ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 107 



every dairyman should rejoice at its usefulness and give it his hearty sup- 

 port. 



This board has done much to enhance the value of dairy products in 

 Northern Illinois. Buyers are often present from Boston, New York, St. 

 Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati, and occasionally they come from Liverpool, 

 England. We have been able to maintain the reputation we gained years 

 ago as butter makers, and consequently people who want gilt-edge, first-class 

 fine goods, come to Elgin. 



About the skim milk cheese business, that is something I don't want to 

 talk about, as I abhor it, and I think it is a mistake to make it. 



Toast—" The Hennepin Canal as a Means of Transportation." 



Kesponse, J. G. Lumbard : I have been asked to say something about the 

 Hennepin Canal. I know very little as to this project. I know it is pro- 

 posed to start a canal in the vicinity of Sterling, and run it down to the Mis- 

 sissippi, and I believe the idea is to build a highway for vessels from the 

 Mississippi to the lakes, or from the Gulf to the Atlantic by an interior route, 

 and I beg to say here and now that any enterprise inaugurated and carried 

 forward for the benefit of the community at large, which shall be a conven- 

 ience and an aid to the people of tlie country, is also an advantage to the 

 interests I represent. The prosperity of this country does not depend upon 

 any one railroad or any one canal. The east and the west of America are 

 very far apart, but dependent one upon another. The prosperity of one is 

 the prosperity of the"other ; they mutually thrive, and they suffer together. 

 One argument that has been used in favor of the Hennepin Canal is the use 

 it would be in case of war ; but I do not apprehend in my lifetime, nor per- 

 haps in anybody's lifetime, a war with Canada. The civilized nations of the 

 earth have learned that arbitration is the sensible way to settle national 

 troubles, and that a few thousand dead soldiers does not change the status 

 of any case or decide any question. 



Toast—" The Milk of Human Kindness." 



Response, Rev. F. W. Foster, DeKalb. 



Mr. Chairman : I feel very much pleased, feeling that I had given to me 

 a creamy subject— the milk of human kindness. During this convention we 

 have been treated to a good deal of that milk, and in choosing me to speak 

 at this time, I feel as though one had been called upon not even to deal out 

 a pint measure of skim milk. I don't know where the idea of the milk of 

 human kindness originated. I suppose that sometime there were a great 

 many calves in the human race. There are people in whom the milk of 

 human kindness seems to sour. Nothing pleases them. Mr. President, I 

 don't want to sour anybody to-night, so I will thank you for this honor, and 

 leave you. 



Toast— "The Father of Barb Wire." 



Response, J. F. Glidden. * 



Ladies and Gentlemen : If I were a volunteer here to-night, perhaps sl% 

 apology would be necessary for my appearance here ; any apology due you 

 must come from your secretary. This question of the barbed wire fence is 

 a very important one. If I should undertake to say that the fences in this 

 country cost more than all the other improvements, you would think I was 



