ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 65 



Mr. Boyd : I find the difference is very considerable ; sometimes as much 

 as 25 per cent. And another thing, I know from my own experience that there 

 is from 20 to 25 per cent, difference on the yield between the churning of sweet 

 and sour cream. 



Music— Belvidere Quartette. 



THE FOOD QUESTION OF THE NEAR FUTURE. 



BY T. D. CURTIS, SYRACUSE, N. Y. 



I have hastily thrown together a few thoughts of a general character, which 

 I will read for your consideration. I do not expect to cover the whole subject, 

 even in a general way, but to give a few hints, which you may deem worthy of 

 more careful thought, when more pressing subjects do not occupy your minds. 

 The general hard times and low prices for dairy products are well calculated to 

 set even the dullest minds to thinking. A combination of causes seems to have 

 brought about the present state of affairs. To my mind, under-consumption 

 instead of over-production is at the bottom of all our trouble. Lack of full 

 employment for all our consuming population has resulted in lack of means 

 with which to purchase, and hence has come pinching economy, with the result 

 of leaving a large amount of labor products unconsumed, a stagnant market and 

 low prices. "What is the remedy? It is to in some way secure to labor a larger 

 share of its own products, or, in other words, to pay it better wages, which will 

 enable it to buy and consume more, and thus make a better market with better 

 prices. But I cannot here discuss the question of how to do this; the remedy, in 

 my opinion, lies deeper than the people are at present ready to go, and involves 

 the readjustment of the relations between labor and capital, or laborers and 

 capitalists. We are suffering much more from millionairism than from pauper- 

 ism, and are likely to for some years to come. It costs the country a great deal 

 more to support its millionaires than to support its paupers, while millionairism 

 is a fearful breeder of pauperism. I merely drop the hint to stimulate reflec- 

 tion, and pass on to other points of perhaps more direct interest, but I shall 

 only deal in generalities, not wishing to consume your time with details. 



At the opening of the late Fat Stock Show, in Chicago, Governor Oglesby 

 touched upon a point which has suggested itself to my mind for several years 

 With all our broad acres of public lands and our free homes, inviting immigra- 

 tion from all parts of the world and affording an outlet for at least a portion of 

 our surplus labor, we are subjected periodically to a crisis in our business affairs 

 which not only brings suffering to many, but puzzles all our philosophy to 

 account for. We find ourselves with plenty of the necessaries and comforts of 

 life in the country, with ready thousands in our midst who would consume them 

 if they had the means to buy, and there is a general demand for foreign markets 

 as an outlet for our surplus goods; but the people of other parts of the world 

 are no better off than our own, they have no means with which to buy; the 

 world over, we are all suffering apparently from the same general cause. It 

 *eems to me plain that capital has got too big a share, leaving the workers too 

 [ittle with which to buy, while capital at the same time refuses to give employ - 

 Jient to the needy workers, so long as it has the unconsumed surplus on hand. 



This is the condition in which we find ourselves now, but soon all our 



