369] THE BUTTER MARKET I4 5 



and where the latter might obtain protection " x against ex- 

 actions of the former, was carried over from the cheese 

 trade into the butter trade. Of all such markets, whether 

 established primarily for the sale of cheese, or butter, or 

 both, the Elgin Board of Trade is by far the most im- 

 portant. Both butter and cheese are sold on this market, 

 but it is known principally as a market for butter. The fol- 

 lowing account 2 relates the circumstances under which the 

 Elgin Board of Trade was organized : 



By 1872 there were in the vicinity of Elgin, Illinois, about 

 twenty factories, operated on the cooperative plan. But these 

 factories had no established market for their product, except 

 through the commission men in different cities. 



This way of selling their product was very unsatisfactory, 

 and they commenced to plan for a better way to market their 

 butter and cheese. 



In March, 1872, there gathered together in Elgin the owners 

 and representatives of nineteen factories and organized the 

 Elgin Board of Trade. ... A producers' market was estab- 

 lished, where both the buyer and seller could come together 

 once a week and buy and sell the product of the factories rep- 

 resented by the members of the association, instead of consign- 

 ing on commission as heretofore. 



Of course it was a hard struggle to persuade the dealers and 

 commission men to attend the board meetings, and to buy the 

 product at a price before shipping, and less determined men 

 would have been discouraged. But with the assistance of some 

 of the promoters who came forward and bought both butter 

 and cheese when the dealers failed to attend and buy the offer- 

 ings, the dealers and commission men were soon brought to 

 see that the Board was not only in the interest of the producer, 

 but the dealer as well. 



1 " Report of the Illinois Dairymen's Association " in the Transac- 

 tions of the Department of Agriculture for 1880, p. 352. 



2 From the Fortieth Annual Report of the Elgin Board of Trade. 



