MARKETS 197 



Bu-lk milk, both sweetened and unsweetened, goes direct 

 from the manufacturer to the purchaser who buys it at prices 

 agreed upon by the contracting parties. The sweetened con- 

 densed milk is sold in barrels holding from three hundred to 

 seven hundred pounds (usually about six hundred pounds) to 

 candy and caramel factories, bakeries and confectioners. The 

 price varies from four to ten cents per pound according to the 

 per cent of fat, demand and supply. When there is a general 

 "epidemic" of bad canned condensed milk, this spoiled con- 

 densed milk is usually turned into candy shops and bakeries, 

 where it is sold for "a song." This condition has always a 

 depressing influence on the price of sweetened condensed bulk 

 milk, which, during such seasons, may have to be sold at a loss. 

 Some milk condensing concerns operate their own candy shops 

 which take care of the condensed milk that is rejected on the 

 market. 



Plain or unsweetened condensed milk is sold in 1-gallon to 

 10-gallon cans to ice cream factories, the price varying from 

 twenty-five to ninety cents per gallon, according to fat content, 

 concentration and market conditions. The market for this class 

 of goods is not very constant, but the profits are generally high. 

 It reaches ebbtide in winter when the demand for ice cream is 

 small. Limited quantities of plain condensed bulk milk are also 

 sold in milk and cream bottles for direct consumption. The 

 .concentrated milk finds the same markets as the plain con- 

 densed bulk milk. 



The above range of prices of the several types of condensed 

 milk refer? to the market conditions which prevailed while the 

 industry was protected against competition with goods from 

 abroad by an import tariff of 2c per pound or $1.00 per case of 

 condensed milk, and to conditions prior to the advent of the 

 European war in 1914. 



In 1913, the United States, by Act of Congress, removed 

 the import tariff, placing condensed milk on the free list. This 

 Act became effective in the fall of the same year. Its immediate 

 effect was a rapid increase in the importation of European con- 

 densed milk, which was offered for sale at relatively low prices, 



