OVERRUN 409 



ment of the subject of the overrun. They are a fact, however, 

 which the creamery has to deal with. It has no choice in the matter, 

 and collectively they do affect the overrun to a very marked degree 

 in one direction or the other, and to a degree that has not been fully 

 recognized by the industry in the past. 



Since business cannot be conducted successfully by paying for 

 more than is actually received, the creamery cannot pay for butter- 

 fat it does not receive and no efficiently operated creamery would 

 tolerate such transactions. Every loyal creamery operator will 

 record only as much weight of cream and as much fat in the test as 

 the cream scales and the Babcock Test actually show. And if the 

 exact weight and the exact test involve fractions which cannot be 

 determined by the standard equipment, and which are not recog- 

 nized, he ignores these fractions. 



A similar practice is in vogue the country over in the purchase 

 of butter and other farm produce. When butter is sold to the pro- 

 duce trade on the open market, the buyer makes remittance for 

 whole pounds only. The butter buyer does not recognize fractions 

 of pounds, nor even half pounds, and he often insists on the scale 

 beam touching the top when weighing. If a tub of butter weighs 

 63 pounds and 15 ounces, the creamery selling this butter would be 

 entitled to and would receive pay for 63 pounds only. This is an 

 established custom, recognized and accepted by the industry, not- 

 withstanding the objections which have been raised against it 

 recently. 



When the creamery recognizes, records and pays for half 

 pounds of cream and half per cents of the test, and this should be 

 the practice in every creamery, it is paying the farmer more nearly 

 for the exact amount of the product it receives than is the estab- 

 lished custom of buying butter and other farm produce. It cannot, 

 as an efficiently conducted business, pay for more than it actually 

 receives, hence it must receive the benefit of the doubt in all cases 

 of unavoidable and unreadable fractions of pounds of cream and 

 of per cent fat in the test. 



It may be argued that equity demands the payment for butterf at 

 on the basis of a "give and take" system as far as these unreadable 

 fractions of weights and tests is concerned, in which case fractions 

 of over one-fourth pound and over three-fourths pound of cream 

 would be recorded as half pounds and whole pounds respectively, 



