542 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



KISDON CREAMERY, 

 Chas. Risdon. 



Per W. L. Watson. 



FRITZ CREAMERY, 

 Louis C. Fritz. 



The above signers represent 5S1 milk delivery wagons out of a total of 

 700 wagons in the city of Detroit. 



Detroit, Michigan, November 17, 1917. 



APPENDIX B. 

 FIRST REPORT OF DETROIT MILK COMMISSION. 



Acting at the request of, and under authority conferred jointly by the 

 officers of the Michigan Milk Producers' Association and the representa- 

 tives of the distributors of milk in the Detroit area, whose petition is 

 hereto attached, the undersigned commission, so designated for the pur- 

 pose, submits the following report : 



Because of the importance of milk as a human food, particularly in 

 its relation to the proper nutrition of children, this commission has 

 approached the task to which it has been called with particular con- 

 sideration to the problem of maintaining a stable supply of wholesome 

 market milk in the great center of population represented by the Detroit 

 area. The rapid growth of modern cities, of which the Detroit area is 

 typical, has made this a vital and serious problem. The continued 

 advance in the price of milk, in common with other necessities, has 

 caused consumers whose interests are entitled to our first consideration 

 no small concern. Yet so far as this advance may be necessary and 

 unavoidable, we believe it to be a secondary consideration to an ample 

 and stable milk supply, because of the absolute and universal need of this 

 food in every familj'. 



Instead of a normal increase of one in ten during the past two years, 

 Michigan has suffered a decrease in dairy cows of nearly fifteen per cent, 

 because of labor and economic conditions which have made dairying 

 relatively unprofitable at prevailing prices for dairy products. This 

 tendency has been further aggravated by war conditions and an unfavor- 

 able season, until the market milk supply is seriously threatened. 



To insure a stable and dependable milk supply cognizance must be 

 taken of the commercial conditions surrounding its production and 

 distribution. These conditions, in common with those surrounding 

 every other industry, are abnormal at the present time. The cost of 

 feeds, which represents approximately fifty per cent of the cost of pro- 

 ducing milk, has increased in a similar manner as has the cost of human 

 foods. The farmer, to an even greater extent than the manufacturer, 

 has experienced grave difficulty in securing adequate and dependable 

 labor. The country wage has kept pace with tlie city wage, where men 

 could be obtained at all, and the cost of farm and dairy equipment has 

 increased to a corresponding degree. 



