ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



167 



I believe the future of the dairy industry of this State is exceedingly 

 bright. There are great opportunities to advance this industry in Illinois. 

 It is my opinion that much of the soil that is now occupied in raising 

 crops could be used to a much better advantage in dairy farming. The 

 seeding of the land for year after year for nearly a century has a ten- 

 dency to make it poor, but this land could be easily transformed into ex- 

 cellent dairy pasture which would improve the soil. Dairymen should 

 co-operate and stand together and demand better prices for their product. 

 You should join with your neighbors and buy in carload lots and save 

 from two to four dollars per ton on feed. I am free to say that the dairy 

 farmers should' have net, above freight, one-half of the retail price to 

 the consumer. The middle man has generally the better part of the busi- 

 ness on milk products. With my experience, if I had to take the low 

 price prevailing for the past few yeais for milk in Chicago, I should be 

 very much inclined to let the other iellow do the producing and I would 

 do the selling and the money making. People are beginning to appre- 

 ciate the value of the dairy products, and I believe there is a much better 

 day ahead for the dairyman. Let your association forge ahead wiih the 

 wave of prosperity. There is need of more practical education for our 

 country boys, especially in the dairy farming industry; an education 

 which will not only prepare them for farm life, but at the same time 

 awaken within them great respect for their calling. Tlie mechanic is 

 taught manual training; the engineer surveying: the soldier military 

 tactics; the doctor physics; the lawyer jurisprudence; the preacher the- 

 ology; and the banker bookkeeping and banking — all these are educated 

 and equipped for their special lines 01 endeavor, but the farmer boy is 

 turned loose in the broad open field to work out his own salvation in the 

 great workshop of nature, handicapped by the lack of knowledge of the 

 soil and its capabilities. It is my opinion that the farming chemistry 

 should be taught in the country school districts. The farm boy should 

 know more about plant life and its relation to the soil, and the future 

 dairymen should understand thoroughly all the questions bearing upon 



