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Wisconsin Cheese Makers' Association / Proceedings of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers' Association forty-third annual convention November 14, 15, 1934 assembled in the Eagles Auditorium Sheboygan, Wisconsin
(1935)
Kopitzke, L. E.
Response to address of welcome, pp. 14-16
PDF (687.8 KB)
Page 15
FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION quality, but unfortunately there are still some who do not try to do anything about it. The argument most commonly used by makers is that if they make an attempt to improve the quality of the milk they are bound to step on some of their patrons' toes and will result in losing them. This may be true, but it only proves that some are asleep at the switch, for if we would all put our shoulders to the wheel and do our bit such conditions would not exist. Then too there are different ways in going about the task of im- proving the quality. My opinion is that we can accomplish the best results by going about it in a friendly and cautious manner. We must convince the patrons that it is profitable for them to pro- duce quality milk. The fact must be stressed that if all dairy products marketed were of a good quality the consumption would be greatly increased and the surplus wiped out, which naturally would result in better prices. Let us not overlook the fact that the producers of milk have had a mighty difficult time of it for the past three years. They have been working harder than ever, but have realized very little for their efforts. I do not want you to misunderstand me, however; I do not claim that to be an excuse for not producing good milk, but with such con- ditions existing it behooves us still more to cooperate with our pa- trons in trying to improve the quality. We must not forget the proverb, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If you were a producer, you would not want your milk rejected without an explanation as to why it could not be taken. Neither would you want it broadcast to the other patrons, yet this is sometimes done. I remember one cheese maker who enjoyed the patronage of forty-six farmers and if one of them would deliver a can of milk which was inferior in quality, the other forty-five would be sure to hear about it. I believe that by making use of our sediment tester and ther- mometer, together with a little friendly advice we can accomplish a great deal more towards improving the quality of our cheese. As for the advertising, I am glad to be able to state at this time that I think there has been more done in the past year to educate the consumers as to the value of cheese than ever before. The first steps toward urging the public to eat more cheese were taken last November before and during National Cheese Week. No doubt this did a lot of good while it lasted which was one week, but it was not sufficient time. After Cheese Week many of us started to think and wonder why it would not be a good idea to have fifty-two "Cheese Weeks" instead of one. It was not long before action was started by a few cheese makers who finally succeeded in building an organization for the pur- pose of advertising Wisconsin Natural Cheese, namely, the Wisconsin Cheese Makers' Publicity Association. 15
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