FROM FARM TO CONSUMER 245 



that is not used on account of contagious diseases, but in 

 some instances even pay the farmer a premium for early 

 information concerning the presence of communicable dis- 

 eases on the farm. 



The farmers feel that the large contractors are against 

 them. They state that they keep him down, pay him a 

 poor price, and mistreat his milk. If the price of hay goes 

 up, the contractors raise the price of milk in the city at 

 once, but pay the farmers no more. Whether this is so or 

 not, the farmers feel that they are down-trodden and do not 

 receive a square deal. 



The farmer obtains a "natural" product over which he 

 has little or limited control. He cannot know the amount 

 of butter-fat, the total solids, or the number and kind of 

 bacteria in the milk of each cow each day. Yet he is liable 

 to prosecution and punishment if the composition of the 

 milk does not comply with the law. In large dairies it is 

 possible to employ a bacteriologist and chemist to make 

 daily examinations of the mixed milk and frequent exam- 

 inations of the milk of each individual cow. This is evi- 

 dently impracticable in the small dairy. If the farmers 

 themselves were as determined to produce a good quality 

 rather than a great quantity of milk, much good would be 

 done. They would soon learn that it is possible to produce 

 a large quantity of a good quality and at a better price. 



The price of milk 



One great handicap in the development of the milk in- 

 dustry is the fact that the dairy business has been largely 

 built up on a cheap basis with cheap cows, cheap food, 

 cheap stables, cheap labor, and cheap prices for the pro- 

 duct. Farm labor is the cheapest labor of all labor. This is 

 one of the reasons why so much of the milk is poor milk. 

 The question of getting efficient and intelligent labor at any 

 price which the farmer can ever hope to pay is an import- 

 ant aspect of the problem. 



