THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 13 



has done others can do. Of course, there are few Masons. 

 There are farmers and there are farmers, everyone knows this. 

 One man thinks he knows as much as the other, but does not 

 apply it in a practical way. There are ideals which you can work 

 for. To acquaint you with these we are bringing the dairy asso- 

 ciation to this section, and we have made a business of working 

 in Southern Illinois for the last few years. We have met in 

 Glenville, we have met in Effingham, and now in this beautiful 

 town. This shows you that the people in the north are not sel- 

 fish. They bring the association to your own door with a small 

 cost to you. It is a nominal cost to pay the actual expenses of 

 a convention and we hope that it will reimburse you a thousand 

 fold as compared to what the citizens pay out. 



We shall try to show you that our great bug bear is the oleo- 

 margarine question. We shall try to show you that the price of 

 butter is the foundation of all prices, whether it is from a city 

 milk standpoint, whether it is from a condenser's standpoint or 

 whether it is from a butter standpoint. All of these large com- 

 panies which you hear spoken of as trusts, although I do not be- 

 lieve there is a trust in this country in any line in the dairy inter- 

 ests, unless it is the oleomargarine follow the butter price. We 

 shall show you that as the price of butter advances, you will find 

 that the price of the condenser's contract is enlarged. That has 

 been so for the past three years. This last winter, I believe, the 

 ordinary price of the condenser was $1.75 per hundred pounds. 

 That takes the skim milk from the farm, the butter does not take 

 the skim milk from the farm. In the skim milk is found the 

 great value to the soil ; the protin is the large element in the 

 skim milk, and that is fed to the hogs and calves. In that way 

 those that sell just their cream will find they build up their farms 

 faster without buying the fertilizers, which will be necessary if 

 they sell their milk. These questions will be brought out in de- 

 tail; I am just touching on them to show this gentleman who 

 brought this subject up. 



On the oleomargarine question, I am pleased to say to you, 

 and this is the first meeting we have been able to say it, our laws 

 are being enforced. The Illinois law is the most strict of any 

 state in the Union. The Supreme Court has lately given a de- 

 cision of constitutionality, but it has taken since 1897 to get it. 

 Oleomargarine sold under the color and semblance of butter is 



