ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 149 



Great did I say? Yes, indeed, you are a great state. In popu- 

 lation you occupy third place; in the production of corn you 

 lead the states, with an acreage, in 1903, of 8,201,000; and a 

 crop the value of which was nearly one hundred million dollars. 



In the possession of institutions of learning you have every 

 reason to be proud. Your state institutions are of a high rank, 

 and all existing conditions are indicative of the highest type of 

 civilization. 



In the possession of high type horses, cattle and swine your 

 breeders are in the front rank and occupy an enviable position. 

 You possess more than a million milch cows with a value of 

 approximately forty million dollars, nearly one and three-fourths 

 millions other cattle with a value of about forty-two million 

 dollars; three and three-fourths million hogs, aggregating in 

 value twenty-five millions. All this speaks volumes in praise 

 of the effort that has been made for the advancement and up- 

 building of the state. 



Almost every branch of industry within your borders has 

 its organization, its rudder, so to speak, and it is eminently proper 

 that the dairy interests should enjoy the benefits derived from 

 union of thought and purpose. Dairying is a science and there- 

 fore demands intelligence. It is not a mere occupation of hands 

 in which their employment is the only requisite, but one in 

 which many scientific problems are involved, that necessitate the 

 most earnest application of the mind. It may truthfully be said 

 that we are in the midst of a dairy revolution, and that we are 

 under a new dispensation of dairy theory and practice. The 

 rude instruments and methods of the past that have been em- 

 ployed for generations, have been displaced within the last few 

 years by complicated, economizing, labor-saving machinery. 

 The constant effort in every branch of business is toward greater 

 production at a cheaper cost. If the dairymen of today would 

 keep pace with the march of progress they must become students 

 of their occupation, and so master it that the improved methods 

 employed will result as satisfactorily as have the changes in 

 other lines of business. 



