252 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



that of a legalized monopoly under public regulation. 

 Argument in favor of this plan is based largely upon the 

 same grounds as is that for municipal ownership, the main 

 difference of opinion being on the point of the relative 

 efficiency of private as compared to public enterprises 

 and on the proper scope for governmental activity. 



The report of Dr. Charles E. North on his survey of the 

 milk supply of the city of Rochester recommends that 

 legislation be secured enabling Rochester or any city in 

 New York either to purchase or to control the milk busi- 

 ness within its boundaries, and that the city authorities 

 be given access to all books and records. The report 

 recommends particularly "that the city authorities en- 

 courage the centralization of the business of milk distri- 

 bution under the auspices of the present industry with 

 the object of avoiding, if possible, the establishment of 

 municipal ownership through the securing of efficient serv- 

 ice under private ownership. " x 



An elaborate plan was proposed by Mr. P. D. Fox, vice- 

 president of the Borden Farm Products Company, provid- 

 ing for a regulated milk monopoly. 2 The gist of this pro- 

 posal is so concise that it can best be quoted: 



"Pass a special enabling act that would be confined by its 

 terms to the business of fresh milk distribution in the so-called 

 metropolitan district. Let the advantages of operating under 

 the act be sufficiently real so that it would induce most, if not 

 all, of the distributors to avail themselves of its benefit. (It is 

 assumed that no law which attempted to compel a distributor 

 to turn over his business to a new corporation would be con- 

 stitutional.) Let the act contemplate the formation of a corpo- 

 ration with a capital stock divided into preferred and common 



1 North, Dr. Chas. E., Milk Survey of the City of Rochester, pp. 220-221. 



2 Dairymen's League News, Jan. 10, 1920, p. I. 



