MILK PRICES 225 



It must be remembered in making comparisons that 

 the past year has been abnormal in many respects and that 

 furthermore this is the first full year for which we have 

 accurate data upon which to base such comparisons for 

 the country as a whole. 1 



Table XLI compares the estimated returns on milk 

 sold for cheese or butter manufacture with averaged 

 prices received for milk sold for city delivery and for 

 condensery purposes by months. It will be noticed that 

 the prices received for city milk were highest, cheese com- 

 ing second, condensed milk third, and butter fourth. It 

 is probable that condensed milk would ordinarily come 

 second in a more normal year, for condenseries have 

 usually been able to drive cheese factories out of the im- 

 mediate vicinities in which the condenseries were located. 

 (See Figure 5, showing location of abandoned cheese fac- 

 tories about Monroe, Wisconsin.) 



The prices given in Table XLI on p. 226 are the simple 

 average prices (not weighted average prices), and represent 

 the price received for milk testing 3.5 per cent butterfat. 



Although only a small proportion of the total milk pro- 

 duced is required for condensery purposes (about 4.45 per 

 cent in 1918, see Chapter II, Section i),it is a considerable 

 factor in the determination of whole milk prices, since so 

 large a proportion of the condenseries are located in or 

 near our city milk sheds. When the foreign demand for 

 condensed milk fell off early in 1920, owing to the unfavor- 

 able rate of exchange, milk prices began to tumble, partic- 

 ularly in the New York and Chicago districts. 2 



1 The U. S. Bureau of Markets began its market milk reporting service in 

 the summer of 1918. 



2 Milk News, Mar., 1920, p. i, and Dairymen's League News, Feb. 25, 1920, 

 p. I. 



