24 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
The first year the board was organized the sales of 
butter and cheese amounted to $81,000. Small as this is, 
it o-ave great encouragement to the friends of the enter¬ 
prise for, had this been disposed of in the usual way, the 
factorymen would have paid the commission men $4,050 01 
the privilege (?) of selling their goods. With this showing 
for the first year, all the factorymen who were within reach 
of the board became members, and aided in sustaining 1 . 
In 187s the sales amounted to $'219,177.53 1 1874, $308,- 
528.58; 1875, $496,220.04; 1876, $767,640.68; 1877, $ I,- 
059,085.08; 1878, $ 755 , 597 - 15 - In the lat * er y ear * h ® r 5 : 
were sold 120,821 boxes of cheese, aggregating 4,897,^40 
pounds, and 1,11 3,95 5 pounds of butter. The falling off in 
sales in 1878 is due to the fact that many of the factorymen 
failed to report their sales. Had they been as prompt in 
reporting as they were in selling, the aggregate for the year 
would have compared favorably with that of the previous 
year For the year ending with December, 1879, the sales 
amounted to $ 539 , 143 - 67 - During this period there were 
08 856 boxes of cheese, aggregating 3,648,314 pounds, and 
077 879 pounds of butter, reported sold. Let us recapitu¬ 
late and see what the total sales have been since 1872, the 
year the board was organized, to December, 1879. We 
find that they aggregate $4,286,392.72. At five per cent, 
commission, the factorymen and dairymen, on that sum, 
would be out of pocket $214,319,63. a respectable 
sum; and all saved by the board of trade, which has been 
maintained during the past eight years at a cost of $2 per 
member per year, a sum so trifling that none have felt it. 
The question may be asked, Why do not all factorymen 
become members of the board, and share the benefits? n 
reply let me state that but few factorymen in northern Illi¬ 
nois are not members of the board, having long since 
concluded that the advantages were far too great to be 
neglected. Our membership is scattered from Chicago to 
-Pecatonica, and from the Wisconsin line, on the north, to 
the C., B. & Q. railroad, on the south, which scope embraces 
very nearly all the factories in the northern part of the state. 
Many private creamerymen and dairymen are also members, 
as well as the irrepressible commission men of Chicago, St. 
Louis and New York ; and, so far as is known, all are satis¬ 
fied with the board, and believe that its organization has 
been for the best. 
