io 4 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



was made up by extra purchases from creameries or other 

 sources. In this particular instance the surplus over fluid 

 milk demand was not very great. The charts for Boston, 

 Philadelphia, and several of the other cities are more 

 typical in that they show a much larger proportion of sur- 

 plus above fluid milk needs. The demand in all these 

 instances fluctuates much less throughout the year than 

 does the supply. Health ordinances may have more or 

 less influence over the shape of the surplus chart; for ex- 

 ample, where health regulations are stringent a dealer 

 must provide for more milk to meet needs at shortage 

 periods than would be the case if he could readily get 

 additional milk from some cheese factory or condensery. 

 For this reason Columbus must carry a greater surplus 

 than would be necessary if it could readily tap at shortage 

 periods the milk supply available around Springfield, Ohio, 

 which is coming to be a condensery center. 



Producers have loudly protested that there is no such 

 thing as a " surplus," asserting that the dealers were simply 

 using the fact of the existence of a slight excess as a means 

 of beating down prices. During the past few years, how- 

 ever, statistics have been collected by numerous milk 

 commissions and food administrators which have con- 

 firmed the dealers' claims and convinced the producers. 1 



It is true that there is no surplus for consumers as a 

 whole nor for certain large dealers who also manufacture 

 -large quantities of the various by-products regularly. Of 

 course in any case there is always a demand for all of the 

 milk for some purpose, but some demands will take the 

 milk only at the lower prices. In most cities the majority 

 of the milk dealers do mainly a fluid milk business, and 

 many of these plants are not equipped for the manu- 



1 New England Homestead, August 3, 1918, p. 76. 



