172 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



slaughtering, too, is sanitary. It insures meat that 

 is free from disease and reduces the possibiHty of 

 combination and price-fixing because it cuts out 

 all operators save the farmer and the local butcher. 



(5) The waste in the delivery of milk due to com- 

 peting distributers which cover the same territory 

 is one explanation of 3-cent milk to the farmer and 

 12-cent milk to the consumer. But even imder the 

 present wasteful methods of distribution it should 

 not cost from three to four times as much to bring 

 milk to the consumer as the farmer receives for pro- 

 ducing it, and if it does, then the methods of dis- 

 tribution should be radically changed and the waste 

 eKminated. 



Two perfectly feasible plans have been suggested 

 for cheapening the cost of milk. One is that the 

 State or city provide receiving stations to which 

 milk can be sent in bulk from the country. Here it 

 would be received from the railroads and delivered 

 by public authority or by licensed delivery agents to 

 depots all over the city. Such depots could be 

 opened in the groceries, butcher shops, drug-stores, 

 and even in the schools, so that buyers could pur- 

 chase milk in bottles from the depots instead of 

 having it delivered. 



The other suggestion is that the sale of milk should 

 be taken over by the city entirely. The city could 

 be divided into districts and, instead of a dozen 

 milk wagons covering eveiy street, a single delivery 



