134 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



that butter brings, what the buttermilk brings, what the 

 sweet milk brings, if it is sold, and all those details, but when 

 he asks to know where that butter goes, the factory man 

 should say, "I will tell you, if you will keep it to yourself,'^ 

 and he should pledge himself not to reveal it. The factory 

 man may have spent hundreds of dollars in looking up the 

 market, and it is not the province of a patron to look upon 

 those books and find where his goods go, and give that market 

 away to a competitior, because then, he would be injuring him- 

 self and injuring the interests of the factory. Patrons do not 

 think far enough sometimes and creamery men are often 

 caught. When I commenced years ago, I took counsel from 

 a man in Elgin. I was full of generosity and goodness, as 

 most of people are when they commence this business, and I 

 made the remark to him, "Now, I am going to start right out, 

 every patron is going to know just exactly what I am doing.'^ 

 He said to me, "The less you let the patrons know the better.'^ 

 I thought that was shocking doctrine, and in one sense it was. 

 I started out, told the patrons just what I was getting for 

 the butter and what I thought it was going to be in the near 

 future and everything else, and I found I had gone a little too 

 far. There are questions that a patron ought not to ask, but 

 on general principles I think that we do not let our patrons 

 ino the business enough. 



Mr. Artman: I would like to ask you, if the butter is 

 sold and brings a premium, should the patron know that? For 

 instance, if you had a co-operative creamery and you ship your 

 butter to a certain market, and it had an outlet, which en- 

 abled it to bring a premium, should the patrons know about 

 that? 



Mr. Johnson: No, sir; because the neighboring factory 

 would investigate the factory and find out where that butter 

 went and they would step in and try to beat him. When the 

 patron gets his dividend he will know that that butter got 

 the premium, because they will participate in it. 



Mr. Judd: Dont you think that the creamery managers 

 ought to insist on a regular system of handling the milk at 

 the farm to insure a good product? 



Mr. Johnson: I do, most certainly. In theory that is a 

 very good thing; in practice, it is very hard to carry out. If 



