248 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



If undertaken at all, municipal milk distribution should 

 be undertaken on a self-sustaining basis. Consumers 

 cannot know whether the business is efficient or not if 

 accounts are mixed up with other accounts, or if accounts 

 are not kept in a businesslike way. The Philadelphia 

 council, for example, instead of keeping up its gas plant, 

 used part of the revenue from this plant for the purpose 

 of reducing general city taxes, thus making a false show- 

 ing as to real savings. In the meantime the plant was 

 deteriorating. 1 One writer has even proposed that such 

 municipal utilities as electric light or street railway serv- 

 ice should be required to conduct themselves exactly 

 as if they were commercial enterprises, selling their serv- 

 ices at a fair price, paying taxes at the usual rate, and 

 entering into the cost statement all municipal salaries 

 properly chargeable to these enterprises. 2 



Just what would be the relative advantages and dis- 

 advantages of the municipal operation of a milk distribut- 

 ing system ? As a matter of fact we have no way of know- 

 ing, since nothing of the kind has ever been tried. The 

 best we can do is to consider evidence of a theoretical 

 nature, if it can be called evidence, and to consider what 

 has been done in related fields. 



Theoretical gains from centralized operation have al- 

 ready been considered in the chapter on distribution. 3 

 An estimate similar to those already given but of a less 

 thorough and detailed nature was made in the report on 

 the municipal milk supply for the city of Winnipeg. 4 

 Taking into consideration existing wages, this report 



1 L. S. Rowe, Problems of City Government, p. 248. 



2 Lincoln, E. E., Results of Municipal Electric Lighting in Massachusetts. 



8 Chapter IV. 



4 Report on Municipal Milk Supply for the City of Winnipeg. 



