PREFACE 



The dairy industry has not yet received the attention 

 from the student of economics that it deserves. The 

 wealth that flows from this industry in the form of 

 butter, cheese, and milk, to say nothing of by-products, 

 make it one of our principal agricultural interests. 



The conversion of milk into butter and cheese has 

 caused manufacturing industries to grow up which pre- 

 sent important economic problems. The butter industry, 

 especially, has a history deserving a much more promi- 

 nent place in our text-books on economic history than 

 has thus far been given to it. The market organization 

 presents problems that are of current interest. Among 

 these may be mentioned the attempt to control prices 

 by methods peculiar to the butter industry. The subject 

 leads the investigator into the complex problem of the 

 relation of the production of butter to the production of 

 other food products. Considerable attention has been 

 given to this phase in the chapter on the geographical 

 distribution of butter production and in the chapters 

 dealing with oleomargarine. The study shows that the 

 ambitious youth may find an industrial environment in 

 the rural districts quite as interesting and stimulating as 

 that of urban centers. A great deal of dairy legislation 

 has been enacted for the protection of the public health 

 and for the prevention of fraud. An analysis of the 

 conditions leading up to this legislation, however, reveals 

 the fact that the dominating force behind the movement 

 was not ethical but economic. 



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