October, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Thirteen 



Milk Producers Demand Justice 



A Radio Address by George Thiem, Director of Information, over Stations WHBF, Rock 

 Island, and WOC-WHO, Davenport-Des Moines, Sept. I, 1932 



I REPRESENT an organization of 

 60,000 Illinois farmers which, 

 since 1919, has attempted among 

 other things to assist producers of 

 farm products in marketing their 

 commodities co-operatively. 



Our association is supported en- 

 tirely by farmers. It was organized 

 to represent and protect farm inter- 

 ests in all public questions and prob- 

 lems arising beyond farmers line 

 fences which they cannot solve work- 

 ing alone. 



Long before the Agricultural Mar- 

 keting Act and the Federal Farm 

 Board were created, farmers in Illi- 

 nois, Iowa, in fact in all sections of 

 the United States, have attempted 

 through organization to have a voice 

 in the sale of their products, to gain 

 some recognition from the buyers of 

 farm commodities, to bargain col- 

 lectively for a fair price. 



As a result of this effort in Illi- 

 nois in the dairy marketing field, 

 practically every major milk market 

 in the state is now operating under a 

 plan by which the milk producers 

 bargain collectively with the dairy 

 distributors in arriving at a fair 

 price for fluid milk. In many cases 

 representatives of the consumers sit 

 in at conferences and have a voice 

 in questions affecting their interests 

 because the supply, quality, and price 

 of milk are vital to them. 



Purpose of Organization — 



A little more than two years ago, 

 the milk producers in the quad 

 cities trade territory organized the 

 Quality Milk Association. Its purpose 

 is to place the dairymen on an equal 

 footing with the milk distributors in 

 the sale of milk, to promote impartial 

 checking of weights and tests, to im- 

 prove quality, to regulate produc- 

 tion to consumer demand in Daven- 

 port, Rock Island, Moline, and East 

 Moline, in short, to create an orderly 

 program for the marketing of this 

 essential commodity which directly 

 affects the health and well being of 

 the people of the community. 



The Quality Milk Association has 

 a membership of 850 Illinois and 

 Iowa milk producers who furnish 

 approximately 85 per cent of the 

 fluid milk supply for the quad cities. 

 The Association, organized under the 

 co-operative laws of Illinois as a non- 

 profit organization, has held many 

 conferences with the organized milk 

 distributors here in an effort to in- 

 itiate on this market a plan similar 

 to that now in operation on all the 

 major milk markets of the country — 

 a plan that will insure a safe steady 



supply of high quality milk, a plan 

 in which the consumer has a voice 

 along with the producer and dis- 

 tributor in questions affecting the 

 market. 



The Quad City Milk Council was 

 set up here more than a year ago 

 with equal representation of pro- 

 ducers, distributors, and consumers. 

 Its chief function was to provide an 

 impartial butterfat test on each 

 producer's milk. The milk testers 

 were employed jointly by the council, 

 thus every precaution was taken to 

 insure a fair test. 



Only Five Remain 



In the beginning, 13 dealers oper- 

 ating on this market co-operated in 

 this fair and equitable plan. I am 

 informed that eight of the member 

 dealers subsequently dropped out 

 until today only five are left, which 

 represents only about 10 per cent of 

 the dealers in the four cities. 



You may ask why? Their chief 

 complaint was that the milk testers, 

 employed mind you, by a Board on 

 which both producers and dealers 

 were represented, gave the farmers 

 too high a test. This is virtually an 

 admission that many distributors 

 previously had been short-changing 

 the producers and wished to con- 

 tinue the practice unhampered by 

 impartial testing. 



In every line of industry except 

 farming, the seller reserves the right 

 to specify the quality of his product, 

 to have something to say about the 

 price, and to weigh the commodity 

 out to the buyer. When the farmer 

 seeks to establish this right for him- 

 self, a right that every seller should 

 have, no stone is left unturned by 

 his enemies to thwart him in his 

 efforts to achieve simple justice. 



But what do producers themselves 

 say about their reasons for asking 

 that the weights and tests of their 

 milk be made by an impartial tester. 

 F. P. Lawson and Son of Coal Valley 

 in Rock Island County, milk a large 

 herd of Brown Swiss cattle. This 

 fine breed produces milk that in- 

 variably averages 4 per cent or more 

 butterfat. Mr. Lawson who until re- 

 cently sold his milk to the Midvale 

 Dairy, last month received a 3.5% 

 test. The official tester for the Rock 

 Island-Henry Cow Testing Associa- 

 tion, of which Mr. Lawson is a mem- 

 ber, tested a composite herd sample 

 the same month and found that the 

 milk from this herd tested 4.47%, a 

 difference of more than nine points. 

 This, and numerous cases like it, 



have all the appearance of being 

 mighty shabby treatment of farmers. 



A $25.00 Loss 



The price of milk per hundred 

 pounds is determined partly by its 

 butterfat content. At present the 

 price varies 4c per 100 lbs. of milk 

 for every .1% variation of the but- 

 terfat content from 3.5%. Thus milk 

 testing 3.5 per cent brings $1.85 per 

 cwt., whereas milk testing 4.4% 

 should bring 36c per 100 lbs. more, 

 or $2.21 per cwt. 



In this case it appears that the 

 buyer, knowingly or unknowingly, 

 shortchanged the producer (based on 

 the records of the cow testing associa- 

 tion) at least 36 cents per 100 lbs. 

 On the 7,000 pounds of milk delivered 

 during the month, this man lost 

 more than $25.00, or rather had it 

 taken from him, if the cow testing 

 association records tell the truth. 

 Let me say here that my previous 

 experience in this field leads me to 

 testify that the records of a com- 

 petent cow testing association super-' 

 visor are highly accurate and are 

 accepted by authorities everywhere 

 as authentic. 



No wonder producers have organ- 

 ized. No wonder they wish to throw 

 off the yoke of a system which 

 denies them protection against the 

 dishonest tendencies of buyers who 

 are more interested in their own 

 profits than in giving the farmer a 

 square deal. 



An Iowa Farmer Speaks 



What do farmers themselves say 

 about the situation here? Mr. Hugo 

 W. Schaff, a producer in Scott Coun- 

 ty, Iowa, said in answer to the ques- 

 tion, "Why did you join the Quality 

 Milk Association?" " Because I be- 

 lieve farmers will get a square deal, 

 fair weights and tests for his milk, 

 and a fair price, only through or- 

 ganization, because I wasn't getting 

 a fair price for my so-called surplus 

 milk; because farmers ought to have 

 a voice in this market which they 

 work 365 days a year to supply." 



Mr. Schaff produced a milk receipt 

 from one of his neighbors, Elmer 

 Kuhl of Davenport, showing that he 

 netted only 15 cents per hundred 

 pounds for his surplus milk — much 

 less than its value by whatever 

 standard measured. 



There is no justice in this kind of 

 a deal. Dairymen at best are under- 

 paid for their hard labor in milking 

 cows day in, day out, but when they 

 are deliberately denied a fair test 



(Continued on page 15) 



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