FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 103 



INCREASING THE VALUE OF OUR DAIRY PRODUCTS, 



By F. W, Bousha, Assistant to Sec. G. L. McKay, of the 



American Asso. of Creamery Butter Manufacturers, 



Chicago, 



By the value of a dairy product might be understood, the 

 price at which it sells. That is how much money it costs the 

 consumer and how much money it yields the producer. It 

 might mean utility or intrinsic value. That is how it serves the 

 consumer for the purpose for which he obtained it. 



It is natural for dairymen to want a better reward for 

 their efforts. A better reward justly earned is an index of ef- 

 ficiency and usefulness to society. From a viewpoint of public 

 policy a better reward obtained by such methods is desirable 

 and praiseworthy. An increase in price to the consumer with- 

 out being founded upon a decreased supply, increased cost of 

 production or increased utility is unjustifiable and against ec- 

 onomic policy. 



The eighteenth Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 

 page 847, shows that in the period from 1890 to 1903 there 

 was no substantial upward or downward course in the relative 

 price of butter. 



The period from 1907 to 191 3 I find in the Statistical Ab- 

 stract of the U. S. 1914 



Relative Retail Price of Butter. 



1907 84.1 



1908 85.7 



1909 90.2 



1910 94.0 



1911 87.6 



1912 97 A 



1913 > 1 00.0 



The average price for 19 13 is taken as a basis 100. These 

 figures show an upward trend in the price of butter. These are 

 the latest available figures. 



