No. 4.] KEPORT OF DAIRY BUREAU. 443 



in the interests of the formers," as if the agricultural element 

 of the country was something hardly equal in importance 

 with the rest of humanity. This is wrong, as we think that 

 these laws are equally in the interests of consumers, honest 

 merchants and the farmers. But, even placed on the latter 

 basis, the magnitude of the dairy interests of the country 

 is not generally appreciated, and is worthy of consideration. 

 The chief of the National Dairy Bureau, Maj. H. E. Alvord, 

 estimates that the annual value of the dairy product of the 

 nation is $450,000,000. We have heard a great deal during 

 the last few months about the relative value of gold and sil- 

 ver, but there has never been a year when the entire gold 

 and silver product of the country was enough to buy the 

 dairy products of this country the present year. These prod- 

 ucts at market rates would pay off all the State and county 

 debts in the nation, and leave a handsome balance. As a 

 matter of broad statesmanship and sound political economy, 

 is it not wise to regulate the sale of imitations of these arti- 

 cles, and is it not equally proper that the degree of regula- 

 tion should be proportioned to the degree of deceitfulness 

 used in promoting their traffic? 



Filled Cheese. 



This is another imitation which has been of serious damase 

 to the dairy interests of the country. The export demand 

 for cheese from the United States has dwindled to almost 

 nothing, while Canadian cheese has found an increasing sale 

 every year in the foreign markets, where the words " Ameri- 

 can cheese" had come to be almost synonymous with deceit 

 and cheating. 



The evil became so great that during the year Congress 

 has taken the matter in hand, and passed laws regulating the 

 sale of lard cheese. Hence the business is much curtailed. 

 Previous to this national leo-islation Massachusetts had laws 

 on the subject which have proved satisfactory, as there has 

 not been so much temptation to sell adulterated cheese as to 

 sell imitation butter. Although the Bureau has made much 

 effort to ascertain if any filled cheese was sold in Massachu- 

 setts, we have been unable to find any, and believe that the 

 State is practically free from it. 



