136 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



falling off in cows and dairy products in a state so well 

 adapted to the business, argues very strongly that some 

 serious cause obstructs its progress, and the efforts of 

 every dairyman in the state should be given to deter- 

 mine what that cause may be. 



Its interests are too great to lightly pass any danger 

 that seriously threatens its prosperity. 



Pure milk, pure butter and pure cheese are very essen- 

 tial elements of food for nearly every person in the land, 

 from infancy to old age, and enter so largely into the 

 living of every family that the purity of milk and its 

 products should be preserved and jealously guarded, not 

 only by dairymen, but by every consumer as well. 



Milk, in its purity, is one of the most nutritious and 

 healthful of all products, and the business of producing 

 it ought to be prosperous enough so that it could be 

 supplied in abundance and at a reasonable price to 

 every person in the state. The adulterated and cheap- 

 ening compounds of milk, butter and cheese that are put 

 upon the market and sold as pure, not only imperil the 

 health of the consumers of such stuff, but imperil the 

 prosperity of the industry as well. 



The United States census of 1880 showed that there 

 were in the State of Illinois 865,913 cows, which, esti- 

 mating their value at $25 each, would amount to $21- 

 647,820. As it requires from three to five acres of land 

 to maintain a cow, or an average of four acres, and 

 computing the land at $25 per acre, the investment in 

 land to sustain 865,913 cows would amount to $86,591,- 

 300; in barns, dairy utensils, etc., say $25 per cow, or 

 $21,647,825, making a total of $129,886,950. 



And then we have taken no account of the amount 

 invested in manufactories for manufacturing butter and 

 cheese, butter and cheese packages, churns, butter 



