46 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



A rapidly growing city usually constitutes a very de- 

 sirable market for the farmers in its vicinity, since it is a 

 "seller's market" rather than a buyer's, and hence the 

 farmer stands in a favorable bargaining position. Some- 

 times, however, even nearness to such a city does not help 

 in getting the most desirable prices, for much more milk 

 may be readily available than even a growing city needs. 

 This is true with regard to many cities situated in con- 

 densery or other dairy districts. Toledo, Ohio, Detroit, 

 Michigan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are all so situated 

 as to be able to tap considerable milk reservoirs rather 

 easily. 



How much milk may be considered available for a city 

 like Milwaukee? In this particular instance between two 

 circles, one with a radius of thirty miles, the other with a 

 radius of eighty miles, a vast amount of milk is produced, 

 little of which reaches the city in fluid form. In 1916 the 

 writer, after a somewhat careful survey, made the estimate 

 that if Milwaukee received the milk from all the cheese 

 factories then located at convenient shipping points within 

 an area with a radius of fifty miles, the city would have 

 had at least three times as much milk as it actually needed. 

 And how much would it have paid to get it? In normal 

 times it would have to pay enough to cover additional 

 transportation charges of from five to ten cents a can, plus 

 a few cents extra for additional trouble and for compensa- 

 tion for the loss of the whey. Such an increase in the price, 

 however, would stimulate greatly the production within 

 the zone already supplying the city. One of the leading 

 dealers of Milwaukee is authority for the statement that 

 the city milk zone was no larger in 1916 than it was 

 twenty years earlier, although the city had grown at a re- 

 markable rate. How such increase in the supply from a 



