DISTRIBUTION OF MILK 85 



place, he works long hours. This was almost universally 

 true in Milwaukee in 1916. It is true in Columbus and 

 in other Ohio cities now. The small dealer is usually 

 delivering in the early hours of the morning, along with 

 his competitors. Later in the day he is about the plant, 

 assisting with the preparation of the milk for the follow- 

 ing day, and still later in very many instances, he is doing 

 what little bookkeeping he finds necessary. Thus the 

 working day of some of these dealers is easily from twelve 

 to sixteen hours in length seven days in the week. 



In most cases the duties of the business are largely per- 

 formed by the proprietor himself or by his partners and 

 himself. The writer has in mind, for example, two un- 

 usually successful small companies in Milwaukee, Wiscon- 

 sin, each composed of several brothers. Several Columbus 

 concerns are also composed of small groups of men, each 

 of whom has a direct interest in the company. In all of 

 these instances every member of the firm is working for 

 new business and each is anxious to stop all leaks of what- 

 ever kind. Although such hired labor as they find nec- 

 essary may work only the regulation city work-day the 

 members of the company themselves are willing to work 

 for long hours in a pinch, and in many instances do so 

 regularly. Furthermore, men so vitally interested in the 

 business, doing largely their own work, are more ready to 

 get along with inferior equipment than are hired employees. 



In some of these smaller plants cheap labor may be and 

 is used. This is made possible by the fact that members 

 of the family may be utilized for so large a proportion of 

 the work and to the fact that unskilled labor can be more 

 readily depended upon, since it can receive close super- 

 vision. Illustrative of the first point is the fact that in 

 Kansas City in September, 191 8, 28.5 per cent of the per- 



