202 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOOIATION. 



every bearing ready to work as smoothly as satin and no fire 

 under it. A loving heart without the intelligent brain to 

 regulate it is like the fire — a comfortable thing in this some- 

 times chilly earth of ours, but it cannot be transformed into 

 the energy that will move the world without the assistance 

 of the machinery of the brain. So these two are the great 

 things to be sought after, thought and love, and the greatest 

 of these is love. 



HOW TO MAKE THIS ASSOCIATION A POWER IN THE 



STATE. 



W. H. THURSTON, EDITOR FARMERS' REVIEW, CHICAGO. 



Like most Associations of this kind, the Illinois Dairy- 

 men's Association is hardly more than an annual plant. If it 

 does not have to be grown from the seed each year, it at 

 least dies down to the root. The problem is, "How shall we 

 make it a living, thriving, perennial?" It is now an effective 

 force for only three days in the year; how can it be made 

 effective for the whole year? 



The present state of the Association is one of weakness. 

 Several causes have combined to bring about this condi- 

 tion. The first cause is the small membership. Only those 

 who pay their dues each year are members. In 1891 the num- 

 ber of paying members was fifty-eight. In some of the years 

 since it may have been larger, but I doubt if in any recent year 

 it has been as large as one hundred. At least, the number has 

 not been so great that the Secretary cared to advertise it in 

 his annual report. There is way of telling, by annual publica- 

 tion, who really are members, for a host that have been mem- 

 bers in past years are carried on the list, though they long ago 

 ceased to have any connection, financial or otherwise, with 

 the Association. Perhaps this is done for the purpose of keep- 

 ing the real weakness of the Association from becoming ap- 

 parent to the public. 



A second cause of weakness is the shifting character of 

 the membership. The number of members who remain and 



