ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN S ASSOCIATION. 37 



that that compound contains so much per cent, of this, that and the 

 other. But, gentlemen, we have a big stack of laws on the statute 

 books of Illinois . A great many of them are in force and a great 

 many are not, and unfortunately, this is one of those that per- 

 force remains a dead letter, for the simple reason that when a 

 noble legislature so liberally passed that law and gave that 

 grand relief (?) to the people, they neglected to make any pro- 

 vision whatever for means to enforce the law. 



A majority of our previous Illinois legislatures have appeared 

 entirely unaware that there is a dairy interest in Illinois capable of 

 demanding attention ; that it is one interest in the state represent- 

 ing more than any other. The dairymen of Illinois are not and 

 have not been politicians. The time is now surely at hand for 

 them, as a matter of vital interest and self-protection, to take 

 such steps as will purge our representative halls from men deaf 

 to the demands of producers and consumers, but with ready 

 ears and open palms turned towards the monopolists, adulter- 

 ators, and leeches of the community. 



Mr. Bailey : " I would like to ask you if the two-cent tax on 

 oleomargarine has decreased the manufacture or sale of the 

 product ? " 



The Secretary: "The sale has decreased about seventy- 

 five per cent.; it is said to be to-day less than thirty per cent, of 

 what it was one year ago last November. But there is more 

 than one cause for this; we must not give the law the entire 

 credit. It is not the National law alone that has caused a lack 

 of demand for oleomargarine, but the fact that it has been shut 

 out from a number of states whose legislatures went to the suc- 

 cor of the people. In New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, 

 Missouri and Ohio, they entirely interdicted the sale of oleo- 

 margarine and consequently that field is entirely shut out, a 

 sealed book as it were for its manufacturers, and it has been 

 impossible for them to carry on trade in those states. This is 

 one of the reasons which have operated in causing the diminu- 

 tion of sales to a great extent. It would be safe to say that the 

 action of the National law alone would probably have decreased 



