54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



THE COST OF MILK PRODUCTION IN NEW ENGLAND. 



AETHUR W. GILBERT. 



The American farmer is probably passing through one of the 

 most uncertain periods that tillers of the soil have ever seen or 

 ever will see. With millions of men withdrawn from productive 

 labor the farmer feels the responsibility of feeding much greater 

 numbers than ever before. He feels handicapped, however, by 

 reduced numbers in his own ranks as the result of his sons join- 

 ing the army, or the added competition from other industries 

 which already feel the pinch of lack of labor. The farmer feels 

 uneasy, moreover, during a price-fixing program. He must look 

 ahead. If he cannot feel sure of the price of the work of his 

 hands he obviously will have much hesitation to go forward 

 with additional production. Farmers, as a rule, have not funds 

 to stand losses. 



The war has upset all economic practices. Ordinarily the 

 law of supply and demand is sufficient to care for the regulation 

 of most kinds of business, but at a time like the present even 

 this old standby cannot be relied upon. Certain it is that there 

 is demand and there is supply, but there is also opportunity for 

 profiteering and restricted selling and various other kinds of 

 manipulation which makes it possible to fleece the public and 

 the farmer almost at will. 



As a remedy for this the United States government has en- 

 tered upon a price-fixing program which seems to be the only 

 feasible remedy in times of such an emergency. It is one of the 

 most difficult pieces of work which has ever been attempted. 

 During a long series of years merchandising comes to a stage of 

 comparative equilibrium, and when this equilibrium is broken 

 up by artificially fixing the price of any one article or a group 

 of articles it immediately reacts upon the others; for example, 



