COST OF MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCTS 253 



B. COST OF MARKETING CHEESE 



It is thought that the middleman can be traced further back 

 in the marketing of cheese than in the marketing of any other 

 dairy product. It was through the efforts of the middlemen 

 that Holland cheese became a noted food product in all parts 

 of the world centuries ago. A Dane, Otto Lemwigh, wrote in 

 1791 l that in Holland cheese was considered as one of their 

 most important products of commerce and that it was being 

 sold at fabulous prices in all parts of the world. The public 

 weigh-house used for weighing the cheese sold on the market at 

 Alkmaar, Holland, was built in 1582. The Alkmaar cheese 

 market in Holland is one of the oldest and to-day the most 

 important cheese market in that country. It is held weekly 

 each Friday forenoon. The cheese is brought in by farmers 

 and manufacturers and is spread out on the big market square. 

 The cheese dealers appear and the buying begins. The cheese 

 is bought mostly by dealers who remove it to their warehouses 

 from which it is shipped to all parts of the world. 



The cheese industry in this country has been confined to a 

 comparatively small territory. Wisconsin claims at present to 

 be manufacturing close to 50 per cent of the total amount 

 produced in the United States. 2 In accordance with Taylor, 

 Schoenfeld, and Wehrwein 3 there were in 1912 eight dairy 

 boards in Wisconsin. Part of the Wisconsin cheese is offered for 

 sale on the board, but the greater portion of the cheese manufac- 

 tured in the United States is sold on contracts which are more 

 or less binding. Often the dealers find it necessary to keep a 

 number of traveling men in the field buying up the cheese from 

 the manufacturers, a limited amount of cheese being sold on 

 a commission basis. 



Cheese is generally handled by three middlemen and the 

 transportation company. The cost of marketing Wisconsin 

 cheese is as follows: The dealer charges from 3/4 to i 1/2 cents 



1 Professor Bernhard Boeggild in " Maelkeribruget " i Fremmede Lande, 1897. 



2 Wisconsin Bulletin 251, by Hibbard and Hobson, 1915. 



3 Wisconsin Bulletin 231, 1913. 



