Part II.] DISTRIBUTION OF MILK. 139 



will not bear so very heavily, and ought to be compensated for 

 in improved quality of milk. Before I was called upon to pre- 

 pare this paper I had thought of notifying health officials where 

 our milk is sold that we were going to use the better and more 

 expensive passenger train service; that we were already requir- 

 ing more frequent deliveries by producers; and in various ways 

 working out and projecting improvements with a determination 

 to bring our milk to a higher standard of excellence. 



When the milk arrives in the market the troubles are by no 

 means over. The demand is capricious, resulting too often in 

 a feast or a famine. I have a theory that the situation is ag- 

 gravated in the following way: when buyers suspect a shortage 

 they order heavily — overstock themselves. By the time an 

 extra supply is brought to hand the customers do not want it, 

 and the distributor has an undue stock on hand. There is no 

 remedy but to use one's best judgment in making shipments. 

 This is merely an apology for the oversupply we sometimes 

 have on hand. With quicker train service the situation should 

 be improved somewhat. 



The neglect of customers to wash cans and bottles as soon as 

 emptied is a thing to which we are giving considerable atten- 

 tion. There is law enough for this matter, but a dealei* hates to 

 lose business by offending customers. We are working an edu- 

 cational campaign along this line as tactfully as possible. 



As for this new-fangled notion of alphabetical milk, — A, B, 

 C. While I do not, as the politicians say, view it with alarm, 

 I am inclined thus far to look askance at it, with a degree of 

 suspicion. I have worked the thing out only in imagination 

 which, of course, is not so reliable as actual experience. It 

 must involve extra expense to keep it separate in the creamery 

 and on the delivery teams, unless you go over the ground an 

 extra trip with special teams. The accounting with salesmen 

 will be a little more involved if grades A and B are carried by 

 the same driver. It is not easy at best to load out a team so 

 there will be milk enough to go around and not be too much to 

 return. I should think this difficulty would be increased by 

 having two grades. If you run short of one kind it would not 

 do to substitute. It would be wicked to label and sell B milk 

 for the price of A milk, and to sell A for B would be discrimina- 



