CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED REMEDIES 261 



bargaining could be carried on, so that it was relatively 

 easy for tlie Commission to get the two groups together. 1 

 The personnel of the commission perhaps had something 

 to do with the success in administering its duties. 



As an ultimate solution for the milk marketing problem 

 the plan can hardly be expected to measure up to require- 

 ments unless the commissions be composed of broad- 

 minded men of considerable ability, with a knowledge 

 of dairy farming and fundamental farm economics and 

 able to give a good share of their time to the problem. 

 First-hand knowledge of the operation of one of these com- 

 missions and a study of the reports of others have con- 

 vinced the writer that a large factor in the failure of the 

 commissions above mentioned to measure up to their 

 opportunities lay in the fact that the men not only failed 

 to grasp the whole situation but that they were too much 

 engrossed with their own everyday affairs to give the prob- 

 lem the attention necessary to master the details suffi- 

 ciently to make intelligent decisions. Such commissions 

 would perhaps function more satisfactorily if they were 

 to act merely as arbitration boards rather than as price- 

 fixing bodies. 



The Wicks Committee in New York recommended that 

 the milk business be declared a public utility and be 

 placed under the control of a competent state depart- 

 ment.2 



Closely related to the commission plan is that of ap- 

 pointing a milk price arbitrator. This plan was in oper- 

 ation in Pennsylvania during the war and proved so satis- 

 factory that it has been continued since the close of the 

 war. The arbitrator "sits in" with representatives of 



' See Special Bulletin 99, Mich. Agr. College, 1919. 



' Prelim. Report of Joint Com. on Dairy Pro., Livestock y Poultry, p. 578. 



