The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-17
HAVE LAUNCHED IT.
Continued From First PAGE,

Continued From First Page.
your state for the past ten years has been
more rapid and Of more value to the people
OF the state than could have been supposed
by anyone at the time when the first Co
operative creamery established within its
borders. The conditions that prevailed at
that time were nIost favorable toward the
change from the single wheat crop to the
varied crops necessary to make dairying a
success. With this rapid growth and develop
ment Of the dairy industry in your state there
had come about certain conditions that have
made men interested in this industry think
whether with this increase in the manufacture
and production of high grade butter and
cheese, the ordinary methods prevailing for so
many years were the best both for the pro-
ducers and consumers Of Minnesota's dairy
products. l have noticed in the trade papers
published in your city that this matter OF
making st. Paul the clearing house, as 1t
were, for Minnesota's dairy products, has
been discussed to considerable length, and
presume this meeting is to a certain extent
the outcome Of this public discussion in the
trade journals.
When Mr.. Ames, president of the State
Dairy association, with Mr.. Beck visited Elgin,
they were somewhat careful not to say much
about the reasons for their visit. They were
probably Of the idea that the members Of the
board would not be free to give them in
formation if they knew that they had in their
minds the idea Of establishing board at St.
Paul. 1t is possible that some of the members
might have felt that way, but l think, as
general thing, the members of the Elgin board
(
did not entertain such an idea.
1t was my pleasure to give Mr.. Ames and
Mr.. Beck information regarding the workings
or the board, and furnish such statistics as
they might find useful in their work here.
Although they did not say to me in so many
words that they were looking this matter up
that their purpose seeking pointers along
that line, yet, being a down-East Yankee, I
could put two and two together and figure up
that they amounted to four. l put these two
men together, with two or three remarks that
/ accidentally Oi
! tation had been started for a dairy board Of
! trade in your city, l came to the conclusion
! that they were the pioneers, and were spying
! out the ground to find out what good things
they might learn on the Elgin board and If
! you meet with success in establishing
| board here, to advance some better methods
and better ideas than may have been devel-
oped In the course of the history of the butter
trade in your state and city.
With these preliminary remarks, I may be
allowed to say that l have before me the
report Of the secretary OF our board for the
year SO, in which some figures that I
suppose the newspaper men here will be
glad to get. Being a newspaper man myself,
and somewhat of statistician, l find that
figures and statistics are the very essence
of information, and are therefore much de-
sired by the Wide-aWake newspaper men to
prove Whatever other facts they may have
in hand.
The Elgin board of trade was established
in 1872. 1t was proposed by some of the
manufacturers Of cheese and the business
men OF our city, who had become as they
expressed it, Disguised with the methods of
handling the good Illinois cheese chat was
made in those days. by the commission men
of Chicago and other cities. 1t had occurred
to them that when good Illinois cheese was
sold for what it was it would have reputa-
| ton of its own; but when it was sold for New
| York state full cream, 1T lost its identity;
! and If it was good enough to be sold under
the name of the best make of cheese then
| known in this country, it good enough
! to stand upon its merits; and they proposed
| to convince the retailers and wholesalers in
the cheese trade that Elgin cheese was
| capable OF winning It's way its own
| merits, and not masqueradng under another
name, although that name may have the
best reputation In the world With these
| ideas and the fact that Elgin had been Sc
! lected by Gail-Borden for the manufacture
of condensed milk in this country as the
| location where he thought or believed he
could find the best milk in the country and
where it could be produced in quantities that
would be sufficient for any ordinary demand.
| With these advantages, the manufacturers
OF dairy products should have something to
say as to what price they should receive for
the same. The methods in vogue then at
Elg1n, as now in many parts of the country,
were to ship to commission men in various
! cities, notifying them of the fact that they
| had shipped so many packages Of butter or
so many boxes of cheese and await their
| good pleasure as to what price they should
| return for it, or anything else that they
| might see fit to say in regard to the product
| Of the factory. l want to say right here that
believe there is no class Of men in this
1t more necessary for them to do honest
| business than the commission men handling
dairy products; and, in my experience with
| them, l have found them most honorable,
upright and honest business men. 1t is a
necessity in their business that they should
! be so If they expect to be in business for
! any length of time They must secure the
confidence of their shippers, and give them
honest, fair treatment, or their business soon
becomes nil.
Continuing in regard to the EIgin board
| Ia Of
not see into the future for twenty-five years,
| or knew that at the end OF a quarter of
century the Elgin board of trade would stand
! at the head as the only board in the country
| selling butter at a producers market, and
| that the prices made each Monday-the sales
| Of that day-would be wired to every dis
! tributing center throughout the country, and
! that 1t would not only fix the price for the
| butter that was sold by the various mem
| bers of the board but that it would fix the
! quotation on many thousand packages Of
butter made by people in all other dairy
producing sections. Such is the case today.
AS you may have noticed at the beginning,
Of the board cheese was manufactured in
larger proportion than butter. In the fig
ures compiled by the secretary for the year
1872, only 80, 734 pounds of butter were sod.
During the same year 993 $50 pounds Of cheese
were sold For 1873 comprising the full year
there were 396,S77 pounds of butter sold and
over 100000 pounds Of cheese. The revenue
derived from the sale of butter and cheese
was $219, 177.53.
1t would not be interesting to you to note
! each years growth as the years went on, but
| for the next ten years the growth was contn-
uous, and in 1883 there were sold by the
members OF the board 7,274,671 pounds of but
! ter, 13, ia, 092 pounds of cheese, for So 2S2-
| 527.12. Ten years later, in 1888 the sales of
| butter were 30, ,525 pounds, cheese, $780,
1893 pounds, making total value in dollars and
cents of $3.50, O57S7 In 1896 the pounds of
| butter sold were 80 655, 249 pounds of cheese
| 7,279,977, bringing 81, $50 0SS.18.
We shall be glad to furnish any of the
| parties here with these figures complete from
| the year 1872 to 1896, inclusive, as long as the
was from 10000 pounds of butter to over 3S,-
| 100000 pounds per year; and with a value
| Of over $1,000 ,000 The members of the Ell
| gin board, therefore builded upon solid rock
| They started with the original idea that the
! producers of butter and cheese were en-
| titled to the fullest compensation and that
they weuld make this a producers market
where they would invite buyers from all over
the country to come or send agents and secure
such butter as was made at that time in the
| Western country. That they have succeeded
| today is due principally to the fact that the
! quality of the Elgin butter has always been
maintained. That E.gin has been a synonym
! for quality in regard to butter and that
! wherever Elgin Is quoted, 1t has the highest
| quotation OF any in that special market
| The methods of manufacture at the be-
| ginning of the board were not, of course the
same as prevail IN these days. Very largely
the deep setting system used before the
| separator system introduced and when
was the first section in which thew went into
| general use. / had the hard work of being
the pioneer in introducing separators into the
| E4g1n district, and l assure you il was only
by nard work that the creamerymen. even in
| the Elgin district, could be convinced at thar
| early day, 1SS3-S4, that the separtor system
had come to stay and was bound to he 'ttho
system" in very short time