MILK PRICES 203 



Basic Index New Index 



Corn 19 53-01 



Mill feeds 19 34-41 



Hay.. . 35 49.00 



Labor 27 40 . 50 



Total 100 177 



The average November price of milk during the eight- 

 year period had been $1.768 per hundredweight. Multi- 

 plying this figure by 1.77 gave $3.13, the proposed price 

 for November milk. In the same way prices of milk for 

 succeeding months were determined by multiplying the 

 eight-year average price for the respective months by 1.77. 



Three of the nine members of the Commission, however, 

 refused to sign the report and issued a minority report 

 dissenting from the opinion of the other six members and 

 characterizing the findings as unfair to the producers. 

 The producers, in fact, were so incensed over the final 

 findings that very many of them refused to send milk at 

 the established prices. 1 The dissatisfaction arose out of 

 the application of the formula rather than out of the 

 scheme itself. Dean Eugene Davenport, of the University 

 of Illinois, in fact, resigned from the Commission, but 

 stated in his letter of resignation that he approved of the 

 formula, which he thought would "with very great accu- 

 racy " express the rise and fall in feed and labor costs "if 

 properly used upon an adequate base." 2 The latter point, 

 he felt, had not been observed, since the basic period was 

 one of decided unrest among the producers, as was ev- 

 idenced by the rise during that period of the Milk Pro- 



1 Hoard's Dairyman, Feb. 15, 1918, p. 148. 



2 Ibid., Mar. i, 1918, p. 238. 



