State lUilh rontrol Hearing 



lUilk I'roflui'i'rs \rv Unitrd In Asking For 



An Unipiri' In Fluid lUilli Hurketing 



\^^^^ HA'F' old platitude, ctonom- 



— i^ itallv unsound. was dusted 

 ^^ otif and brought out of the 

 tloset in Springfield recently when the 

 House sittini; as a Committee of the 

 VC'hole t.ive an afternoon to a hearing 

 on the state milk marketing' hill, H. R. 



A University ol ( Iik.il'u protessor. 

 Rawleitrh Stone, hired bv the milk 

 distributors to m.ike a survey of milk 

 marketing, pleased his sponsors when 

 I.e used the term in testifvini: against 

 ilie milk bill which is supj^orted by 

 the milk produi.ers of the state. Stone 

 found ta'ilt with the operations of 

 AAA milk marketing agreements at 

 other cities. Apparently his investiga 

 tions did not include St. Louis and 

 the Quadrities in western Illinois 

 where AAA stabilization has resulted 

 in the most orderly marketing condi- 

 tions with reasonable prices to pro- 

 ducer .ind consumer, these uties ever 

 have e.xperienced. 



Nor did the etonomist t.ikc a re.il- 

 istic view of the milk marketing silu.i- 

 tion in Illinois where consiilerable 

 control" contrary to the laissez faire 

 doctrine o( economic law is exercised 

 bv big distributors and oru-.mi/eil labor 

 in rixini: prices, wages, and profits, but 

 where producers find it almost impos- 

 sible to use similar methods witho.it 

 the help of the govirnment. 



1 he hearing w hich filled the gallerie-. 

 to overflowing with both producer and 

 distributor represent.itives from e\er\- 

 part of Illinois was probably the most 

 impressive in the state lapitol this ses- 

 sion. And in rci.ognition of the im 

 portance ot the measure, members of 

 both House and Senate were present 

 in numbers, 'I'hev listened attenti\eiv 

 and later drew out ot spe.;kers per- 

 tinent facts about milk proiluction and 

 marketing. 



Strange as it mav seem, the adverse 

 report of the Milk Investigating C'om- 

 mittee appointed by the lieutenant-gov- 

 ernor, which was widely heralded bv 

 the C hicago Tribune who opposed the 

 bill from the beginning, was scarvelv 

 mentioned. The committee made a 

 quick trip to a number of eastern 

 markets, and stopped at Madison. Wis- 

 consin and Indianapolis after returnini: 

 home. A Chica'^o Tribune reporter .u 



AT THE MILK BILL HEARING 

 in the House at Springfield. Pres. Earl 

 Smith is on the stand, speaking ior the bilL 



companied the committee, apparent Iv 

 helped to arrange its itinerary, and 

 tiled stories against milk iiiarkefing 

 legislation all along the wav. This 

 handling ot the in\estigation gave it 

 the appearance of a publicity stunt anvl 

 angered milk producers. 



r.arl C. Smith, president of the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association who was 

 the last speaker for the supporters of 

 the bill, reminded the leglislators that 

 no committee loi.'ld po^sibly make an 

 authorit,iti\e and impartial inxestiga- 

 tion ot so intrii.ite a subiect within a 

 few days. He suggested that thev 

 could ha\e secured more ilependable 

 intormation bv confining their efforts 

 to an inip.irtial and e\liausti\e study 

 of the sitiianon in Indi.ma where con- 

 ditions are similar to those in Illinois. 



.Mr. Smith re.id telegrams received 

 from Cio\ernor M. Cdifford Townsend 

 of Indi.ina .ind Director Witte'- of the 

 Wisconsin Deixirtment of Markets. 

 Commenting on the operation of the 

 milk marketing act in that state, after 

 which the Illinois bill is modeled. 

 C'io\ . Townsend said: 



•IN 1935 W i; FOUND THAT SO 

 MUC:H DESTRUC TIN I; COMPETI- 

 TION KXISTKD B i: T W E E N 

 GROIPS OF PRODLCERS AND 

 CiROl PS OF DISIRIBITORS 

 THAT IHE ACTUAL DELIVERY 

 OF A SI FFICIFNT QUANTITY 

 C^F MILK HAN'ING PROPER 

 HEALTH STANDARDS W A S 



JEOPARDIZED. STABILIZED 



MARKETS UNDER OlFR MILK 

 ACT HAVE ELIMINATED MILK 

 W ARS W HIGH HAD RESULTED 

 IN LOW ER PRICES TO PRODUC- 

 ERS. PRODUCERS ARE RECEIV- 

 ING MORE FOR THEIR MILK 

 THAN THE AVERAGE OF 1930 

 TO 1935 AND CONSUMERS ARE 

 PAYING LESS. THIS IS TRUE 

 EVEN IF COST OF ADMINIS- 

 TRATION WAS CHARGED TO 

 EITHER CLASS. AREAS MAK- 

 ING APPLICATION ARE THE 

 ONLY ONES UNDER MILK OR- 

 DERS OF WHICH THERE ARE 

 20 NOW IN OPERATION CON- 

 TROLLING ABOUT 80 PER 

 CENT OF MARKET MILK OF 

 STATE. OTHER AREAS HAVE 

 BEEN STABILIZED VOLUNTAR- 

 ILY BECAL'SE OF POSSIBILITY 

 OF THE ACT BEING APPLIED. 

 OUR ACT WAS RE ENACTED 

 IN 1937 AND 19.V; BY SUBSTAN- 

 TIAL MAJC:)RITIES IN BC:)TH 

 HOUSES. THE PROGRAM HAS 

 THE SUPPORI OF ALL AGRI- 

 CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS 

 OF THE STATE AND I CONSID- 

 ER IT Ai\ EXCELLENT PIECE 

 OF LEGISLATION C:OVERING A 

 BUSINESS ENDCJW ED W I T H 

 PUBLIC INEEREST. MILK IS 

 SUBJECTED TC^ SEVERE REGU- 

 LATION IN THE INTERESTS OF 

 PUBLIC HEALTH AND I FEEL 

 ALL INTERESTS ARE ENTITLED 

 TO THE PROTECTION OF OUR 

 STATE WHICH HAS IMPOSED 

 SUCH REGULATION." 



W. L. Witte. director of markets 

 for Wisconsin telegraphed the Illinois 

 Agricultural .-Kssociation following the 

 visit of the investigating committee as 

 follow s : 



"MY IMPRESSION SEVERAL OF 

 COMMITTEE OPPOSED TO 

 CONTROL PRIOR I() CC^NFER- 

 ENCE. FARMERS Di: FINITELY 

 HAVE BINEFITED BY CON- 

 TROL. MY QUALIFYING STA lE- 

 MENTS NOI GIVEN CONSID- 

 ERATION IN REPORT AND 

 NEWSPAPER." 



In his testimony. President Smith 

 called attention to the lung and costly 

 effort made to eradicate bovine tuber- 

 1 ulosis in Illinois. In the beginning 

 this work was unpopular in many sec- 

 tions, he said Because the lAA sup- 

 ported the TB eradication campaign, 

 the Assoc i.ition lost members in the 

 heavily infected dairy areas and friends 

 in the General Assembly. 'But where 

 do you find any opposition to TB 

 eradication today.' he asked. Farmers 

 of Illinois went to heavy expense them- 



t 



I. A. A. RECORD 



