VOL.  LI.  No.  2198. 
NEW  YORK,  MARCH  12,  1892. 
PRICE,  FIVE  CENTS. 
$2.00  PER  YEAR. 
Milking  the  Milk  Producers. 
CREAM  FOR  THE  “EXCHANGE*,”  SKIMS  FOR  FARMERS. 
IIow  the  business  Is  “ worked ;”  selling  skim-milk  at  the 
legal  price  ;  changes  between  the  cow  and  the  con¬ 
sumer  ;  New  York  water  to  defeat  Pennsylvania 
milkmen :  how  the  business  grew ;  suggestions  to 
Commissioner  Brown  ;  how  they  steal  milk  cans. 
The  New  York  Milk  Exchange. 
The  cartoon  which  The  Rural  New-Yorker  pre¬ 
sents  to  its  readers  this  week  tells  its  own  story — a 
story  which  needs  to  he  very  firmly  impressed  on  the 
minds  of  milk  producers,  whose  products  find  a  market 
in  the  metropolitan  district.  It  represents  a  striking 
phase  of  an  ex¬ 
crescence  on  the 
legitimate  milk 
trade,  which  is  of 
comparatively  re¬ 
cent  growth,  hut 
which  has  most 
injuriously  affect¬ 
ed  the  business, 
from  the  stand¬ 
point  of  hoth  pro- 
d  u  c  e  r  and  con¬ 
sumer,  and  which 
is  becoming  more 
and  more  firmly 
intrenched  as  the 
months  go  by.  It 
is  an  excrescence 
which  has  no  good 
reason  for  exist¬ 
ence,  which  serves 
no  wise  purpose 
in  the  economy  of 
the  business,  and 
it  has  no  claims 
to  decent  treat¬ 
ment  at  the  hands 
of  those  who  de¬ 
sire  to  do  an  hon¬ 
orable  trade  in 
this  indispensable 
commodity — milk. 
The  New  York 
Milk  Exchange, 
Limited,  is  an  or¬ 
ganization  com¬ 
posed  mainly  of 
dealers  of  milk  in 
this  city  and 
Brooklyn.  Its 
stock  pays  no  divi¬ 
dends — it  has  no  real  value  and  the  association,  though 
ostensibly  organized  for  buying  and  selling  milk,  does  a 
most  insignificant  business.  Its  real  aim  is  to  control 
the  price  of  milk  and  to-day  it  does  this,  dictating  the 
price  to  thousands  of  farmers  ;  to  all  who  ship  to  this 
district.  The  producer  has  no  voice  in  the  matter. 
This  small  body  of  dealers  assume  this  right  and  fight 
zealously  to  maintain  the  usurped  prerogative.  The 
cost  of  production  does  not  enter  into  their  calcula¬ 
tions — what  the  traffic  will  bear  is  the  touchstone,  the 
keynote  of  their  methods.  They  do  not  wish  to  bank¬ 
rupt  the  milk  producer — that  would  interfere  with  the 
supply.  They  want  the  price  kept  at  a  figure  at 
which  he  can  just  live,  but  will  not  be  able  “to  wax 
fat  and  kick.” 
How  the  Creameries  Cheat  the  Farmer. 
All  through  the  milk-producing  regions  members  of 
the  Exchange  have  established  milk-receiving  stations, 
where  they  buy  milk  of  the  producers,  paying  for  it 
generally  a  half  cent  per  quart  less  than  the  net  price 
in  New  York.  In  other  words,  they  meet  in  New  York 
and  declare  the  price  of  milk  to  be,  say,  three  cents 
and  then  say  to  the  producers  of  whom  they  buy  that 
the  price  to  them  is  2>£.  Rut  that  is  not  the  worst  of 
the  matter.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  in  many  of 
these  creameries,  or  milk-buying  stations,  the  most 
persistent  adulteration  is  practiced — practiced,  too,  in 
such  a  skillful  manner  that  they  are  enabled  to  evade 
the  law  and  its  penalties.  The  standard  in  this  State 
requires  milk  to  have  not  less  than  12  per  cent  of 
solids,  of  which  at  least  three  must  be  fat.  In  other 
words,  milk  which  upon  analysis  shows  88  parts  water, 
nine  parts  solids  not  fat  and  three  parts  fat,  is  legally 
pure.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  great  bulk  of  milk  pro¬ 
duced  in  the  regions  supplying  New  York  will  show 
13  per  cent  of  solids  and  four  or  more  per  cent  of  fat. 
See  how  easy  it  is  for  these  unscrupulous  men  to  adul¬ 
terate  the  milk  by  adding  skimmed  milk  to  pure.  Look 
at  these  figures  : 
30  quarts  milk,  solids  13 .  390 
10  quarts  skimmed  milk,  solids  10 . 100 
40  quarts,  total  solids .  490 
1  quart,  solids .  Vi'/i 
How  the  Work  Is  Done. 
This  shows  that  in  the  case  of  .milk  showing  13  per 
cent  of  solids  and  four  per  cent  of  fat,  they  could  safely 
mix  10  quarts  of  skimmed  milk  with  30  quarts  of  pure 
and  the  mixture  would  stand  the  legal  test.  It  is  per¬ 
fectly  safe  to  say  that  the  milk  received  at  the  Ex¬ 
change  creameries  for  11  months  in  the  year  is  rich 
enough  to  allow  them  to  put  five  quarts  of  skimmed 
milk  into  every  40-quart  can  without  subjecting  them¬ 
selves  to  the  penalties  of  the  law.  We  append  a  few 
extracts  from  the  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  State 
Dairy  Commissioner  of  this  State  : 
Some  creamerymen  are  no  doubt  practicing  the  adulteration  of  milk 
by  adding  a  certain  percentage  of  sklm-mllk  to  each  can  shipped  to 
market,  they  having  discovered  that  they  can  do  this  without  reducing 
the  milk  below  the  lowest  standard  required  by  law. 
One  creameryman  had  the  audacity  to  come  to  me  and  make  the  fol¬ 
lowing  statement;  That  he  was  selling  his  milk  at  wholesale  and  retail 
In  Brooklyn;  that  he  thought  some  of  the  farmers  delivering  their 
milk  at  his  creamery  watered  It;  that  he  feared  that  the  milk  would  bo 
brought  below  the  standard,  by  reason  of  the  supposed  watering,  and 
the  addition  by  himself,  as  he  acknowledged,  of  5  quarts  of  sklm- 
mllk  to  every  33  of  pure  milk,  and  that  ho  was  fearful  lest  the  Dairy 
Commissioner  or  the  Board  of  Health  should  prosecute  him.  In  fine, 
he  wanted  to  be  protected  against  the  fraud  of  tho  farmers  In  order  to 
consummate  his  own  fraud  on  Ills  customers. 
I  find  that  the  detection  of  the  above  offense  Is  most  dltHoult.  Being 
committed  behind  closed  doors,  It  Is  not  easy  to  detect  It. 
Another  creameryman  delivered  his  milk  at  a  railroad  depot.  Tho 
agent  noticed  that  the  cans  were  not  full,  and  called  the  attention  of 
the  party  delivering  tho  milk  to  the  fact.  He  answered  that  he  had 
forgotten  to  add  the  sklm-mllk,  and  returned  to  the  creamery  and 
brought  what  was  pre¬ 
sumably  sklm-mllk  to 
the  depot,  and  filled  the 
cans. 
Also  the  follow¬ 
ing  from  the  Fifth 
Annual  Report, 
page  (54  : 
In  the  preparation  of 
milk  at  creameries  for 
the  market  of  tho  con¬ 
sumer,  It  Is  well  known 
that  the  proprietors,  as 
a  rule,  take  particular 
pains  to  Impress  on  the 
minds  of  their  foremen 
that  “  it  must  stand  the 
lactometer  test,”  which 
it  Is  accordingly  made 
to  do  before  shipment, 
and  on  a  failure  or  omis¬ 
sion  In  this  particular, 
resulting  In  detection 
and  subsequent  prose¬ 
cution  and  fine,  the 
amount,  whatever  it 
may  be,  Is  to  be  de¬ 
ducted  from  the  wages 
or  earnings  of  such  em¬ 
ployee,  as  a  penalty  for 
the  offense.  That  such 
are  the  facts  I  have 
been  personally  In¬ 
formed  by  a  number  of 
the  foremen  themselves 
I  am  well  satisfied  in 
my  own  mind  that  in 
this  preparation  of 
milk,  not  less  than  from 
four  to  six  quarts  of 
skimmed  milk  are 
added  to  each  can  of 
pure  milk,  though  the 
lactometer  test  is 
powerless  to  detect  its 
presence  by  any  speci¬ 
fic  gravity  alone.  I  am, 
therefore,  of  the  opin¬ 
ion  that  more  samples 
of  their  milk  should  be 
taken  to  a  competent 
chemist  for  analysis, 
this  being  the  only 
thorough  and  reliable  method  for  the  detection  of  such  Irregularities. 
The  Extent  of  the  Evil. 
The  far-reaching  effects  of  this  persistent  adultera¬ 
tion  are  apparent  when  we  look  into  the  figures.  A 
careful  estimate  puts  the  amount  of  milk  shipped  to 
New  York  from  Exchange  creameries  at  about  5,000 
cans  daily.  If  we  assume  that  these  contain,  on  an  aver¬ 
age,  only  five  quarts  of  skimmed  milk  apiece,  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  aggregate  amounts  to  25,000  quarts  or 
025  cans  daily — a  quantity  larger  than  the  terrible 
“surplus”  about  which  so  much  has  been  said  and 
which  has  been  such  a  potent  factor  in  beating  down 
the  price  in  the  hands  of  the  Exchange.  The  evil  is  a 
monstrous  one.  That  it  is  persistently  practiced,  no 
one  acquainted  with  the  inner  workings  of  these 
establishments  has  the  least  doubt.  During  the  recent 
struggle  in  Philadelphia  between  producers  and  con¬ 
sumers,  the  Philadelphia  dealers  called  on  their 
brethren  of  the  New  York  Exchange  for  help,  and  for 
several  days,  200  or  300  cans  daily  were  shipped — all 
from  Exchange  men  in  this  city.  A  complaint  was 
