138 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



sible, or be converted into some one of the more durable 

 milk products. 



Under these conditions the individual farmer is often 

 at a disadvantage in marketing his milk. An unscrupu- 

 lous dealer may tell him, during a flush season, that he 

 can no longer use the dairyman's milk, since he can get 

 cheaper milk from some other section, probably a section 

 farther out from the city. Such a dealer could easily drop 

 a few individual producers. Rather than be forced to look 

 for a new market, such producers, acting individually, 

 would very likely accept the low price offered. Thus 

 dealers could undoubtedly, by playing one section against 

 another, keep prices of milk at unduly low levels. 



Section 2. Historical Sketch of Collective Bargaining in 



the Sale of Milk 



Organization among milk producers has existed for 

 approximately forty years. The organizations range from 

 local groups of farmers held together by mutual grievances 

 or ambitions of a more or less temporary character to 

 associations including thousands of members. For the 

 most part, as interest in the particular problems which 

 had brought the members together died out, the various 

 groups either disbanded or were represented for a time 

 by mere handfuls of men. They paved the way, however, 

 for wider organization, and in the middle and late nineties 

 a number of producers' associations of a more permanent 

 and more ambitious character made their appearance 

 throughout the eastern and middle western dairy states. 

 These, in turn, have led, more or less directly, to the 

 formation of present day organizations. 



In New York State the first definite action towards 



