selves despite the help received from 

 government indemnities to give the 

 public a pure and healthful milk supply. 

 "The bill we are considering today 

 provides for a representative and im- 

 partial board," Mr. Smith said, "one 

 of whose responsibilities will be to 

 determine what portion of the con- 

 sumer's milk dollar should go to the 

 producer and what part to distributors. 

 The bill in no sense provides for rais- 

 ing the price to the consumer. Hun- 

 dreds of conferences have been held 

 but each time distributors have in- 

 sisted on maintaining a certain mar- 

 gin of profit, and labor has insisted 

 on a certain wage scale. And the 

 producer got what was left." 



Gradually producers have been or- 

 ganizing to fortify themselves against 

 an unequal situation, he pointed out. 

 Farmers have had to contend with the 

 power and force of money controlled 

 by large milk distributors and some- 

 times the unreasonable demands of cer- 

 tain branches of organized labor. I hope 

 the power of organized farm people 

 ■will never have to be used in this way. 



"Farmers have no quarrel with deal- 

 ers for seeking a return upon an honest 

 investment and for needed services and 

 they have no quarrel with labor for 

 securing fair wages and reasonable 

 working conditions. But when these 

 results are achieved by taking an un- 

 just toll from the producers of farm 

 products, farmers not only have a right 

 to object but will use every reasonable 

 means at their command to insure fair 

 dealings." 



Mr. Smith said there apparently was 

 a need for an impartial board to look 

 into the records of both distributors 

 and organized milk producers to de- 

 termine costs of production and mar- 

 keting, the sale of milk in the differ- 

 ent classifications, and the division of 

 the consumer's milk dollar. Producers 

 have from time to time suspected and 

 have some evidence to support their 

 suspicions that the quantity of milk 

 and cream sold in fluid form by some 

 distributors is not always reflected in 

 payments in the Class I price. Milk 

 producers have been subject to all sorts 

 of regulations by city health authorities 

 yet they have absolutely no protection 

 as to the price they are to receive. 



Paul E. Mathias of the lAA legis- 

 lative committee opened the testimony 

 by explaining the contents of the milk 

 marketing bill. Wilfred Shaw, lAA 

 milk marketing director, revealed that 

 organized Illinois milk producers 

 throughout the state are united in 

 wanting the bill passed. 



Arthur Lauterbach, manager of Pure 

 Milk Association, Chicago, told the as- 

 sembly that many farmers have lost 



STATE MOK CONTROL BILL 

 PROVIDES 



STATE MILK BOARD — throe pro- 

 ducers and three dealer representa- 

 tives and the Director oi Agriculture 

 with power oi summons and sub- 

 poena in conducting hearings and 

 inquiries. 



UCENSE AND BOND — Each 

 dealer would be licensed and re- 

 quired to show financial ability or 

 give a suitable bond guaranteeing 

 payment oi a two-montjis supply oi 

 mUlc V 



AUDITS — state board would 

 have authority to audit accounts oi 

 dealers to determine ii proper set- 

 tlements are being made to pro- 

 ducers. 



MINIMnM PRICE — Board could 

 iix minimum price to producer for 

 milk on any market when invited by 

 two-thirds oi iarmers supplying such 

 market. 



60 DAY RESALE CLAOSE — Board 

 could fix retail price oi milk not to 

 exceed 60 days within any calendar 

 year. 



TWO-YEAR BILL — Would be 

 enacted only ior two years, expiring 

 lune 30, 1941. 



money because dealers failed to pay for 

 milk. He asserted that the industry is 

 in a turmoil and needs an umpire. 

 "This is one of the mildest bills writ- 

 ten," he said. "It doesn't do all the 

 things the newspapers claim for it. All 

 honest dealers and organized producer 

 groups would be protected. The bill 

 puts all distributors under a license and 

 puts the dishonest dealer out of busi- 

 ness. It provides for a bond and an 

 audit with payment for milk, according 

 to use." Some form of milk control, he 

 added, is here to stay and unless a mod- 

 erate solution is worked out, milk is 

 headed for treatment as a public utility. 



E. W. Tiedeman, president of Sani- 

 tary Milk Producers, St. Louis, said : 

 "The St. Louis market has been operat- 

 ing under an AAA license, similar to 

 the provisions in this bill, for five 

 years. Nobody has been hurt. The 

 producers get a fair price which has 

 been averaging about 5 cents a quart 

 for Class I. The consumer has been 

 paying from eight to 13 cents a quart. 

 The dealers are making money and 

 labor is employed. The housewife can 

 get Grade A milk delivered at her home 

 from 10 cents to 13 cents a quart or 

 she can buy it at the store for nine 

 cents in two quart bottles. Is the con- 

 sumer being hurt.' The record doesn't 

 show it. "This bill proposes nothing 

 new, nothing experimental, nothing 

 radical. The bill requires that all 

 dealers pay the same price for milk 

 sold in the same class. We believe 

 milk producers on the intra-state mar- 

 kets should have the same protection 

 that producers around the inter-state 

 markets now have under the AAA." 



Senator Paddock and Rep. Kelsey of 

 Lake County, Rep. Wilson, Kankakee 

 county. Rep. Fialer and others took 

 part in questioning the speaker. Rep. 

 Dennis Collins, chairman of the House 

 Agricultural Commitee ably presided 

 and introduced the speakers. 



President Burkholder of the Illinois 

 Milk Dealers Association, who operates 

 a dairy at Decatur called attention to 

 the need for ironing out sharp fluctua- 

 tions in quantity of milk delivered by 

 producers during the year. "We should 

 organize our own industry and solve 

 our own problems," he said. 



Paul Potter, secretary of the organ- 

 ized Chicago milk dealers, said that 

 the bill was not a solution of the 

 problem and suggested that the pro- 

 ducers and dealers could solve their 

 problems without the help of a state 

 marketing board. 



Since the recent one cent reduction 

 in milk prices announced by the larger 

 distributors in Chicago (from 12 cents 

 to 11 cents per quart delivered to the 

 home, and nine cents at the stores), in- 

 dependent dealers, led by Meadow- 

 moor Dairies, have cut prices in their 

 numerous stores to 71/2 cents per quart. 

 Destructive competition is under way 

 among milk dealers throughout Chi- 

 cago and its suburbs. Meantime dealers 

 are reported to be negotiating with 

 producer representatives for another 

 price cut. Producers in the fluid area 

 are netting only about 1.25 cwt. for all 

 milk. In the low income sections of 

 Chicago and outlying industrial towns, 

 reports indicate that hundreds of milk 

 wagon drivers have lost their jobs. 

 Thrifty housewives are saving up to 

 four cents a quart purchasing at stores. 



Comment From Indiana On 

 Milk Commiltec 



If the facts as presented by the 

 Illinois Milk Investigating Committee 

 regarding operation of the Indiana act 

 are any criterion as to the accuracy of 

 the balance of this report, as a whole 

 it would not be a very good gauge 

 for determining the future course of 

 action by either legislatures or the in- 

 dustry, comments Leon C. Coller, ad- 

 ministrator of the Indiana Milk Control 

 Act in the May issue of his Milk Mar- 

 ket Bulletin just off the press. 



"We can speak only of that por- 

 tion of the committee's findings which 

 apply to Indiana," he says. "We do 

 know facts here, and know that many 

 of the statements which have been made 

 concerning operation of the act in this 

 state are misleading, erroneous and 

 without foundation, and are in a posi- 

 tion to prove this." 



JUNE, 1939 



