22 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN S ASSOCIATION. 



commission man made a profit fi'om both without risking 

 his own capital. But the organization of the board of trade 

 happily changed, in a great measure, this state of affairs ; 

 still not as effectually as some of us had hoped, and still do 

 hope for. 



Such statements as those referred to could have been 

 made by scores of men who attended that meeting, for they 

 had felt the sting in a greater or less degree, and were, 

 therefore, competent to serve as witnesses in the matter. 

 But where was the remedy, and how was it to be applied ? 

 These dairymen were scattered about the country, some 

 distance from Chicago, our then almost only market for 

 Western butter and cheese, with their farms to look after, or 

 their factories to superintend ; so they could not attend 

 personally to the selling of their products. They well 

 knew" that they were at the mercy of the commission men, 

 and yet they had relief in their own hands, if they only 

 knew it. There were some wise heads in that convention, 

 and among them none more so than the late Robert Stewart, 

 of McHenry county ~a man ever ready to give his time, 

 experience or money to aid in developing the dairy interest, 

 or to assist in bettering the condition of his neighbors ; and, 

 although I am not positive, yet I am inclined to the opinion 

 that he made the motion for the appointment of a commit- 

 tee to adopt measures for the organization of a board of 

 trade at Elgin, then, as now, the dairy center of the North- 

 west. But a board of trade, — asked one of another, until 

 the inquiry became general, — what goc-d will that do ? 

 They, of course, had all heard of a board of trade, for there 

 was one in Chicago, where wheat and corn, oats and rye, 

 barley and flour, bacon and lard, and even money, were 

 bought and sold, but a board of trade for the sale of dairy 

 products was then beyond their comprehension. They had 

 heard of " puts " and "calls," " blinds " and "straddles," 

 "shorts" and "longs," "profits" and "margins," and 

 "bulls" and "bears," but just what meaning these terms 

 would have, when applied to a butter and cheese board of 

 trade, they could not understand ; for they had been accus- 

 tomed for years to doing business on an entirely different 

 plan, and were suspicious that they might not succeed as 

 well with the new mode as with the old one, yet, like 

 drowning men, they were willing to catch at any thing that 

 would afford them relief 



