22 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



in this state, as appears from the Commissioner of Agriculture's report for 

 1883, and the gross amount of money received for the butter and cheese being 

 $3,428,344. From this we deduct four cents per pound for making the but- 

 ter, and two cents for clieese, $666,401, leaving $2,761,941 to be paid over to 

 the dairymen for their milk, being an average of 7i cents per gallon. The 

 value of 404,197,231 gallons of milk at 7i cents is $30,314,792, which is prob- 

 ably a fair estimate of the annual milk product of this State. 



In any estimate of the value of milk it would hardly be wise to overlook 

 its value as an article of f oo d. 



Mr. H. A. Willard, in his w^ork entitled " Pratical Dairy Husbandry," 

 says, "Milk is often used sparingly, under the impression that it must 

 always be an expensive article of food, when, in fact, it is generally cheaper 

 than any meats that can be had in the market. Were its nutritive value, as 

 compared with beef, more fully understood, it would be more largely con- 

 sumed as a matter of economy." 



He further says that, '' if a pound of beef, exclusive of bone, is worth 

 twenty cents, milk should be counted a little over thirteen cents per quart^ 

 the exact figures being thirteen and one-third cents." 



While milk is regarded by all as a necessary and valuable article of food, 

 how few realize that one gallon of milk will afford an amount of nutrition 

 equal to two pounds and three-quarters of boneless beef? 



This fact ought to be kept before the people until the consumption of 

 milk in all our families is largely increased. 



Kor should the industrial value of this industry be overlooked. 



It will require the lime and labor of one man to every fifteen cows to 

 cultivate the land devoted to dairying, and perform the labors connected 

 with the dairy and the marketing and distribution of the milk, and if so, 

 this industry gives employment to 58,000 men in this state. 



There are some facts connected with the beginning, the growth, and the 

 development of this industry in this state, that the dairymen should not 

 willingly let die. 



It is stated that Phineas Smith, while in California, conceived the idea 

 of returning to Elgin for the purpose of shipping milk to Chicago. 



In 1852 one might have seen him with his ox team and cart, taking his 

 one can of milk to the depot of the Galena, now the Chicago & Northwest- 

 ern railroad, to be transported over that road to Chicago. 



This can of milk is believed to be the first can of milk ever shipped to 

 Chicago by rail. 



Other dairymen in Elgin thought well of Mr. Smith's enterprise, and 

 they, too, engaged in the business of shipping milk to Chicago, and so rap- 

 idly did this department of effort increase, that in less than ten years the 

 supply of milk was greater than the demand for it in the Chicago market, 

 and the dairymen had to find other outlets for milk; and so it came about, 

 that in the year 1863, Mr I. H. Wanzer established the first cheese factory 

 in Illinois, a little east of Elgin, thus affording the dairymen a new outlet 

 for milk. 



But these ten years were eventful ones in the development of the milk 

 industry, for those engaged in shipping milk from Elgin, stamped upon 



