268 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



Price determination has been the center of much con- 

 tention in the past and will doubtless continue to be trou- 

 blesome. No easy solution has been found. Cost of pro- 

 duction formulae, basic market quotation arrangements 

 of various kinds, all appear to be useful only as starting 

 points in arriving at price at a given time. With the 

 right kind of collective bargaining, with the recognition 

 of the limits of cost of production figures as factors in 

 price determination, and with a clearer understanding 

 of the conditions of supply and demand, which after all 

 determine price at any given time, the problem should 

 be less troublesome in the future than in the past. 



Collective bargaining among producers is here to stay. 

 In general it will be beneficial to both producer and con- 

 sumer, particularly if it succeeds in reducing marketing 

 costs in any way. Producers are often inclined to ex- 

 pect too much from their organizations along the lines 

 of securing price increases, and consumers, to about the 

 same extent, fear these organizations and look upon them 

 as "milk trusts." Some sort of protection should prob- 

 ably be provided to protect consumers against attempts 

 at monopolistic practices. So long, however, as farmers in 

 and about the milk sheds of our cities are free to enter or 

 leave the field of milk production with relative ease, as at 

 present, and so long as a large proportion of our milk goes 

 into the manufacture of the various dairy products, no 

 producers' organization can hope unduly to affect prices of 

 milk for long. Consumers need therefore have little fear 

 of a "farmers' milk trust," for such a thing is practically 

 impossible. 



The milk marketing problem cannot be solved so long 

 as the triangular warfare between producers, dealers, and 

 consumers continues. What is needed is a better under- 



