570 MILK 



of milk samples. James O. Jordan says: " . . . While laws 

 and regulations may insure sanitary surroundings for all milk 

 produced, they unfortunately do not guarantee that any milk 

 will be raised at all. It would be as sensible to attempt to legis- 

 late that gold should be sold at the price of scrap iron, as to as- 

 sume that legislation will give us clean milk while we are pur- 

 chasing that commodity upon a dirty milk basis." 



An increase in price, sufficient to insure fair profit, is an ef- 

 fective means of stimulating production of good milk. Harding 

 and Brew have studied this subject, and have come to the con- 

 clusion that at present the wholesale price of milk is not high 

 enough to yield a satisfactory profit to the producer, and that, 

 consequently, the cheapest milk acceptable to the market is 

 supplied. If the wholesale price were raised to a figure which 

 would make good milk more profitable than poor, the production 

 of good milk would be encouraged. Harding and Brew state 

 that in the city in which they collected data the wholesale price 

 of milk was increased J cent per quart as the product advanced 

 from a medium to a good grade, or from a good grade to an ex- 

 cellent one. Tabulation gave the following results: 



September, 1907 good milk, 5 per cent.; medium, 57.5 per cent.; 



poor, 37.5 per cent. 



March, 1911 excellent milk, 12.8 per cent.; good, 87.2 per cent. 

 January, 1913 good milk, 18 per cent.; medium, 82 per cent. 



Under the influence of the financial stimulus, the extraordinary 

 improvement from September, 1907, to March, 1911, took place. 

 During the next two years there was a falling off in quality, which 

 the authors ascribe to a change in inspectors. The new inspectors 

 were not competent, and the scores remained constant in spite of 

 the fact that the producers became negligent. There had been 

 no change in the city ordinance, but the new inspectors failed to 

 stimulate the producers to keep up the quality of their product, 

 so the general supply suffered. The retailers were bound by 

 contract to pay a certain price based on the official score card 

 rating, and, although they recognized the deterioration in quality, 

 they had no legal recourse. 



The authors studied the problem for five years, and believe 

 that farmers will produce any grade of milk that is desired if the 

 production is rendered profitable. "Under present conditions 

 there is a demand for milk for three distinct purposes: for the 

 feeding of infants, for use by adults at the table, and for cooking. 

 The simplification of the municipal milk problem lies along the 

 line of defining and establishing commercial grades of milk which 

 shall correspond to the market demands." An ordinance in New 



