THE BUSINESS SIDE OF FARMING. 243 



idea at the start that the farmer needs to be a statesman as 

 well. 



If there is a farmer present who thinks that it is not 

 necessary to secure the help of his brother farmer by organ- 

 ization, I hope that he will give attention while we glance 

 at the dairy problem. According to a carefully prepared 

 statement in the New York Herald, the capital invested in 

 the dairy business is almost five times larger than the 

 aggregate banking capital of the country, the latter being 

 nearly $071,000,000, while the dairy employs above $3,000,- 

 000,000. There are estimated to be 21,000,000 milch cows, 

 with an aggregate milk production of 7,350,000,000 gallons. 

 Of this ocean of milk 4,000,000,000 gallons are used for 

 butter, 700,000,000 for cheese, 2,480,000,000 are consumed 

 in a pure state. The output of butter is about 1,350,000,- 

 000 pounds annually, and of cheese 6,500,000 pounds. The 

 annual value of our dairy products is stated to be nearly 

 500,000,000, or twenty millions more than the value of the 

 wheat crop, and closely approximating that of the corn crop. 

 To support this immense dairy herd 100,000,000 acres of 

 pasture land, having a value of $2,500,000,000, are required. 

 A gigantic business, truly. Cheating, greed and avarice 

 could easily creep in here at the many unguarded doors, and 

 it silently did. Artificial or bogus butter became known, 

 60,000,000 pounds being placed on the market in one year, 

 manufactured in thirty-seven factories known to the internal 

 revenue department, with probably much more from factor- 

 ies unknown. The output was distributed through two- 

 hundred and sixty-six wholesale dealers. Shoddy butter 

 can be manufactured at a cost of three cents per pound, but 

 a real good creamery article costs a trifle more. Sixty dif- 

 ferent articles entering into its composition are mentioned in 

 the letters patent which protect it to seventeen patentees. 

 Many of these articles are very questionable, to say the least, 

 and others highly injurious. The immense dairy interests 

 of the country, producing a healthy, nutritious and necessary 

 article for human consumption, and maintaining thousands 

 upon thousands of families throughout the land, was threat- 

 ened Avith almost total extinction by a handful of unprin- 

 cipled men, who, through avarice, sold unjust and unwholo- 



