MILK SURVEY OF THE CITY OF ROCHESTER 9 



The report points out that the above tabulation indicates that most 

 of the milk distributers make only a very meagre living, in many cases 

 the income being much less than that of laborers and unskilled mechanics. 



The third branch of this investigation consisted in a most unique 

 experiment to determine the cost of distribution under a single service 

 system. It was assumed that an ideal delivery system would consist of 

 one truck and a crew of men supplying one section of the city. Accord- 

 ingly, an electric truck was furnished by an electric vehicle company 

 having a capacity of 1,000 pounds. In place of milk, several pigs of lead 

 which equalled in weight a load of milk were carried. Besides a driver 

 there were two clerks supplied with apparatus for accurately measuring 

 distance and time. There were two men who carried fictitious bottles of 

 milk from the truck into the homes. Each was equipped with a steel 

 basket similar to that used by milkmen containing 2 quarts and 3 pint milk 

 bottles filled with water. Literature relating to the pure milk movement 

 was deposited in the milk boxes of each house in place of milk, and 

 notations made regarding conditions at the house which would equal in 

 time the labor performed by the present milk peddlers. Each stop made 

 by the truck was timed with a stop watch, and recorded. The distance 

 travelled was measured by an odometer, and confirmed by map measure- 

 ments. Each operation by the delivery men was measured and recorded 

 upward of 200 time's. Previous to the experiment a number of ordinary 

 milkmen were timed without their knowledge to secure an average of the 

 time occupied by them in going from the wagon to the house and return 

 to it again. This experiment in milk delivery was conducted in the well- 

 to-do district and again in one of the crowded sections of a poor district. 

 The results of this experiment are recorded in the table on next page. 



