40 BOARD OF AGRICULTURP:. [Pub. Doc. 



and of the Board of Agriculture, to do something to relieve 

 present conditions. We have a right to insist that the rail- 

 road shall make a rate proportionate to the distance, and we 

 must compete with producers of other States or go out of the 

 business. 



Mr. L. H. RuGGLES. Mr. Chairman: I have been very 

 much interested in the discussions here. I think the low 

 price received for milk and the high cost of production are 

 the causes of so much unrest in the business, and as soon as 

 the price of milk is raised to such a point that the producer 

 can afford to pay responsible laborers there will be no trouble 

 in hiring helji and in going on with the milk business. I 

 believe that when that time comes the farmers will again 

 take an interest in the business. They can't do it imless 

 there is profit in the business. 



Mr. R. B. Baker. I want to say just a few words in 

 regard to the price of milk. I believe that there is money 

 in producing a sanitary 4 per cent milk at 50 cents a can. 

 My experience is that you can get just as large a price for 

 the 4 per cent milk as for the 5. What the people in Boston 

 want is a good quality drinking milk, and for that they are 

 willing to pay a good price. They are not willing to pay a 

 good price for milk that comes from Canada and Maine and 

 New Hampshire, because it is too long on the journey. 



I am able to sell my milk in Boston for between 50 and 

 67 cents a can, and I can sell all that I can make. I guaran- 

 tee it to be 4 per cent milk, and I guarantee the bacteria 

 count to be under 50,000, and I guarantee the cows tuber- 

 culin tested. Any farmer can do these things. I have no 

 fancy farm, but just a good, ordinary barn. I could sell 

 three times as much milk if I could make it, and I find 

 there is a profit in it at those prices. Neither the price I 

 get nor the milk I make are unusual ; it is just ordinary milk' 

 that any farmer can produce. I am 12 miles out from Bos- 

 ton, and I think that anybody living where milk can be 

 delivered fresh can get that price and find plenty of people 

 to buy it. I would say that the milk I get 67 cents a can 

 for T have to pay 10 cents to transport, making it net me 57 

 cents; the 50-cent milk is net. 



