34 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Now, the question as to whether the bottom has fallen out of the dairy 

 business reminds me of a remark made by one of the oldest settlers in Wis- 

 consin, who has had a great deal of very fine, butter sold at from 25 to 50 cents 

 a pound. In conversation with him he told me that when he first came from 

 the East and settled in Wisconsin as a dairy farmer, he thought if he got 6 cents 

 for cheese and 12 cents for butter, he was doing a very good farmer's business. 

 Now, with these figures before us, why must the question arise as to whether 

 the dairy business is necessarily imperiled? If these figures are right, why is 

 it that if we are forced to sell creamery butter in the summer at below 20 cents, 

 it seems that the entire dairy interest must perish? Now, suppose we have to 

 sell butter for 15 cents, what would become of the country? If we believe the 

 creamery men, it is going to ruin. 



Mb: Johnson : I am not in the habit of dealing in figures in that way. 

 You can sit down and figure out most anything. But when you go to get at the 

 cost of making the milk it is a very hard matter to come at, the conditions are 

 so varied. But I have experimented enough to know that if I were guaranteed 

 20 cents a pound the year around for my butter that I could make money out of 

 it, and the reason why dairymen think that the bottom has fallen out is that the 

 price has been so high that it is hard for them to come down. I know that but- 

 ter can be made and sold with a profit at 20 cents the year round. 



Mr. Hostetter : There is considerable cost besides the food as these 

 figures give it. There is the milking of the cow, the cost of the cow, and of 

 delivering the milk at the factory. Mr. Johnson can probably tell us how much 

 it costs to make up a pound of butter ? 



Answer. I get all I can. The price with us is 4 cents a pound for 

 butter and 2 cents for cheese, and I furnish everything, deliver the goods at 

 the depot, take all the risks of loss in selling and everything. 



Mr. Dexter : I was well aware that there were additions to be made to 

 this. The maximum price here is 1% cents, 4 cents more on that for making 

 would be 11 cents. Add interest and the carriage of the milk and everything, 

 and it would not raise the cost above 14 to 16 cents. 



Mr. Buell : I always feel suspicious of such distinctions as Prof. Brown 

 has made there, where he speaks of the cost of feed being so much to the farmer 

 and so much in the market. Now, the cost of feed to the farmer is what it is 

 worth to him practically. It is a little bit like the farmer not counting his work 

 in the winter because his time isn't worth anything. Now, the farmer who 

 figures that way will make a great mistake. If he cannot fix it so his labor is 

 worth something, his capital and strength are not employed to the best 

 advantage. 



Mr. Hostetter : Another great item is the value of land. The cost of the 

 cow on land at $100.00 an acre is a good deal more than if it were $10.00 an 

 acre. Land around our country is worth from $75.00 to $100.00 an acre, and 

 would make considerable difference. 



Mr. Lawrence : Another item. The cow goes dry from one to three 

 months. These figures are supposed to have been made when the cow was 

 fresh. While they say figures don't lie, they may deceive us fearfully. 



Mr. Dexter : What I want to get at is whether we can afford to make but- 

 ter at lower prices. We can all remember when we could buy a fair quality of 



