DISTRIBUTION OF MILK 77 



found successfully distributing their own milk. A pro- 

 ducer wishing to do this usually starts business by cutting 

 prices during the summer months when prices are low. 

 At first he may have to sell to scattered customers. By 

 having a high grade of fresh milk at a somewhat lower 

 price than his competitors, he can usually retail all he has. 

 If there is a surplus, this can ordinarily be sold to stores. 

 As soon as his trade is firmly established, he increases his 

 price nearly or quite to that of his competitors. The next 

 step is to try to consolidate the route by dropping here 

 and there an outlying customer and picking up more in a 

 solid district, thus eliminating the long drives, particularly 

 during seasons of shortage. Building up a route by this 

 method is certain to cause large competitors considerable 

 annoyance, to say the least, and the fact that it can be 

 done and is being done is a practical guarantee against 

 monopoly prices in our smaller towns and even in cities 

 of considerable size, although of course not in our larger 

 cities, since there are not enough farmers producing milk 

 within driving distance of the latter to afford a serious 

 hindrance to monopoly. 



Section 5. Indirect Marketing 



In most of our cities of any size, the indirect method of 

 marketing prevails. In Milwaukee perhaps 97 per cent 

 of the fluid milk supply was thus marketed in 1916. In 

 the larger cities of Ohio 85 to 95 per cent falls into this 

 class. In the smaller cities, those of from fifteen to thirty 

 thousand, the percentage usually varies from 25 to 75 

 per cent. In our very large cities the direct method of 

 marketing is practically unknown. 



With the rise of the indirect method of marketing, the 

 relations between producer and dealer become compli- 



