DISTRIBUTION OF MILK 69 



constitute by far the greater proportion of the milk supply, 

 whereas in the case of the carlot shipments originating 

 at country plants it is more usual for the milk company 

 to do its own icing. Though in many instances refriger- 

 ator cars are used, the more general practice is to use 

 ordinary baggage cars for the pick-up service. 



Up to 1 91 7 the railroad companies in many of the dairy 

 sections commonly leased cars to the large milk companies. 

 This practice, however, gave some of the large companies 

 an undue advantage, as was shown by the investigation 

 of the Boston Chamber of Commerce in 191 5, which pro- 

 duced evidence that in most sections supplying Boston 

 with milk there was no competition, owing to the fact that 

 one company would run a leased car along a given rail- 

 road, thus practically limiting the producer's market to 

 the plant of a single dealer, since the producer could not 

 afford to ship elsewhere at the higher rates charged for 

 less than carlo ts.^ A case brought before the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission resulted in the abolition of the 

 leased car system October i, 1 916.2 



Around all of the larger cities where the milk belt lies 

 a considerable distance outside the city, concentric circles 

 have been drawn about the city dividing off so-called milk 

 zones. One circle may have a radius of sixty miles, the 

 next a radius of eighty miles, and the next a radius of one 

 hundred miles. All milk coming from between the sixty 

 and the eighty mile circles would then take the same trans- 

 portation rate, whereas milk coming from between the 

 eighty mile and the one hundred mile circles would all take 



' Investigation and Analysis of the Production, Transportation, Inspection and 

 Distribution of Milk and Cream, by Boston Chamber of Commerce, July, 1915. 



^ N. H. College Extension Bulletin, No. 8, p. 17, A Survey of the Dairy Mar- 

 keting Conditions and Methods in New Hampshire. 



