ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
69 
Thursday, Dec. 12, 1878, 1 p. m. 
Convention called to order as per adjournment, when 
Topic No 11 “Is it practicable to reduce the cost of pro¬ 
ducing milk so as to correspond with the decline in prices? ” 
John Keating read the following paper upon this 
topic: 
JOHN KEATING’S PAPER. 
As surely as the summer’s oloom is followed by the winter’s 
snow, as surely as the copious rain is followed by the parching 
drought, as surely as the glory of mid-day is followed by the darkness 
of the night; so surely are times of high prosperity and inflated 
values followed by periods of depreciated stagnation and distress- 
Such has been the experience of mankind from the beginning, and 
such has been our experience of late. 
We have passed through the happy days of prosperity, into 
their pleasant heats, their fertilizing showers and their glorious sun¬ 
shine, and we are now surrounded by wintry cold, draught and dark¬ 
ness. What then are we to do? throw up our hands in despair, and 
exclaim that it is useless to struggle against hard fortune? By no 
means. Despair helps nothing and summer will come again. The 
question then suggests itself, is it possible for us to reduce°the cost of 
producing our milk so as to correspond with the decline in prices, 
and thus to do as well in the future as in the past ? To this I would 
most emphatically answer, no. It is not possible to reduce our ex¬ 
penses so much, the depreciation is too great. We must be satisfied 
with cheaper living and smaller profits. 
But, while we cannot do everything, we can do something; we 
can do much. We can lessen the cost of producing milk very much 
by pursuing the right course with patience, vigor and determination* 
What then is this course, and how can we pursue it ? And here 
I must confess I feel my inability to point out, much less lead, in 
such a course, and that I can but offer a few suggestions which have 
occurred to my mind. 
lhe first, and most important step in reducing the cost of pro¬ 
ducing milk, consists in increasing the average yield of our cows. 
A\oise than dull markets, worse than low prices is this fact; this 
