CONCLUSION 267 



but partial remedies. All have disadvantages and all 

 would depend for their successful operation upon a saner, 

 more businesslike, and less selfish sort of action than is 

 usually displayed by those in charge of our city govern- 

 ments or of the various organized interests. 



The most feasible remedy for the present appears to 

 be a combination of collective bargaining and the milk 

 commission or milk arbitrator plan. The main difficulty 

 would appear to be that of getting men appointed who 

 would be able to hold the confidence of all three parties — 

 producers, dealers, and consumers. Such commissions, 

 if that plan were adopted, should perhaps be state com- 

 missions, similar, in some respects, to the commissions 

 which control our public utilities. Such bodies should 

 be non-political, and the members should be appointed 

 for rather long terms, expiring at different times. 



The surplus problem has been a perplexing one. No 

 easy solution appears to be available. For some plants 

 there is no real surplus. They can use all the milk they 

 can buy^ — but only if they can buy it at lower prices, for 

 a part of it must go into uses which are largely supplied 

 by cheaper milk, produced in the summer months on 

 cheaper land, and with somewhat less labor and equipment 

 than is usually required for city milk production. One 

 solution which appears to be feasible is that of determining 

 the amount of the surplus and thei\ basing payment for 

 it upon the market prices of certain manufactured prod- 

 ucts, usually butter or cheese, with an allowance for 

 skim milk. Another method of solving the problem, more 

 particularly where dealers are not already handling it 

 economically, is for the producers to convert the surplus 

 into the various dairy products in plants owned and oper- 

 ated by themselves. 



