148 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



This story I am going to tell you, it was five or six years before 

 I could see any fun in it. It was a very delicate matter with me 

 indeed. The very first place I went into was an Irish woman's. 

 I walked into the kitchen and went across the room and sat down, 

 and the first break I made settled it. I put my hat on the table 

 and commenced. I said "The cream you are sending to the 

 creamery is absolutely rotten." Yes, I got out, but that hap- 

 pened twenty years ago and my hat is there yet. I do want to 

 put this strong to you ; if you put intelligence into it the way 

 you ought to, nothing will pay better in your life, but you must 

 get a good raw material. You can't be too particular. The 

 better you make it the more will be consumed. 



I want to talk on another question, and leave it with you. 

 The work of the National Dairy Union, of which I am the presi- 

 dent. I want to say to you a few words on the subject. I shall 

 give no history of the work, it is known to almost all of you. 



Ten years ago an organization for the purpose of protecting 

 the dairy interests was formed. It was to procure the prevention 

 of a fraudulent sale of a product taking the place of butter in the 

 markets of the world. At one time in its history 126 millions 

 of pounds were sold, and ninety per cent of that was sold as 

 butter. Had nothing been done, the material was unlimited ; you 

 can see where we, as dairymen, would have been if we could not 

 have controlled it. We secured the passage of a law. After 

 that it dropped from 126 million to less than 50 million pounds. 

 The law was all we had hoped for. It accomplished more than we 

 had supposed. Since that time it has been a constant struggle 

 between the Union and the manufacturers of this product to get 

 their product upon the market. I am going to cut the argument 

 short, but I want to make a statement here. Very often the work 

 of the Dairy Union has been misunderstood. We have been told 

 we say it is not a reputable business. We have never taken the 

 position, but claim that the manufacture of oleomargarine is as 

 good as a dairy business is just so long as they sell it for what 

 it is. That they must manufacture it and sell it for what it is, 

 and not for our product. I am just going to bring up a few facts. 



