attention is being paid 

 to feeding, more silos are being built, and, upon the whole, the outlook 

 gives every promise of continued prosperity in the industry. 



I again trust I may not be considered egotistical if I refer, as I did a 

 year ago, to the worK of the National Dairy Union in suppressing the 

 illegal sale of oleomargarine. We had never considered that our organ- 



