ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 



STATION— 1947-48 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 

 AND FARM MANAGEMENT 



A. H. Lindsey in Charge 



The Effect of Public Regulation of Milk Marketing Upon the Organization 

 of the Milksheds of Massachusetts Markets. (A. A. Brown.) Eastern fluid- 

 milk markets and Boston in particular again had to reach into the North Central 

 States for supplies during the fall and winter of 1947-48. The emergency short 

 season turned out to be the longest on record. 



Transportation rates and services are a major element in establishing the cost 

 of this milk to dealers. To the rail information on these items, an attempt was 

 made to add similar data for trucks. Movement by truck has not been under- 

 taken regularly between the areas studied. Some shipments have been made 

 and rates quoted but the preferred method of transportation is via rail tank car. 



Shipments made by truck to other areas have been handled on a contract carrier 

 basis at a minimum charge per load for which a maximum volume was set; viz., 

 Juneau, Wisconsin, to Atlanta, Georgia, $431.50 for a load not to exceed 35,000 

 pounds. The comparable rail structure was $1.18 per 10-gallon can with a 

 minimum of 2500 gallons. Expressed in terms similar to the rail tariff, the cost 

 by truck in this instance was $1.06 per 10-gallon unit. 



The transportation phase of this study has been completed. It has become 

 increasingly apparent with the sustained shortages of fluid milk in the fall months 

 that public regulation involves more than State Milk Control Boards and their 

 Federal counterparts. Public health agencies and emergency commissions, such 

 as the war-induced WFA and OPA, need, where possible, to integrate their 

 objectives with those of the group regularly responsible for public milk supplies. 



A Study of Farm Real Estate Taxation, Methods of Taxation Reform, and 



the Effect of Such Measures on Farm Income. (A. A. Brown and Avery A. 

 Arnold.) Unreasonable variations in the valuation of farm property are due 

 primarily to the basis on which valuations are made. Market value for tax 

 purposes is difficult to determine at any time, and in periods of rising or falling 

 prices practically impossible. A revision in point of view appears necessary if 

 the inequities due to subjective valuation are to be minimized. 



Real property for taxing purposes has a specific value; a value which may but 

 probably will not be identical with market value. If this premise is tenable, the 

 development and utilization of a classified property tax system would be a big 

 step towards less unexplained variation in valuations. 



Personal property for taxing purposes may have valuations determined even 

 more realistically. But again agreement on the validity of the basic premise is 

 a prerequisite. Market values as now used are nominal. They assume the ex- 

 change of the personalty, generally livestock, for its continued use unchanged 

 except for ownership. The shortcomings of such assumptions appear in the 

 variations in valuations. A common denominator for livestock of various kinds 

 is its salvage value. The butcher's block is the great leveler. Since valuations 



