The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1890-07-31
The Creamery and the Cream
cry Man.

The creamery or butter factory
is comparatively a modern institu-
ton, and keen business men have.
not been slow to appreciate it's val
ue as a producer of clear and regu
lar profits. They were far sighted
enough to see that if one factory
could be made profitable, SO could
two; and if two could be made profit
able, so could four; and il four
could be made profitable, SO could
eight, and 50 on The Oatman
Brothers, the Gurlur Brothers and
b. McCanna are familiar names Of
creamery men who own and manage
perhaps twenty or more butter fac
tories each the buildings have,
all been built by the farmers. The
creamery men have put in the ma
chinery and operated the factory on
the farmers guarantee to supply
the factory with an average Of
5000 lbs. of milk daily for six
months or a year. At the end Of
that time those who furnished the
money to put up the building had it
refunded, the creamery man be-
coming sole proprietor of the plant.
The case is about like this: The.
farmer invests his capital in COWS,
often borrowing money to buy an
increased number to fill the guar
anteed quantity of milk; furnishes
the creamery man free site; bor-
rows the money to build the cream
cry and waits to be re imbursed I'M
til the creamery man can pay for
the buildings out of the clear prof
it's of manufacturing the butter out
of the farmer S milk
In the beginning farmers used to
beseech creamery men to step into
these plants and urge on them vari-
Gus privileges and guarantees to in
duce them The home butter max
ing had grown on the farmers
hands. Their wives had to wash an
endless lot Of milk pals and pans,
skim milk and care for the cream,
and the boys and girls had to do the
churning. The work had become
extensive and severe and the farmer
saw in the creamery a way out of
the difficulty. In the beginning,
too, the prices of butter would pay
the large profits of the c. eamery,
and still leave profit to the farm
er, But times have changed The
| price of butter leaves no profit
to the farmer The creamery -four
ishes better than ever. The steam
fed separator sings every ounce Of
fat out of the milk and the cream
cry man sings every ounce of profit
out of it. But creamery men are
no worse than other men. They do
exactly the same as we should do if
we were in their places. They in
vest in the business to reap the
profits. They go into it to make
money, and if that will accommodate
the farmers they are willing to &C
commodate them. No blame Of any
h1IlCl W UlIClII, oil OUI1CI
course would neither be shrewd nor
wise
The creamery men are few in
number, but rule large territory.
Competition would be fatal, a tacit
combination is essential to them
AS q business of this character
grows evils are sure to attach
themselves to it, Railway corpora
tions after time found they had
the power to tax the traffic all it
would bear The creamery men
are in exactly the same position.
The farmer who takes his milk to a
creamery accepts just what the
creamery man gives him and ac}
cepts it without question A short
time ago I asked farmer if he
knew what price the creamery got
for butter and how his so-called
dividends compared with the price
He replied: 1--WE know nothing
ABOUT it, we take just what they
have mind to give us.