56 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



is one thing above another that I wish to talk about, it is quality, 

 and I would have that commence at the cow and continue to the 

 milk and butter that you furnish to the consumer, to the cream- 

 ery or to the milkman. 



I believe the dairy industry has never stood in as critical 

 a condition as it does at the present time and I have arrived at 

 that conclusion from the fact that we have a surplus of forty- 

 five millions of pounds of butter on hand at this time. Inside 

 of the last two weeks butter has dropped ten cents a pound, an 

 unusual condition, and it is this that I mean when I refer to the 

 critical condition of the dairy interests of this country. The 

 main reason for this accumulation is the poor quality of the 

 product we are offering for sale. It would be different if it 

 were not for a substitute that is on the market that the people 

 can turn to for consumptive purposes, and I refer to oleomar- 

 garine. 



I do not believe that the consuming public want oleomar- 

 garine in the place of butter, but I do believe we are up against 

 this fact, that the consuming public is going to use oleomargar- 

 ine rather than use poor butter. That is the condition that faces 

 us today, and the man who is producing the poor raw material 

 has got to quit the business. I firmly believe it. Years ago, I 

 made this prophesy and. the facts have borne me out. I did 

 not then believe we would ever see the time in dairying when 

 we would see butter or dairy products cheap again. I am ready 

 to make this prediction. I do not believe we will ever see a time 

 when there will be cheap food or feed products. The facts 

 are that the production of these products is dropping gradually 

 behind the consumption of them; and, while it was slight for the 

 last ten years, the records show that there was a five per cent 

 increase in the population. 



Yet. ladies and gentlemen, if I might talk politics in the 

 face of these facts, in the face of the decrease in the production 

 Congress appointed a committee for the purpose of inquiring 

 into the high cost of living. After spending fifteen thousand 

 dollars and asking for fifty thousand more to continue the in- 

 vestigation, which was properly turned down, the majority or 



