THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 103 



milk system if you use the system right. It is up to us to make 

 it so. We must combine and unite our efforts in doing so. At 

 the present time three- fourths of the butter produced in the State 

 of Illinois, or certainly one-half of the butter produced in the 

 State of Illinois, is selling at from 2 to 10 cents a pound less 

 than what it would if it was of real good quality. That means 

 certainly a big loss, and who does the loss fall on ? Sometimes it 

 hits the manufacturer, but eight times out of ten it hits the 

 farmer. Inasmuch as it is hitting both parties more or less, but 

 especially the producers, I feel as soon as the cause can be 

 remedied the more money there will be in the dairy business. 



There is one question that has been asked me quite often, 

 especially in the last few months when I have been around attend- 

 ing institutes, and that is : "What can a farmer do to protect 

 himself against the discrimination of the buyer of cream and 

 milk?" That is a hard question to answer. I do not say but 

 what there are people who cheat the farmer once in a while, but 

 I do not believe it is nearly as often as the majority of farmers 

 think. 



There are some things that I feel the farmer can do to pro- 

 tect himself against such things as being cheated by the cream- 

 ery men and milk dealers and one of the first things he should do 

 is to arrange for a uniform production the year around. Under 

 our present conditions nearly three-fourths is produced in the si* 

 summer months and one-fourth in the six winter months. Now 

 if you could make that production more uniform the year around 

 there would be less fluctuation in the price and there would be 

 a steady demand for your product which would eliminate the big 

 discrimination which is going to the speculators and it will give 

 those people much less chance to rob you. 



If the dairymen in the State of Illinois have a uniform pro- 

 duction the year around they will protect themselves against dis- 

 crimination. Under the present system those that were in busi- 

 ness last summer were only getting 20 to 22 cents for the butter 

 fat while it is selling now at 40c because there was such an over- 

 flow last summer that it could not be consumed. Now there is 



