FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 115 



tion should be raised against the adxance that cheese and butter 

 have made, because the farmer deserves what he is getting; yet, 

 in the long run it would be far better if butter was delivered to 

 the consumer at not to exceed forty cents per pound. There- 

 fore, the dairymen should more than ever consider the cost of 

 producing a pound of butterfat. 



During the past two months, certain cities of our state have 

 gone through an educational campaign that was a severe one for 

 the dairymen. This illustration brings out the point in question, 

 and I wish that a committee of representative dairymen could 

 have been with me and seen and heard what I saw and heard. 

 On entering a large grocery store catering largely to the better 

 class of people, I was impressed with a large sign that gave the 

 name of a certain brand t)f oleomargarine followed by this state- 

 ment : "Better than Butter/' one pound 23 cents, 5 pounds 

 $1.00. Several smaller signs were seen about the store. One 

 could not enter this place without being informed that a certain 

 article was being offered for sale. Not a single card was dis- 

 played to show that butter was being pushed or even offered for 

 sale. In a conversation with two members of the firm, I learned 

 that foi the month of December they sold approximately 10,000 

 pounds of oleomargarine and 2,000 pounds of butter. Each of 

 these men was very enthusiastic in proclaiming the merits of the 

 one product but had nothing to say about butter, aside from its 

 high price. What sold the oleomargarine ? The price of butter and 

 a well-worked-out system of advertising to sell oleomargarine. 

 One of these men said : ''Had we carried on a house to house 

 campaign, we would have sold a great deal more than we did. 

 This is a time when we must educate, and we know that it will 

 work." I left that store with this statement going through my 

 mind — ''Better than Butter." An insult to the dairymen and 

 to the dairy industry. Yet after all, the person who will settle 

 the merits of the two articles in question is the consumer. If 

 so, it is up to the dairymen to produce nothing but good milk 

 and cream and to educate the consumer and the sooner the better. 



If the housewife must be educated as to the value of butter, 

 its source and manner of handling, in order that the sale of the 

 product may hold its own, such a campaign must speedily crme. 

 Farmers and dairvmen realize that the value of their stock in a 



