88 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



The President : — You say you use the surplus milk for the 

 benefit of the scholars in butter and cheese making. Do you 

 have enough surplus milk to do what you would like to with it? 



Mr. Hart : — No, but in addition to the milk we get from 

 patrons we have enough, and the cream that is brought in as 

 well gives us plenty of milk and cream. 



Mr. Gurler : — How do you buy that milk ? 



Mr. Hart : — We buy it on the basis of butter fat. We have 

 to pay high prices for it; last year paid 40c, and in the winter 

 we had to offer as high as 50c. We only had four or five patrons 

 through the season and paid 50c for butter fat. We are now 

 paying 55c per cwt. for butter fat, but the returns from the 

 products are allowing us to pay this price because we manufac- 

 ture ice cream and there is money in it, and we are selling our 

 butter at 30c retail. We sell to the merchants and they retail 

 for 35c, so we have the overrun and pay for the milk out of the 

 proceeds of the butter and other manufactured goods. 



Mr. Gurler: — I do not wish to criticise anything; they are 

 doing as well as they can, but it seems to me deplorable that 

 those dairymen in the vicinity cannot be made to see that there 

 is a profit to them in producing milk without being guaranteed 

 such a price for butter fat. 



The President: — What price, 35c? 



Mr. Gurler : — I understand this price was made for the 

 season. 



Mr. Hart : — Oh no ; it runs as low as 22c. 



Mr. Gurler: — How do you regulate the price? 



Mr. Hart : — We have a sliding scale, based on our require- 

 ments for milk and the probable price of butter. 



Mr. Gurler : — The idea is paying what you are practically 

 compelled to pay to get goods to do the business with? 



Mr. Hart : — That is it. We get it as cheaply as we can. 



Mr. Gurler : — Are you doing the best you can ? 



Mr. Hart : — As the dairy situation improves and we get 

 more milk we expect to pay less. 



