20 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



our association. Illinois is the third among the states of this country in the 

 products of the dairy, but there are some twenty or more states that have 

 better facilities for agraiculture and dairying education than the state of 

 Illinois. I think we stand about twenty-three in that particular. 



Then I have been asked also to mention a matter concerning a state 

 dairy commissioner. The need in Illinois of a state dairy commissioner is 

 great, and the matter will come before the present Legislature. There is no 

 way in Ilinois now for one to get at the dairy statistics of this state. There 

 is no one who can tell you how many cows are milked in this state, nor the 

 extent of the dairy industry, nor the extent of the creamery industry in 

 itself. There is absolutely no way of getting at those figures and those sta- 

 tistics. You go to Iowa, or Wisconsin, or Minnesota, or even to Missouri, 

 or some other of the western or northwestern states where dairying is a 

 leading industry, and you c&h get complete reports from the dairy com- 

 missioners of those states. You can find out all you want to find out about 

 dairying, but it is not so in Illinois, and of course a part of the state dairy 

 commissioner's work would be to provide that information. 



We ought to favor a State Dairy Commissioner, and I think we should 

 put ourselves on record in favor of pure food products of all kinds. The 

 movement is a very important one now. The matter is coming up very 

 soon in conventions at different points, and this association should take 

 some action on the general subject of pure food products. 



There is just one more point, and that is in relation to the movement 

 recently started to increase the tax on oleomargarine colored to resemble 

 butter, and this matter will come before Congress, the idea being to make it 

 necessarily hard for oleomargarine to find a market except as oleomarga- 

 rine, and not as butter. That is the only complaint the dairy people have 

 against oleomargarine. Get it so that it will be sold for what it is, and the 

 dairymen of the State of Ilinois will be satisfied. 



We must also consider the general subject of how to increase the inter- 

 est in our State meetings. 



