THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 45 



quired so little work that we have not advanced in these great 

 practical questions of the sensible way of running agriculture 

 and especially a dairy farm, but we have reached the point, which 

 many places in the great State of Illinois has reached today that 

 have followed the same tactics of wearing out that fertility of the 

 soil that nature has given us, where we must have means of re- 

 storing what we have taken away. A few of us, and I am glad 

 to say the number is increasing rapidly, are beginning to get our 

 eyes open and see that the great future of that country, blessed 

 with sunshine and rain and a fine climate, if we are to produce a 

 dairy cow of the proper kind and develop our interests to build- 

 ing up dairy farms, must develop along scientific and business 

 lines the great business of dairy farming. 



I have heard people say on that question that we would get 

 too many people raising cows and produce too much milk, but 

 that is a fallacy. There are none of us who will live long enough 

 to see the over production of milk in the State of Illinois, or in 

 this country. 



We know as a matter of fact that the population of the 

 United States increased in the last decade over twenty millions 

 and the production of milk in the United States has decreased 

 below what it was ten years ago. We know that on all of the 

 food lines that go into human consumption, that while the popu- 

 lation has increased the pro rata production has decreased in the 

 United States. 



We have heard recently a great deal of talk about the high 

 cost of food stock and some politicians in Congress thought they 

 would make capital for themselves. These hair-brained politi- 

 cians introduced a resolution whereby they secured twenty-five 

 thousand dollars to make an investigation, when any person who 

 had ordinary brains and common sense knew that politics did not 

 affect the price. It was affected by the great law of supply and 

 demand. After that committee had spent that twenty-five thous- 

 and dollars to find this out the whole thing was hushed up. I 

 mention this because it seems appropriate at a dairy meeting to 

 think about it. 



There is never going to be a time of cheap food production ; 



