. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 639 



Joint Contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry, 



JOHN R. MOHLER, Chief, and the 



Bureau of Markets, 



CHARLES J. BRAND, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



February 15, 1918 



THE MARKET MILK BUSINESS OF DETROIT, 

 MICH., IN 1915. 



By Clarence E. Clement, Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, and 

 Gustav P. Warber, Bureau of Markets. 



CONTENTS. 



Economicphasesof the market milk business. 1 



Market demands and sources of supply 2 



Buying milk from farmers 4 



Prices paid to farmers 4 



Collecting and handling milk in the country . 8 



Cost of collecting milk atcountrystations. 10 



Transportation of milk to the city 11 



Cost of milk delivered to the city 13 



Trade demands in Detroit 14 



Preparing milk for city distribution 16 



Before compulsory pasteurization 16 



After compulsory pasteurization 17 



Capital invested and cost of handling 



milk at city plants 18 



City distribution of milk 19 



Summary of comparative costs of handling 



and distributing milk 23 



Conclusions 27 



ECONOMIC PHASES OF THE MARKET MILK BUSINESS. 





Preliminary studies by the Department of Agriculture have shown 

 the existence of many uneconomical practices in the market milk 

 business. These practices have been largely the result of the rapid 

 changes that the business has undergone in recent years. Con- 

 stantly increasing demands for market milk in the larger cities of 

 this country have resulted in such a rapid increase in the business of 

 " middlemen " or dealers that many fundamentally uneconomic mar- 

 keting practices have developed and wasteful leaks have been allowed 

 to occur daily. In short, efficiency systems have not kept pace with 

 the growth and development of the business. 



Note. — This bulletin should be of interest to milk dealers, city and State milk-inspection 

 officials, consumers' leagues, producers' organizations, and students of the subject of 

 market milk. 



19462°— 18— Bull. 639 1 



