8 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 355 



Individual copies of the report have been prepared for each poultryman who 

 cooperated in the project by giving a farm record. Data for these individual 

 farms were entered in the report in order to make comparisons by types of farms 

 and with the high and low profit groups in each type. A suinmary of the report 

 has been prepared and mimeographed for use in poultry extension meetings. 



Milk as a Public Utility. (A. A. Brown and William Kling.) A superficial and 

 historical study of milk as a public utility was reported in the annual report for 

 1935. The work of 1937-38 confined itself to the legal aspects of milk as a public 

 utility and to a study of duplication of distribution in two areas. 



The establishment of state milk control boards is a tacit recognition of the 

 milk industry as a public utility. Winnepeg, Canada, in 1932 definitely rec- 

 ognized milk as a public utility. When the scope of regulation in Winnepeg is 

 compared with that in Massachusetts, no differences are discovered except that 

 no declaration designating milk as a public utility is found in the act establishing 

 the Massachusetts Milk Control Board. 



Studies of duplication of distribution were made in two areas. At one apartment 

 house, 7 dealers brought milk each morning to 7 families; in other .sample blocks, 

 15 dealers delivered to 27 families; 8 dealers to 14 families; and 6 dealers to 12 

 families. In a non-tenement area, a total of 23,500 feet was traveled by 13 distrib- 

 utors on a street 2300 feet long. On another street 3600 feet long, 12 distributors 

 served 27 families. In this same town with 90 miles of streets and highways, 

 milk distributors traveled over 300 miles daily. The average mile was covered 

 3.5 times, which is low when compared to a duplication of 13 times found in a 

 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, study. Deliveries of individual distributors ran from 

 3 to 12 quarts per mile traveled. 



Waste in distribution is often as much the consumer's fault as the distributor's. 

 Consumer objections to a change in the present method of distribution are many. 

 In the study, 49.5 percent of the people wanted milk delivered between 6 and 8 

 a. m.; only 40 percent were indifferent as to time of delivery. To conform to 

 this consumer demand would increase the cost factor materially. In the selection 

 of their milk distributor, 36 percent of the people were indifferent; 31 percent 

 liked the shape of the bottle, or the quality of the milk, or had personal reasons 

 for selecting a particular dealer; and 33 percent chose their milkman on the basis 

 of business reciprocity, friendship, or relationship. 



Suggested solutions: 

 I. Possible solutions not involving governmental intervention 

 A. Voluntary dealer agreement — diversion of routes 

 Producers pool 

 Consumers pool 

 Joint — producer-consumer 

 (If cooperation adds to existing duplication, nothing is gained.) 

 II. Government intervention 



A. Zoning or allocation of territory 



B. Allocation of routes through licensing 



C. Municipal plants; in combination with A or B 



Competitive Factors Influencing the Supply of Market Milk and Cream in 

 Massachusetts. (A. A. Brown and J. E. Donley.) A stud> of dealers' buying 

 prices, more properly termed product-cost since such designation removes the 

 possibility of confusion with the class prices applicable to all dealers, is nearing 

 completion. 



The principal reasons for the variation in dealers' monthly or annual product- 



