Part II.] WTIAT ORGANIZATION HAS DONE. 45 



purchased. There has been no uniform system in the same 

 market, or between markets, in the purchase of milk in New 

 England. The same concern previous to August 1 may have 

 bought milk in a dozen different ways for one market, and no 

 two buyers in a dozen markets might be buying the same 

 way. Prices, methods of handling, credits, transportation, 

 arrangements and other things with respect to the country 

 end of the milk business were confusion thrice confounded. 

 For illustration, a recent survey in New Hampshire by L. ]M. 

 Davis of the Bureau of Markets, United States Department 

 of Agriculture, shows that during the year 1916 four different 

 dealers buying milk in New Hampshire paid, respectively, per 

 8§-quart can, 35.58, 34.25, 37.5 and 32.41 cents. What chance 

 had the dealer who was paying 37f cents for any competition 

 with the dealer who bought milk in the same locality for less 

 than 32| cents? 



In eastern Maine milk was bought largely by weight and 

 test. In southern New Hampshire it was bought by the can 

 without regard to test. In Maine, where milk was bought by 

 weight and test, so much was paid for the butter fat and so 

 much for the skim. In northern Vermont, where milk was 

 bought by weight and test, the average price was paid for 

 3.7 or 4 per cent milk, with a premium for excess butter fat. 

 There were thirteen different ways in which milk was bought 

 for the Boston market. 



In the matter of credits, some dealers paid every day, some 

 every w^eek, some semi-monthly, others monthly and some not 

 at all. 



It will be absolutely impossible in a statement of this char- 

 acter to convey any adequate idea of the confusion that 

 existed in New England. It was the custom for the large 

 dealers at certain times to announce the prices they would 

 pay for milk during a subsequent period. This was sometimes 

 done through a formal six months' contract, sometimes on a 

 month to month basis, sometimes during the middle of the 

 month, and sometimes at the end, but always the price was 

 announced by the dealer, and the farmer could take it or 

 leave it as he saw fit. 



It is no wonder that under such a system, or lack of system, 



