148 THE MODERN MILK PROBLEM 



this minimum sanitation is no considerable item, will 

 be much the same. Any tendency to increased price 

 will be modified by the fact that cleanliness, refrigera- 

 tion, and pasteurization do not operate entirely to 

 raise costs, for they have an economic value of their 

 own in preserving milk and making it more salable and 

 would be practiced to some degree even if not required 

 by public authority. Under this condition of enforced 

 minimum standards some of the producers and dis- 

 tributers would doubtless naturally practice sanitation 

 above the requirements, but those dealers who rise 

 above the average in this respect would derive no extra 

 recompense. 



If, now, the sanitary requirements be made de- 

 cidedly strict, a certain number of dealers will find 

 themselves unable to meet them, and will go out of 

 business. If the cost of production for the others is 

 materially increased, there will then normally be a 

 corresponding increase in price, and an increase will be 

 further favored if the elimination of the other dealers 

 has reduced the total supply. The increase in price 

 may, on the other hand, reduce the demand, people 

 preferring to use less milk and dealers handling no 

 more milk than they can profitably sell at the increased 

 cost of production. Under these conditions the milk 

 industry tends to become concentrated in the hands of a 

 comparatively few men who can give it the demanded 

 special attention. This is what has happened, for 

 example, in a town which is notable for its strict regula- 

 tion, viz., Montclair, N. J., where the number of dealers 

 has been much reduced and milk is sold at a higher 

 price than in neighboring communities. 



