ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



97 



will be thereby greatly increasing the demand and consequently 

 the price. 



In discussing the dairy interest generally, I may start from 

 Greenville, and go across the northern part of Indiana and the 

 northern part of Ohio into the dairy district of the Western 

 Reserve, then into the Empire State of New York, entering 

 Pennsylvania, crossing her hills and beautiful dairy valleys along 

 the rivers, Junullet, Waneta and Susquehanna, into the feeding 

 grounds of Lancaster — the most picturesque dairy country in the 

 great Keystone state ; then returning through the blue grass 

 region of Old Kentucky — the state noted for her beautiful ladies 

 and fine stock — and coming up across the Miami Valley of Ohio, 

 through the soutliern part of Indiana into the great and growing- 

 dairy districts and the broad and fertile fields of Illinois. Here 

 we find, from Cairo to the Wisconsin line, a distance of four 

 hundred miles, every acre of our soil contributing to the great 

 dairy interests of the greatest dairy state in the Union. 



The foundation and cornerstone of success on the farm is the 

 dairy industry and the live stock business. Illinois has taken 

 an advanced position in this line and toda)^ she leads all 

 other states in dairy products — in fact she leads the entire world. 

 She fixes the price of butter and each week makes and gives out 

 the quotations of the butter market for the whole country. 

 \\'hat is known as the Elgin butter district is in the state of 

 Illinois. The production of the creamery business of this locality 

 last year was 45,121,115 pounds of butter. The butter output 

 here brought on the market in liM):2 nearly $11,000,000. The 

 Elgin brand of butter is known all over the world and is con- 

 sidered the best by all. The price of butter in 1902 averaged 

 higher than any year since 1893, which stimulated the production 

 of milk and caused a great increase of creameries in our state. 



The average price of butter during the last thiriy-one years 

 has been 20 2-5 cents per pound. 



It may interest those who are not familiar with the business 

 to know how the price of butter is regulated and fixed, although 

 I presume there are many of the memJDers here far more f:imiliar 



