STATE DAIEY ASSOCIATION. 579 



Mr. Martin: I could not say as to that, but I would say the washed 

 butter. 



Mr. Gurler: I agree with you on that. 



The Secretary: A good many of our people know of Professor McKay, 

 who is head" of the dairy school of the Iowa Agricultural College. Of all 

 the college men, I thinlc Professor McKay ranks tirst among the instructors 

 as a judge of commercial butter, so anything he may say as to what goes 

 to make butter of the kind and quality that the market wants, will be 

 worthy of our serious consideration, because Professor McKay is authority 

 on this subject. He has been one of the experts at the national contest 

 this year, and his comments are regarded as among the best. 



THE BUTTER MAKERS' PROFESSION. 



PROFESSOR G. L. M'KAY, IOWA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AMES, IOWA. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: It has been my good fortune, 

 or bad fortune, to visit most of the Western conventions during the past 

 year, and I participated a great deal in the scoring. What I want to urge 

 today is the necessity for every butter maker doing a little better. There 

 is an oi)inio]i among butter makers and among other peoi)le that somebody 

 is aAvay up high; that somebody is an expert. I want to convey the idea 

 that everyl)ody has a chance to be expert in butter making. 



Within recent years many changes have taken place in butti-r making. 

 It was formerly supposed that most any one who was neat and tidy could 

 make good butter. Since investigations have been pursued along scien- 

 tific lines, we find that it requires skilled labor. 



The men who are pursuing dairying at our school now are possibly 

 25 per cent, in advance both in education and skill of the students who 

 took dairy work seven or eight years ago. As we look the country over, 

 we find the people wlio have I)ecome famous in the dairy world are men of 

 unusual intelligence, who would undoubtedly have made a success in most 

 any other line of business. I like self esteem in a young man. I like to 

 see the young man Avith the "git there" spirit in him, no matter what line 

 of. work he is pursuing. I believe every young man has enough natural 

 ability to acquire an education, providing he has the will power to assert 

 himself. It is the lack of self conceit that keeps a man from rising to the 

 level that it is possible for him to attain. We complain frequently about 

 people being egotistical. I admire a certain amount of this quality in any 

 person. This is an age of combinations and concentration of capital. It 



