NEW YORK MILK COMMITTEE 139 



deficient in some features, but what we naturally would call a good 

 milk supply. 



This (indicating) is a sort of intermediate grade of milk,, be- 

 tween. It is dirty, without being filthy. That is the situation we 

 found in the Geneva milk supply. 



At a meeting of the producers, so-called, the situation was ex- 

 plained to them and the condition in which we had actually found 

 the milk supply was explained to them. They were told to pro- 

 duce the milk in any way that they wanted; that that was their 

 business. It was explained to them that the facts as to their milk 

 production would be given to the consuming public, and that it was 

 hoped the consuming public would evince some intelligence in re- 

 gard to its purchase ; that we believed that if they wanted to parade 

 the streets with a sign on their wagon, "This wagon sells poor 

 milk" that it was their privilege, but that we did not believe it 

 would be a good financial proposition. 



We held these men, as I say, to results. We left them entirely 

 free in regard to their methods of obtaining those results. I have 

 been for nearly thirty years in close contact with one phase or an- 

 other of the dairy business, and I do not yet know enough about 

 the dairy business to be prepared to advise a farmer on the details 

 about running his dairy. I doubt whether there are half a dozen 

 men in this audience who know enough about the dairy business to 

 take a dairy farm as a specific proposition and tell the dairyman 

 how to run his business, unless they have previously given time to 

 study the situation. Because the actual details of running a diary 

 business vary widely with the conditions under which production 

 actually takes place. 



These scorings were computed at every quarter, but the last quar- 

 ter of each year is given so as to give you the results briefly. That 

 is a transformation which had been brought about in the milk sup- 

 ply of Geneva in the twelve months, simply by telling the men that 

 we were giving them a fair deal. (Indicating diagram.) If they 

 produced a good line of goods, credit would be given to them for it. 

 About half of this milk was being sold by the men who produced 

 it, so that they had a direct pecuniary interest in the result. It 

 meant business for them to be on the list that was producing good 

 milk. 



These results, I may say, were not given to the public until to- 

 wards the close of this year. First the producer and the retailer 

 were furnished with the facts as to the standing of the dairies, the 

 retailer being furnished with the standing of the various plants, 

 so that the contracts between those men might be brought on a 

 definite basis of results and guaranteed results. Ordinarily the 



