The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-10-30
THE KIMBALLGRAPHIC
cLATE rINAN
Official Papsr Of the City and County
THE KlMBALl CREAMERY

UnaU tne K1mball creamery is dead,
and even II it were, it would be better,
perhaps, for someone else to preach
the funeral sermon. We can say this,
however: that the editor Of this paper,
who put in five years trying his level
best to found an institution in this
town that would stand for all time,
feels a good deal like the old darky
preacher officiating at the funeral OF
one OF his flock.
1t seems that the deceased was a
tough young buck who would per-
sist in going wrong In spite of all the
labor, exhortine and pleading of his
pastor. Finally he got killed in a
crap game. Standing before his little
congregation OF colored folks and
looking down upon the form Of the
black sheep in the coffin at his feet,
the old parson said:
HBrederin' I dom know whether
Nose is lost er not, but if he is didn't
lose him."
Let us hope, however, that the Kim
ball creamery is not lost. So much is
being said about the closing of the
plant, last week, by the newspapers
of the state that something is nat
urally expected from the GRAPHIC. 1t
is natural, of course, that the closing
Of a creamery which for years stood at
the head Of its class in the amount
of money paid per hundred for milk
and innet returns to its patrons and
exceeding all others in the state in
the volume Of business-save the few
operating Swimming stations outside
should be a matter OF no little COM
ment-and various reasons are assign
ed. In making a note of the closing
down Of the plant for the winter the
GRAPHIC took advantage of the op-
portunity to say that the farmers here
abouts have become too prosperous to
milk cows. The White Lake Wave,
for one. takes exception to this and
cites the cas- Of its towns own pros
porous creamerY-and naturally
wants to know how comes it that
farmers of Brule county are more pros
porous than those of Aurora a few
miles east.
For the Waves better information,
1T is we'll enough to state that the
item to which it refers was not
written by Mr.. Tinan, but by one Of
the employees of this office. But the
item reflects the EDITORS views just
the same. The statement that farmers
around Kimball were becoming
too prosperous to milk COWS might
have been qualified, to be sure, but
the item did not pretend to enter in
ter into all the details attending the
shutting down of the plant, and the
prosperity part of it was simply In
Icidental to the whole.
AS stated at the beginning, it is by
no means certain that the Kimball
creamery is dead. The receipts were
so small last winter 1t made the cost
of making the butter altogether too
high to make the operation Of the
plant profitable to patrons. This
caused a good deal of dissatisfaction
and it was thought best not to repeat
the thing this winter. The receipts
have been falling off considerably the
last two years-so much so that it has
cut the winter patronage-never very
gcod-to almost nothing. When
spring opens it is likely that the
creamery will be started again If q
good buttermaker can be found.
When the plant was started il
was freely predicted by commission
men and their representatives thai
the factory would sooner Or later pass
into the hands Of private parties anl
go on that way indefinitely. This,
they said, had been the history o
nearly every cooperative plant il
Iowa. The GRAPHIC believes this vii
eventually be the case with the Kim,
ball creamery. We think its useful.
ness as ia cooperative institution has
passed. There never was enough co
IOpNAdUlOA dUOuu4 UIlC lkSUlUuUlOIl u
load an elephant, anyway. The sooner
the stockholders come to this con.
clusion the more money they will get
out of their investment. The plant
will deteriorate rapidly by being clos
ed even for a few months at a time,
and there will soon be no business
for anybody who might want to lease
or buy it.
There is no money in the sinking
fund for a dividend this year, and
the lowering Of the levy from five
cents to three cents per hundred with
the expectation of gaining more bust
ness proved falacious. The matter OF
acent&or two per hundred on the
milk will never catch or drive away a
patron-but when it costs him ter
cents pound to have his butter
made-equiyalent to about 45 cent?
Il per hundred on his mi1k-hn onts