44 
ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN 7 S ASSOCIATION. 
spread calamities, the innocent with the guilty suffer. It will require 
years of faithful well doing in the manufacture of superior cheese to 
restore the valuable fame which this vicinity enjoyed in the produc¬ 
tion of cheese, a few years ago, and the prosperity then existing 
among dairymen. 
As to the prices charged, they are the same generally as charged 
eight or nine years ago. By combination and shrewdness the pro¬ 
prietors of factories have managed to maintain their prices in the 
face and notwithstanding the heavy decline in the price of butter and 
cheese, in labor, and in property generally and in the profits of busi¬ 
ness generally. The proprietor—with less capital employed than any 
one of his patrons owning his farm and dairy, say 100 acres and 40 
cows—probably made more money the past summer and fall than all 
his patrons out of their dairy business. The prices charged are prob¬ 
ably nearly double the fair value of the services rendered. 
It is superfluous to adduce any facts or reasons to convince 
dairymen of this vicinity, particularly those who were engaged in 
the business previous to the establishment of the board of trade, 
that it is, as a general rule, unwise to send butter or cheese to com¬ 
mission men to be sold on commission. Experience admonishes all 
that loss is almost certain to ensue when butter or cheese is sent off 
to be sold on commission. The goods should be retained in the fac¬ 
tory until they are sold. This is one reason why they should be 
manufactured so they can be.kept without injury, and proper storage 
provided at the factory. 
The less middlemen to be paid in the prosecution of any busi¬ 
ness the better. Dairymen seem to have overlooked this fact. 
Probably in no other business can so many middlemen be found as 
in the dairy business. When the butter and cheese of the dairyman 
are not made separately by himself, but with others at a factory, what 
is wanted is help—laborers, butter and cheese makers—and not men 
merely to do the figuring, selling, and receiving the lion’s share of 
the profits. Dairymen are capable of carrying on their own business 
—transacting all of it, and the sooner they unload all middlemen the 
easier and faster will be then progress to prosperity. 
Now, what is the remedy for the financial infelicity of the 
dairymen ? 
For some of the unto^aiu. circumstances encompassing them it 
is likely remedies may be found in the suggestions already made. 
