146 THE MODERN MILK PROBLEM 



1. Stability of Retail Price. While the cost of pro- 

 duction of milk and the available supply vary from 

 month to month, the price to the consumer remains 

 constant through long periods. The explanation of 

 this seems to lie in the regularity of consumption, which 

 enables the dealer to depend on an average price to 

 cover fluctuations in cost, and in the avoiding of dif- 

 ficulties which would arise from variations in the price 

 of a commodity delivered on standing order. At the 

 same time custom has brought about what one dealer 

 has called "the tyranny of the conventional price," 

 and any increase in the established price is sure to call 

 forth a storm of public protest. Considerable increases 

 in the prices of meats and other foods are accepted 

 quite readily, for these prices are subject to constant 

 fluctuation, but an increase in the price of milk is re- 

 garded as an encroachment. Proposed raising of that 

 price often results in starting a " scare" with calls for 

 prosecutor's investigation, an interesting example of 

 the power of convention. This is a condition naturally 

 deprecated by the distributer of milk, through whom it 

 reacts on the farmer. 



Attention may here be called to the ticket system of 

 payments as a means of adjustment. Under this sys- 

 tem the dealer sells the customer for cash a strip or 

 book of tickets each of which is good for a quart or a 

 pint of milk. Because of the saving to the dealer in 

 collections and the ease with which the amount charged 

 for tickets can be adjusted so as to take account of 

 fractions of a cent in the quart price, customers who 

 use tickets can obtain milk at a lower rate than those 

 who pay on credit in round cents. With or without 



