8o 



THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



dependence of the producers, the dealers' cans are not 

 given proper care while in the hands of the farmers. This 

 means unduly rapid depreciation of the cans, with con- 

 sequent increased expenses. In numerous sections of 

 New England at the present time a can charge is regu- 

 larly made by some of the larger companies. 1 



With the development of the indirect method of market- 

 ing, we have the entrance of an intermediary, the middle- 

 man. He may be a very small dealer, one man buying the 

 milk from two or three farmers, doing all his own bottle 

 washing, filling, etc., delivering in the morning and doing 

 the bottling and other work later. Most of the small 

 dealers of our cities operate but one route each. They 

 frequently have an extra boy or man to help about the 

 bottling plant. Varying from this small dealer are other 

 dealers with larger and larger businesses, until we reach 

 the very large concerns, operating hundreds of wagons. 

 In Milwaukee in 1916 there were 77 dealers operating 

 routes as shown in the following table: 



TABLE XV 



Table Showing Number of Routes Operated by 77 Milwaukee Milk Dealers, April, 



1916 



In the spring of 1920 the number of dealers had been re- 

 duced to about thirty-five. The largest of these was oper- 



1 Pattee, Richard, Circular 79, Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture 

 (1918), p. 9. 



