246 THE MILK QUESTION 



Farmers will, however, produce good milk if given suit- 

 able financial reward for its quality. One great stumbling- 

 block is the disinclination of the consumer to pay a fair 

 price for a fair article. There is much opposition on the 

 part of the consumer to pay a higher price for milk. There 

 is a curious psychology in this : While begrudging one cent 

 more a quart for milk, he supinely submits to an increase 

 in the cost of almost everything else. There is little com- 

 plaint about the price of beer, whiskey, or cigars. Many a 

 person will pay five dollars for a quart of champagne with- 

 out a murmur and then throw up his hands in despair at 

 certified milk costing sixteen cents a quart, or clean milk at 

 ten cents a quart. Dirty milk is dear at any price. Infected 

 milk is an extravagance that even the millionaire cannot 

 afford; safe milk at a fair price is one of the cheapest forms 

 of insurance. ^ 



The farmer is not a philanthropist, but a business man. 

 His enterprise must be an economic success or it will prove 

 a sanitary failure. Farmers are just as liberal and just as 

 fond of giving away money for charitable purposes as any 

 other class in the community, but before they can give 

 money they must first earn it. In other words, the farmer 

 should receive a fair price for the milk he produces. 



When we face the problem in its practical aspects we 

 shall find that the economic factors are paramount. The 

 price of milk rules even its sanitary quality .with a hand 

 of iron. No matter how much the idealist may chafe under 

 the sway of the almighty dollar, he will soon find that prac- 

 tical progress is very difficult without taking the money 

 side into consideration. In all fairness the farmer is entitled 

 to a higher price for his milk to compensate him for the extra 

 expense necessary to produce a milk of higher grade. For- 

 tunately a sanitary milk may be produced by any farmer 

 with comparatively little increase in expense. 



The farmer must be reasonable, for it has been shown 

 that modern sanitary requirements are not as burdensome 



