112 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



of data within the reach of everyone familiar with creamery 

 operations which represents the dividing line between failure 

 and success. We recognize the business principles of the banker 

 who foots up his financial standing at the end of each day, as 

 being perfectly sane. We would not countenance for a moment 

 the transaction of an elevator company whose management did 

 not know at the end of each day the transactions which had 

 taken place and the amount of money involved. It is only sen- 

 sible to assume that if we do not adopt these same sane methods 

 of doing business in our creamery industry we are bound to run 

 the thing into financial ruin, rob the honest farmer, in some in- 

 stances misplace funds, at best we are in a condition of doubt 

 and uncertainty with but little control over the situation, and the 

 "Closed" sign will sooner or later be over our doors, either be- 

 cause of financial disaster, or because the raw product is going 

 where a fair deal is met. Statements of this sort need not neces- 

 sarily be considered prophetic, since they recite in a few words 

 the history of many plants in our own state. 



To begin with, much of our trouble and misunderstanding 

 has arisen through the improper and misappropriated use of the 

 terms "moisture" and "overrun," — two features of our work 

 which I do not care to discuss in this connection further than 

 to say that they are factors incident to creamery operation, rather 

 than subjects of manipulation, such as they have often been 

 made. Overrun and moisture will take care of themselves, pro- 

 vided the previous work has been carried on accurately. 



Now we have come to the point where we are willing to say 

 that at the end of each month, each week, each day, or any 

 period we may wish to designate, that we should be able to ac- 

 count in some way for every pound of butter fat that has passed 

 through our weigh tank. If we cannot, we are liable to the same 

 disaster that awaits any business without a system of accounting. 



There are only three possible ways of accounting for butter 

 fat that has become the property of a creamery. It has been 

 made into butter, a portion has become a loss to the plant under 

 the head of mechanical loss, which includes loss in handling, 



