CHAPTER VIII 



FROM FARM TO CONSUMER 

 The farmer 



ONE of the real sources of trouble in the milk industry 

 is that the great bulk of the milk comes from the small 

 farm, and is there regarded only as a by-product. The 

 small farmer keeps a few cows for his personal use. The 

 yield is more than he needs, and he sells the excess. 

 The farmer gives the subject small attention and finds it 

 unprofitable to comply with the exactions of modern san- 

 itary requirements. 



It is the opinion of many persons who have given the 

 question thoughtful consideration, and whose judgment is 

 worthy of respect, that the day of the small dairyman is 

 doomed; that the production of milk will gradually and 

 inevitably drift into the hands of larger dairies where eco- 

 nomic conditions justify competent assistants, skilled su- 

 pervision, and efficient equipment. In other words, the 

 dairy industry is a special industry requiring technical skill 

 of a high order and must become a specialty like other 

 trades and professions. 



The crowding-out of the small farmer is not to be lightly 

 regarded, for he has human rights and society must grant 

 him economic justice, but the crossing of the roads has been 

 reached and the sign-posts are plain either the farmer 

 must comply with the exactions of the sanitarian or his 

 milk will soon find no market. Fortunately it has been 

 shown that, by the exercise of cleanliness and a little ice, 

 any farmer can produce milk that will come within the 

 present sanitary requirements of market milk, and with 



