NEW YORK MILK COMMITTEE 17 



Agriculture, thereby gradually enabling him to produce two 

 bushels of feed instead of one and two gallons of milk at the 

 present cost of one. This must and will be done as certainly 

 as farmers in Denmark and other lands have through necessity 

 learned to do so, and are profitably importing feed from Amer- 

 ica for their cows and pigs. The principal means by which 

 the Danish farmers have succeeded is cooperation, which has 

 been adopted in every line connected with farming, such as 

 cowtest associations, breeding associations, creameries, slaugh- 

 ter-houses, machine shops, egg exports, etc., all on a strictly 

 cooperative basis. Our farmers must learn to do likewise, and 

 only as the farmer becomes more progressive and successful 

 will the city people obtain better food, and especially better 

 milk at a fair price. We are constantly told that American 

 farmers will never cooperate why? Is this not greatly caused 

 by our exaggerated emphasis on independence? Everyone for 

 himself, etc. extreme competition along every line of the dairy 

 industry is its greatest enemy ; cooperation will prove its only 

 salvation. 



LINKS BETWEEN PRODUCER AND CONSUMER. 



We all like to put the blame on others. The farmer criti- 

 cizes the railroads for poor transportation, high rates, etc. 

 not without cause. The milk companies are blamed for mak- 

 ing too large profits and handling the milk carelessly, in which 

 there also often is much truth. At the same time the farmer 

 overlooks his own shortcomings, and too many agricultural 

 papers pour oil on the fire instead of, like such papers as 

 Hoards Dairyman and a few others, fearlessly telling the 

 farmers their shortcomings and advising them how to remedy 

 them. All are blaming the so-called "milk trusts" for every 

 kind of trouble, while after all the consumer receives a better 

 and safer product to-day from a number of large companies, 

 than when the milk was handled by thousands of small dealers. 

 A properly controlled consolidation of the city milk supply is 

 of equal benefit to producers and consumers. Whether it is 

 accomplished through consolidation or cooperation of many 

 milk companies, or through municipal ownership must depend 

 on local conditions. A consolidated city milk supply operated 

 by a farmers' cooperative society will hardly succeed. Let the 



