ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 73 



increas^ing leisure class relieved by the success of ancestors 

 from tlie necessity of personal exertion — with all these accom- 

 paniments of national prosperity, it is little wonder that a 

 sentiment of indifference, if not contemj^t, should have arisen 

 regarding the whole matter of the food supply, and those en- 

 gaged in so prosaic an occupation as its production. If, as a 

 people, we grow careless of these things, as a nation we shall 

 suffer, and the young in this country of both sexes, and of 

 all classes need nothing so badly as a realizing sense of the 

 importance of productive industry and the necessity for tech- 

 nical skill in what are called the common things. 



This lengthy introduction was written to make it easier 

 to say that the public more than the individual is interested 

 in technical training. It means prosperity to the individual; 

 it means life to the public. Without it, in a few generations, 

 we shall be forced into degeneracy by sheer poverty ensued 

 from lessened productiveness of our lands. The exigencies of 

 circumstances, the needs of an increasing population and the 

 demands of an advancing civilization all demonstrate the 

 need of technical skill of a higher order and generally diffused 

 among the people, stimulated by public sentiment and sus- 

 tained by public enterprise. 



Dairying is and will remain for all time one of the chief 

 contributors to the refined appetite of an elevated common- 

 wealth. This being true, it is and will remain a productive 

 industry for these individuals that are able to supply the 

 grade of goods that is demanded. Ranking among the lux- 

 uries of life, dairy products must be faultless to be valuable 

 to an epicurean public, or remunerative to the individual pro- 

 ducer. The successful preparation of foods so delicate as the 

 dairy products amounts to almost a fine art, and requires a 

 high degree of technical skill, combined with the finer 

 natural instincts of order, cleanliness, precision and dainty 

 manipulation. 



We are often asked why it is that dairying asks so much 

 favor in the way of free instruction at public expense. It is 

 held to be simply an occupation like thousands of others, and 

 like them ought to be left to work out its own salvation within 

 commercial circles, and from commercial stimulus only. 



