THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 241 



the Producers' Association, who spoke on the subject of milk 

 production. He said that farmers must have better cows. The 

 cows must have better care, thereby insuring better milk, and nat-. 

 urally better prices for the milk. Mr. Mason has produced 

 10,000 cans of milk in one year from his dairy, and in one year 

 cleared $10,000. He told of an experiment in feeding steers and 

 hogs. At the end of the year he sold them for $10,000. Then 

 he changed to dairying and at the end of the year had sold $10,- 

 000 of milk, and had his working material — his dairy — left, 

 whereas in the first instance his working material was gone. 

 Showing plainly the profit in a well managed dairy. 



The next speaker of the day was Hon. J. B. Newman of 

 Elgin, Assistant State Pure Food Commissioner. Some of the 

 special points he made were on the value of milk as a food. He 

 spoke of the important part it plays in a person's diet, and show- 

 ed how essential it was that it should be more sanitary — how, 

 with proper care there would be much less bacteria in milk, 

 which is a well known medium for the spreading of certain dis- 

 eases. He urged that the stables must be better lighted and 

 have better ventilation, and that there be a better degree of 

 cleanliness of both stable and cattle, and that the cattle have 

 better food. A dairy run on this basis would have no trouble 

 in commanding better prices for the milk. 



George VV. Conn, County Superintendent of Schools of 

 McHenry county, gave a rousing address. He spoke of the 

 changed conditions on the farm at the present time as compared 

 with a few years ago. The electric railway, the telephone, the 

 rural free delivery of mail, putting the farmer in touch with the 

 world equally as well as his city brother. He said that the 

 farmer is the real aristocrat of the day. He urged that there be 

 a concentrated effort among the farmers to better all conditions 

 of farm life. Farmers, he said, could work well single, but 

 they had not learned to work well double, as yet, which they 

 must do to make things move on. There can be no retrogression 

 now. 



Prof. DeLos L. James, of the University of Illinois, talked 



