The  Wicks  Committee  and  the  Big 
Dealers 
Have  They  Lost  Interest  in  the  Producers  ? 
A  SYMPATHETIC!  ATTITUDE— For  some  weeks 
In  the  City  of  New  York  it  has  been  apparent  that 
the  Wicks  Committee  has  been  lending  a  sympathe¬ 
tic  ear  to  the  big  milk  distributors  and  big  dealers 
generally.  This  is  the  only  inference  that  can  be 
drawn  from  the  announcements  of  ox -.Tiulge  Ward, 
its  spokesman,  and  if  Senator  Wicks,  or  any  other 
member  of  the  committee  entertain  other  sentiments, 
lie  has  failed  to  make  them  known.  Judge  Ward’s 
different  statements  summarize  in  part  at  least  as 
follows : 
1.  New  York  City  has  the  best  market  facilities  in 
the  world. 
2.  The  status  quo  of  the  distributing  business  should 
not  be  disturbed.  That  is  to  say,  the  present  men  and 
present  facilities  must  be  maintained. 
Opposition  to  terminal  markets. 
4.  The  Borden’s  Condensed  Milk  Company  is  the 
best  and  most  efficient  concern  of  the  kind  to  be  found 
anywhere. 
5.  New  York  City  should  be  divided  into  districts  and 
a  monopoly  of  the  distribution  of  milk  granted  by  legal 
authority  to  big  dealers  to  distribute  milk  exclusively 
in  each  of  these  districts. 
THE  OTHER  SIDE. — If  Judge  Ward  and  the 
Wicks  Committee  remain  in  New  York  much  longer, 
they  will  probably  apply  for  an  edict  to  put  the  big 
dealers  in  food  generally  of  New  York  City  on  the 
calendar  of  saints.  He  has  discovered  virtues  in 
them  and  in  the  city  practice  of  food  distribution 
that  no  man  and  no  woman  ever  found  before.  He 
will  find  mighty  few  shippers  to  New  York  of  any 
class  who  will  agree  with  his  findings.  We  happen 
to  know  something  about  the  distributing  systems 
of  some  of  the  markets  in  the  world,  and  it  is  gen¬ 
erally  conceded  that  no  large  city  in  the  world  has  a 
more  expensive  or  wasteful,  or  more  completely 
manipulated  market  than  the  City  of  New  York.  It 
is  doubtful  if  the  system  now  existing  could  be 
made  any  worse  if  men  started  out  to  make  it  as 
bad  and  as  wasteful  as  they  could.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  shippers  of  every  class  hesitate  to 
send  goods  on  consignment  to  New  York.  When 
they  do  make  the  venture  it  is  with  the  feeling 
that  they  are  pretty  sure  to  get  the  worst  of  it, 
and  they  ship  to  New  York  only  because  they  are 
unable  to  find  a  market  anywhere  else.  Dealers  who 
go  to  the  country  and  buy  direct  from  the  farmers, 
benefit  from  this  condition.  They  are  able  to  buy 
from  farmers  for  less  than  the  market  price  for 
the  simple  reason  that  the  farmer  would  rather 
take  a  low  price  than  ran  the  gauntlet  of  the  man¬ 
ipulated  system  existing  in  New  York  City.  Judge 
Ward  has  abundant  testimony  to  this  effect  and  he 
can  get  more  of  it  if  he  wants  it.  lie  will  find  an 
abundance  of  it  in  the  records  of  investigations 
made  by  the  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  which 
are  at  his  disposal,  and  which  he  has*  studied  ap¬ 
parently  without  profit. 
NEEDLESS  INVESTIGATION. — If  Judge  Ward 
finds  the  market  system  perfect,  why  investigate 
further?  It  would  seem  to  a  lay  mind  that  there 
was  nothing  left  for  him  and  the  Wicks  Committee 
to  do  but  to  take  their  grips  and  go  home.  If  the 
present  conditions  are  to  be  maintained,  and  the 
present  chain  of  dealers  and  speculators  are  to  be 
permitted  to  take  their  successive  tolls  out,  of  every 
pound  of  food  coming  to  the  city,  the  35-cent  dollar 
will  never  be  increased,  and  the  housewives  may  as 
well  give  up  hope  of  a  lower  cost  of  living.  The 
parasites  are  not  in  tin*  business  for  their  health  or 
pastime.  As  long  as  they  maintain  the  present 
system  they  are  going  to  add  their  profits  and  the 
cost  of  the  wasteful  system  to  the  foods.  There 
is  no  way  to  escape  it.  If  we  ever  get  cheaper  food 
in  the  city  it  will  be  by  encouraging  the  farmer  to 
a  larger  production  and  a  larger  shipment  by  pay¬ 
ing  him  a  better  price  for  it,  and  by  a  reduction  in 
the  cost  of  distribution  by  cutting  out  needless 
middlemen  and  wasteful  methods.  But  such  a  plan 
in  inconsistent  with  the  preservation  of  the  recent 
system. 
PARKS  YS.  TERMINAL  MARKET.— Judge  Ward 
asserts  that  the  expense  of  a  terminal  market  for 
New  York  City  would  not  he  justified.  During  the 
last  Legislature,  however,  Senator  Wicks  encour¬ 
aged  an  expense  of  ten  million  dollars  to  the  State 
for  park  improvements,  which  in  Itself  is  worthy 
enough.  Parks  and  long  drives  along  the  Hudson 
are  worth  their  cost  to  men  with  automobiles  and 
time  for  recreation.  Such  men  are  not  troubled 
about  the  high  cost,  of  living.  It  is  the  laboring 
man,  his  patient  wife,  and  Ids  amende  children  who 
never  can  reach  these  spacious  parks  and  artistic 
driveways,  who  feel  the  pinch  of  the  high  cost  of 
food.  .There  was  no  argument  that  the  State  was 
too  poor  to  buy  parks  and  to  improve  them.  Will 
any  man  say  that  parks  and  driveways  are  of  great¬ 
er  importance  than  a  plentiful  .supply  of  fresh 
Efce  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
healthful  food  for  the  poor  and  the  provident  peo¬ 
ple  of  the  eitv?  In  the  line  of  National  calamity  or 
defense,  the  parks  would  contribute  little  if  any¬ 
thing  to  the  safety  of  the  nation.  A  vigorous, 
healthful,  well-fed  manhood  and  womanhood  is  the 
only  safety  for  city.  State  or  national  life.  Parks 
and  driveways  for  the  rich,  and  hospitals  and  asy¬ 
lums  and  sanitariums  for  the  sick  and  unfortunate 
are  good  in  their  own  ways,  hut.  an  abundance  of 
fresh  food  in  proper  variety  for  the  poor  mothers 
and  children  would  depopulate  half  of  the  chari¬ 
table  and  philanthropic  institutions  in  the  city. 
THE  MILK  SYSTEM. — There  was  a  time  when 
milk  producers  in  this  section  might  have  consented 
to  anything  that  would  change  the  old  system  in 
making  prices  and  conducting  the  distribution  of 
milk.  At  that,  time  the  old  system  suited  the  deal¬ 
ers.  and  while  they  had  the  power  they  refused  to 
consent  to  any  change  and  maintained  their  sys¬ 
tem  with  varying  degrees  of  refinement  and  plunder 
for  40  years.  That  time  has  passed.  Farmers  have 
discovered  that  they  are  independent  of  the  milk 
trust.  They  have  dearly  demonstrated  that  the 
old  system  is  gone  and  gone  forever.  The  dealers 
realize  it  too.  They  know  that  the  system  proposed 
by  the  Department  of  Foods  and  Markets  would 
distribute  milk  throughout  the  City  of  New  York 
in  giving  better  service  and  better  quality  than 
they  have  had  in  the  past,  and  at  the  same  time 
leave  a  balance  of  3c  a  quart  average  for  the  year 
around  to  he  divided  up  in  a  better  price  to  the 
farmer  and  a  lower  price  to  the  consumer, 
PROPOSED  MONOPOLY.— In  this  extremity 
Judge  Ward  proposes  a  monopoly  for  the  dealer  to 
perpetuate  his  vested  interest  and  his  strangle-hold 
of  the  people  of  the  city  and  State  for  all  time  to 
come.  If  there  is  any  plan  that  can  be  devised  to 
make  the  producer  and  consumer  more  helpless  and 
hopeless  than  they  were  before,  such  a  plan  has 
not.  yet.  been  proposed.  No  consumer  in  the  city 
could  get  a  quart  of  milk  except  through  this  au¬ 
thorized  monopoly.  No  producer  in  the  country 
could  sell  a  quart  of  milk  to  the  city  except  through 
this  monopoly.  They  would  he  legally  debarred 
from  selling  a  quart  of  milk  through  their  own  rep¬ 
resentatives.  It  is  doubtful  if  farmers  would  have 
consented  to  this  even  in  the  dire  distress  of  the 
past.  They  will  not  consent  to  it  now.  The  Wicks 
Committee  had  abundance  of  information  to  show 
extravagance  and  waste,  and  even  violations  of 
regulations  and  law  by  large  and  influential  milk 
distributors  and  dealers  in  food  products  generally. 
Included  in  this  was  a  little  graft,  by  janitors.  The 
committee  contented  itself  with  the.  expose  of  the 
janitor’s  little  graft,  hut  forgot  all  about  the  other 
violations,  or  at  least  ignored  them. 
DESTROYING  RIVALRY. — However,  it  did  not 
fail  to  delight  and  gratify  the  big  dealers  in  their 
ambition  to  drive  cooperative  farmers’  organizations 
out  of  business  Of  marketing  their  own  milk  in  the 
City  of  New  York.  The  one  man  who  has  built 
up  a  close  connection  between  cooperative  creamer¬ 
ies  and  the  consumers  of  milk  in  the  C-ity  of  New 
York,  has  been  N.  A.  Van  Son.  Fractically  alone 
and  unaided  he  went  to  New  York  some  eight  or  10 
years  ago  to  find  a  market  fox*  the  milk  of  co¬ 
operative  farming  associations.  As  his  business 
grew  he  earned  the  opposition  of  the  big  dealers, 
and  one  of  them  is  reported  by  several  witnesses  to 
have  said  that  he  would  drive  Van  Son  out  of  the 
milk  business  in  New  York  if  it  cost  him  a  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  dollars  to  do  it.  The  alleged  reason 
was  that  Van  Son  got  a  higher  price  for  the  far¬ 
mers  and  sold  for  less  to  the  consumer  than  the 
big  dealers  were  willing  to  do.  Information  was 
before  the  Wicks  Committee  that  various  witnesses 
had  stated  that  the  Stevens  Company  had  threat¬ 
ened  to  drive  Van  Son  out  of  business;  that  they 
had  offered  more  for  his  milk  in  the  country  and 
sold  for  less  than  their  usual  price  to  his  custom¬ 
ers  in  the  city.  This  information  was  passed  over, 
and  the  milk  trust  was  gratified  in  an  attempt  to 
develop  a  technical  case  of  irregularity  against  Mr. 
Van  Son.  If  the  committee  had  searched  the  world 
for  a  means  to  gratify  the  milk  trust,  it  could  not 
have  done  better,  unless  it  is  the  attempt  through 
innuendo  and  through  skilled  framing  of  questions 
for  a  witness  in  the  attempt  to  involve  the  De¬ 
partment  of  Foods  and  Markets  in  a  pretense  of 
irregularity  because  it  had  negotiated  sales  be¬ 
tween  producers  and  Van  Son.  just  as  they  had 
with  practically  all  of  the  other  dealers  in  the 
city.  Judge  Ward  and  the  Wicks  Committee  have 
been  investigating  this  milk  problem  long  enough 
to  know  the  relations  of  the  Department  with  these 
contracts,  and  they  cannot  he  ignorant  of  the  fact 
that  Van  Son  and  the  Department  are  the  two 
factors  that  the  dealers  are  especially  anxious  to 
get  rid  of. 
1597 
MILK  TRUST  AND  INDEPENDENTS.— We  do 
not  know  all  of  the  customers  that  bought  milk  of 
Van  Son.  We  do  know  that  during  the  last  year 
he  sold  milk  for  farmers’  cooperative  plants  in  the 
State,  and  that  the  Department  was  instrumental 
in  the  negotiations.  If  the  Wicks  Committee  want 
to  make  anything  out  of  that  they  are  welcome  to 
the  opportunity.  We  do  know  that  the  farmers  in 
tills  transaction  got  from  three-quarters  of  a  cent  to 
one  cent,  a  quart  more  than  the  milk  trust  was  paying 
other  farmers,  and  we  have  testimony  to  show  that 
Van  Son  was  still  able  to  economize  in  distribution 
to  sell  this  milk  at  a  price  lower  than  the  big  deal¬ 
ers.  The  Wicks  Committee  had  before  it  informa¬ 
tion  to  show  that  one  small  buyer  of  milk  last  year 
was  forced  by  the  system  to  cancel  a  contract  with 
Van  Son  and  buy  milk  from  a  member  of  the  milk 
trust,  The  supply  cost  him  $100  a  month  more 
than  the  Van  Son  price,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  Van  Son  was  paying  the  producer  more  than 
ihe  trust  price.  The  committee  might  develop  this 
information  for  the  edification  of  producers  and 
consumers.  It  preferred  rather  to  devote  its  time 
to  a  technical  embarrassment  of  Van  Son  for  the 
edification  of  the  milk  magnates.  These  contracts 
are  direct  between  the  producer  and  the  dealer  in 
Van  Son’s  case.  just,  as  they  are  with  all  the  other 
dealers  in  the  city.  The  Department  negotiated 
them  in  accordance  with  its  duties,  and  the  reports 
and  pay  for  the  milk  went  direct  to  the  producers 
in  all  cases.  The  Department  has  never  received 
a  penny  directly  or  indirectly  in  any  of  the  trans¬ 
actions.  The  fight  on  Van  Sou  is  clearly  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  was  an  independent  dealer  and 
helped  the  *  Department  sell  milk  for  farm  asso¬ 
ciations  at  prices  higher  than  the  trust  were  willing 
to  pay. 
Notes  from  Department  of  Foods  and 
Markets 
204  Franklin  St.,  New  York  City 
EGGS. — Nearby  hennery  eggs  in  light,  supply  and 
good  demand.  Fancy  nearby  white  henneries  63c  to 
65c;  fancy  large  brown  henneries  54c-  to  57c;  prime 
nearby  hennery  whites  53c  to  62c;  nearby  gathered 
whites  53 o  to  62c;  white  pullet  50c  to  56c;  nearby 
gathered  brown  ami  mixed  48c  to  52c. 
BUTTER. — Fancy  Western  creamery  butter  4114c 
to  42 l/fc e;  prime  to  fancy  creamery  3Sc  to  42c;  ordin¬ 
ary  creamery  35c  to  3714c;  fancy  Eastern  dairy  38c 
to  40c ;  Eastern  dairy  mixed  packages  30c  to  37c. 
LIVE  POULTRY. — Nearby  fowls  and  chickens  20c; 
Leghorns  18c;  turkeys  30c;  roosters  14c  to  16c;  ducks 
and  geese  16c  to  18c. 
N.  B. — Shipping  Live  Poultry;  Coops  should  be  high 
enough  to  permit  the  poultry  to  stand  easily  upright 
without  bending  their  legs  and  with  space  enough  be¬ 
tween  the  slats  to  pass  their  heads  through.  The 
coops  should  be  strong,  but  light;  heavy  wood  can  be 
dispensed  with  if  long  nails  are  used.  They  should  not 
be  so  large  as  to  be  awkward  and  cumbersome  to  han¬ 
dle.  When  large  coops  are  used  they  should  have  par¬ 
titions,  so  that  when  the  coop  is  accidently  tilted  the 
whole  weight  of  the  poultry  will  not  be  thrown  upon 
those  at  the  side  and  end.  Crowding  too  many  in  a 
coop  causes  suffocation.  Only  one  kind  should  be  sent 
in  xt  coop  when  the  size  of  the  lot  permits  the  dividing 
the  kinds.  All  poultry  reaching  here  the  following 
day  after  shipment  should  he  fed  lightly  before  being 
placed  in  the  coop,  so  as  to  avoid  un  infringement  of 
the  law  regarding  food  in  the  crops  of  poultry.  West¬ 
ern  and  southern  poultry  shipped  here  is  generally  sent 
in  carloads,  accompanied  by  ti  man  to  feed  and  water 
them.  The  first,  day  or  two  after  the  ear  starts  the 
poultry  should  be  fed  lightly;  after  they  have  become 
accustomed  to  their  new  quarters  the  quantity  of  food 
may  he  increased  with  good  results.  Overfeeding  on 
the  start  makes  the  poultry  dumpish  and  sick,  from 
which  they  do  not  recover  on  tin*  journey.  The  cus¬ 
tom  of  the  trade  here  is  to  let  the  coops  go  with  the 
poultry  free.  Upon  request  we  will  return  empty  coops 
by  express  charges  collect.  The  principal  market  days 
are  Monday  to  Thursday  inclusive.  There  is  seldom 
much  trade  on  Friday  or  Saturday.  The  demand  for 
live  poultry  is  much  larger  during  the  Hebrew  holidays 
and  feast  days. 
DRESSED  POULTRY.— A  few  fancy  Maryland 
turkeys  sold  33c  to  35c;  Virginia  31c  to  33c;  fat  ducks 
and  geese  23c;  heavy  roasters  26c:  Leghorn  roosters 
21c;  old  cocks  16c:  prime  white  squabs  $3  to  $6  per 
rloz. ;  Spring  guineas,  3  to  4  pounds  to  pair,  per  pair, 
$1.25;  Spring  guineas,  2  pounds  to  pair,  per  pair,  75c. 
RABBITS. — Prime  jacks  30c  to  50e  per  pair;  cot¬ 
ton  tails  20o  to  30c  per  pair, 
DRESSED  CALVES. — Country  dressed  calves  in 
moderate  supply.  Fancy  20c  to  21c;  good  to  prime 
IS  14c  to  20c;  common  to  medium  17c  to  lS!4c ;  dressed 
buttermilks  12c  to  14c. 
LIVE  STOCK. — Fancy  calves  14c  to  15c;  good  to 
prime  1214c  to  13c;  common  1016  to  lie;  veal  culls 
8c  to  !>c ;  buttermilks  6c  to  7c;  yearlings  $6  to  $6.50. 
Spring  lambs  13%e  to  14c;  old  ewes  6c  to  Sc;  hogs 
10c  to  lOViC. 
DRESSED  HOGS  AND  ROASTING  PIGS.— 
Dressed  hogs,  100  t>>  120  pounds  each.  13c  to  1314c ; 
125  to  150  pounds  each.  12J4<'  tc»  13c:  2H(t  pounds 
each,  1214<-  to  13c;  Over  200  pounds,  lie  to  12c.  Roast¬ 
ing  pigs,  10  to  15  pounds  each,  21c;  15  to  20  pounds 
each,  LSe  to  20c;  25  to  35  pounds  each,  16c  to  17e. 
APPLES. — Supply  of  barreled  apples  moderate  and 
fruit  moving  slowly  at  top  prices.  Western  boxed  ap¬ 
ples  in  large  accumulation  and  prices  low.  McIntosh 
$3  to  $6.50  per  barrel;  fancy  Northern  Spy  $4  to 
$5.50;  B.*  grade  $2.50  to  $3.50;  ungraded  $2.50  to  $3; 
fancy  Snow  $1  to  $6;  II  grade  $2  to  $3.50;  ungraded 
$2  to  $3.50;  fancy  Kings  $3.50  to  $5;  B  grade  $2  to  $3; 
! :  libbardstnn  A  grade  $3  to  $3.50;  B  grade  $2  to  $2.50; 
(Continued  on  page  1607.) 
