12 ILLINOIS STATE DAIEYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



but made good cheese; now its glory has departed. The 

 quality in a great measure decides the quantity. Wisconsin 

 made a better article of cheese than Illinois; they do not 

 skim as much; it commands a readier sale and brings them 

 more money; this skimming to death diminishes the demand. 

 Skimming the milk for butter and then working the blue 

 remains into stuff called cheese was a fraud, and was most 

 certainly ruining the standard of our product. He knew the 

 factorymen claimed there was a demand for it — that they 

 could sell it, and could get more money out of the milk — but it 

 was only for a short time; the re action would certainly be 

 serious as far as supply and demand were concerned; the 

 supply should certainly be of a better quality. The price of 

 butter is high enough, but the cheese is too high for the 

 miserable stuff. The great difficulty arose from the mode in 

 which most of the factories are run. The factory is furnished 

 its milk by the farmer, and works it up on commission. The 

 factoryman has but little interest in the quality or price of 

 his goods as long as his commission is a fixed amount, and 

 can not be affected by what his product brings. His only 

 interest is to produce as much as he can, as his pay is by 

 the pound. The milk should be bought at all factories; they 

 should then take care to produce a good article — they would 

 be compelled too, to find sale for their goods; they could then 

 sell at will, or hold to suit the market. As it now is, the 

 dairymen furnish the most of the capital to run the concern, 

 and have but little to say about it. Milk should never be 

 worked up on commission. We do not now produce one 

 quarter of what our land is capable of producing. If we 

 produce more with the same investment we can afford to pro- 

 duce cheaper and make a profit. We must liave a change, 

 or many dairymen who are depending upon outside factories 

 for a sale of their milk must go out of the business, as it 

 certainly will not pay. No factory should make anything 

 but a first-class product. Who would ship this miserable 

 stuff? We might as well throw it into Boston Harbor. Our 

 great market is our home market. We must take care of 



