30 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Mr. S. B. Shilling, Chicago. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : I am not going to 

 make a speech. I am out here to talk to you providing you did 

 not have anyone else, notwithstanding the fact that I know it is 

 quite common for Chicago men to come to Elgin and make 

 speeches, I am not going to take advantage of the occasion that 

 is offered me. 



I want to congratulate you upon having the opportunity to 

 listen to the address you have just listened to, and while I do not 

 subscribe to everything that Mrs. Durand has said, I believe in 

 the main she is correct in her statements. 



I asked the Chairman when I came in here what he wanted 

 me to talk about, and he said tell them a story. 



Now, while I often indulge in that, I do not feel like taking 

 up your time that way this evening. You down there in the au- 

 dience can hardly appreciate how embarrassing and difficult it 

 is to stand here before you. As I said before, I am not going 

 to take up your time in a speech. If I do talk to you it will be 

 on other lines than dairying. You have had enough of that this 

 evening. 



For just a few minutes I will touch upon other subjects 

 which are of just as much importance and which are facing us 

 today for a solution. These subjects might lead into the dairy 

 question but I am not going to follow them far enough. 



The first question I wish to talk about is one that leads into 

 the dairy subject, and that is, its relation to the conservation of 

 the soil in this country. 



I am standing, I believe, in the dairy center of the Universe. 

 It is somewhat different with me from what the lady said when 

 she looked this audience over* she said you were milk producers. 

 As I look you over I am suspicious of almost all of you; I rather 

 size you up as sidewalk farmers, that is seven-eighths of you. 

 If you are producing any milk you are doing it by proxy. 



But I am going to tell you a story. 



