Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1397 
The Dairy Meeting at Springfield 
XPERIMENTAL WORK.—Sitting through the 
discussions in the two days’ sessions of the 
National Milk Producers’ Federation at Springfield, 
Mass., last week, one could not escape these con¬ 
clusions: The co-operative movement among dairy 
farmers has spread quite generally over the coun¬ 
try. The fundamental principles of organized co¬ 
operation are yet imperfectly understood, even 
by men prominent in the movement. A considerable 
amount of time, money and energy have been ex¬ 
pended: there is no uniformity in the organizations; 
the work is yet largely experimental: the actual ac¬ 
complishments so far are not generally important: 
the future is one of prospects and hope. 
RISING PRICES.—The movement started with 
the beginning of the World War. Prices began to 
rise in response to war conditions and to the un¬ 
limited demand abroad for condensed milk and 
other milk products. In some cases the price ad¬ 
vances were hastened by successful co-operative 
activities; but it is a fact generally admitted by 
men in a position to know that if there were no 
organization of producers anywhere in the country 
during the war the Hoover Food Administration 
would not have been able to fix a maximum price, 
and the competition of condensed milk manufac¬ 
turers with distributers of liquid milk would have 
driven the price higher than it was at any time 
during the war. The manufacturers sold on a cost 
plus profit basis; and the more they paid for milk, 
the greater would have been their percentage of 
profits. While prices were high, however, and ris¬ 
ing, the co-operative movement became suddenly 
popular, and some men. always with an eye to 
emoluments and profits, broke into it with great 
enthusiasm. Where their leadership prevailed the 
producer was told that all the increase was due to 
their skill and efforts. The producers who believed 
it began to regard co-operation as a magic wand to 
control prices at will: and now that prices have 
fallen these leaders and their successors are plagued 
hy the ghost of their own creation. While the going 
was good prudence, precedent and principle were 
cast aside, safety was scorned. They stepped on it 
hard, and the car went at full speed. The other 
fellow paid the gas bill, and motion was all that 
counted. The surface is not so smooth now and the 
pace is slower. Some of the reckless drivers are 
no longer at the wheel. Perhaps it is well that we 
have had both conditions. A sober, stable policy 
will be more acceptable now that the joy ride is 
over. We have never at any time had any doubts 
about the ultimate success of co-operation. We have 
none now. It will he worth to the next generation 
all it costs us; enemies without cannot stop it; 
waste and extravagance and selfishness within con¬ 
stitute its greatest danger. The interests of the 
cause and of the members demand prudence aud 
efficiency and economy from now on. 
A REPRESENTATIVE MEETING.—All the New 
England and Middle States. Maryland. Virginia. 
Ohio. Kentucky. Michigan. Illinois and Iowa, were 
represented at Hie meeting. There were about as 
many plans as there were associations reporting. 
Some are stock companies, others are membership 
corporations, some are merely bargaining organiza¬ 
tions, like Philadelphia, where there is a basic price 
to dealers on the volume produced in November and 
December, and a surplus price for excess produced 
at other times of the year. In other places, like 
Baltimore, they sell the dealer all he wants at their 
price, and they take care of the excess—if there is 
any. In some places there is a decentralized con¬ 
trol by the local associations, and in others, like 
New York, the centralized head controls all as one 
unit. Some are just drifting along with the dealers, 
expecting to develop a more, definite policy when 
they see how some of the present plans work out in 
other places. 
operated under the co-operative title. The whole 
situation in New England will be be discussed by 
itself later. 
A WESTERN ENTERPRISE.—On the record the 
best practical results and the highest ideals of co¬ 
operation came out of the West from the Twin 
Cities Milk Producers’ Association of St. Paul. Mr. 
II. R. Leonard, the manager, told of the practical 
work. The association was financed on a $3 mem¬ 
bership fee. It has 50 directors, elected by the mem¬ 
bers, who vote by mail. A bulletin is sent to the 
members monthly. They are given the exact cost 
of handling milk hy the 100 lbs. and kept informed 
of every feature of the work in detail. The associa¬ 
tion handles 00 per ceut of the milk in its territory. 
It sells the dealers just the amount they want and 
gives them no chance to talk of surplus. There are 
12 plants in the territory, which cost from $4,000 to 
$40,000 each, and the extra milk is cared for in 
them. The association shipped 7.500 cans of sweet 
cream East during the year, some of it into New 
York territory* All the milk is tested for fat by the 
association. The producer gets an honest test. San¬ 
itary measures are enforced- Mr. Leonard quoted 
one local section where unsanitary milk bad de¬ 
creased 07 per cent in three months, and the volume 
of milk doubled the first year. 
IDEALS AND POLICIES.—Mx*. TV. F. Schilling 
of Northfield, Minn., the president of the associa¬ 
tion. discussed co-operative ideals and policies. 
President Schilling is something of a combination 
of the late Theodore Roosevelt and Billy Sunday. 
He gave his leader associates the usual amount of 
warm-up “stuff” in the shape of personal compli¬ 
ments. and told some good stories to get everyone 
cheerful and feeling good, and then shot in some 
good sober fundamental co-operative rules. Some 
leaders, he said, needed to forget their petty jeal¬ 
ousies and selfishness. Some of them would have 
to stop trying to make kings of themselves. They 
would have to get rid of their ambitious and learn 
how to co-operate. If the leaders in places like 
Chicago and New York cannot agree among them¬ 
selves. he asked, how can they expect unity from 
the members? Don't keep any secrets from the 
dairymen, lie cautioned. Tell them everything. 
Don’t hold it on the excuse that you don't want the 
dealers to get it. The dealers know all about it any¬ 
way. If you are paying a salary of $10,000 and a 
dairyman asks about it. don’t try to dodge and say 
you don’t know. Tell him the truth frankly. If the 
man isn’t worth it. you have uo right to pay it. The 
Twin City Association has not a director on the 
salary list. They get $10 a day for the days devoted 
to necessary work, and uo more. When they found 
a man who would not spend a nickel to see an earth¬ 
quake they hired him as manager, and in conse¬ 
quence they have a handsome surplus with no hard¬ 
ship to their dairymen. 
PERSONNEL OF THE MEETING.—Milo D. 
Campbell of Michigan is president of the Federation. 
It is a national association of State and regional 
milk associations. The meeting was therefore com¬ 
posed largely of officers and delegates of the mem¬ 
ber associations. It was a good meeting. The ex¬ 
change of experiences and ideas was well worth 
while. The discussions gave a perspective to the 
men in the work that they could hardly see from 
their position in the midst of details in their own 
circumscribed field. The weakness of the organi¬ 
zation is that it is an official body, and the farm 
view does not always appear in evidence. The 
vanity and the caprice of position tends to narrow 
the horizon, when the needs of the farm demand 
the broadest vision and full aud fearless develop¬ 
ment of its possibilities. This meeting, however, 
brought out many broad altruistic champions of 
agriculture, and it only remains for farmers them¬ 
selves to send spokesmen to such meetings who will 
speak the language and sentiments of the farm. 
THE TURNER CENTER SYSTEM.—One of the 
unique dairy organizations of the country is the 
Turner Center System, developed by Mr. E. L. Brad¬ 
ford of Augusta. Me. Mr. Bradford says there is a 
demand in New England for more butterfat than is 
produced there, hut there is a surplus of skim-milk. 
He thinks this skim-milk is worth more on the farm 
than any other place, so he buys 12% per cent cream 
and estimates 30 cents a hundred for the skim-milk. 
This system includes both country plants and city 
plants. It was run for 23 years exclusively for 
manufacturing, but for 14 years now it has sold 
liquid milk and cream. It is a stock company, but 
Mr. Bradford is extremely altruistic and the spirit 
of co-operation has been carried out in his system 
probably more completely than in many places 
THE RESOLUTIONS.—Resolutions were approved 
to ask the Interstate Commerce Commission to grant 
a rehearing on the application for a reduced freight 
rate on milk from the peak war-tiiue rates: to de¬ 
mand of Congress farm credit legislation; to ask 
the Congressional Agricultural Committee to report 
favorably the Voight bill to prohibit the manufac¬ 
ture and sale of filled milk: to ask Congress for a 
larger appropriation for complete and reliable sta¬ 
tistics on dairy products; to urge colleges and other 
institutions to give attention to education in the 
principles of co-operation and economic distribution, 
and to pledge the support of the Federation to the 
proposal to hold the World’s Dairy Congress in the 
year 1923 in the United States. 
The Trouble About Retail Prices 
N OW and then we have a letter from a reader 
demanding that we print a page of retail prices, 
showing what people in New York pay for food. In 
the smaller town markets retail prices are usually 
fixed, and do not vary greatly, but in this great city 
they vary greatly. The other day a peddler in front 
of The R. N.-Y. building was selling potatoes 12 lbs. 
for 20c. At the corner grocery the price was 5 lbs. 
for 9c. At a little provision store near by potatoes 
were 20e a peek. A few block away uptown, ^se¬ 
lected potatoes" were selling at 40c a peck, and so 
on with most farm produce. Now, which retail price 
shall we quote? For milk, butter and part of the 
egg trade there are standard retail prices, although 
the prices for these goods will vary with the local¬ 
ity and the quality. People do not realize how food 
prices in this great city vary with living conditions. 
It is said that one can take the liver of a lamb or 
calf, cut it in two and serve half as “liver and bacon” 
in Ninth avenue for 35c. The other half on Fifth 
avenue, four blocks away, made into "pate de foie 
gras.” will bring $2. A man may go to one of the 
self-service restaurants and help himself to a dinner 
for 40c. He may go to a high-class restaurant, with 
superior service, and order exactly the same class 
of food and be very fortunate if he escapes with a 
bill of $1.25—with about three “tips" added. The 
high prices are paid for “service,” which means 
high rent, labor, “style" and a dozen other items 
which enter into selling cost. These items vary so 
that it is practically impossible to name any retail 
figure which will fairly represent the difference be¬ 
tween consumer's and producer’s prices. What we 
attempt to do is to state as nearly as we can what 
producers receive for their goods here. 
Medicine for Back-to-the-Landers 
I had an amusing incident while giving my potatoes 
first hoeing. A bricklayer, about my age. and an old 
friend (we worked together for years in a mill in Pitts¬ 
burg, ruyself as blacksmith) tame to see me. aud the 
folks brought him out to the “farm.” He wanted to 
know why he could not do rhe same as I did with my 
other farm, and intend to do with present one; that is, 
shape it up and sell. He knew price paid for old farm 
and what it sold for. and he thought that it was easy 
money. Here is what he said: 
“Henry. I am going to buy a piece of land, about 
as much as you have here, only no timber, and do as 
you are doing. I think it easier than laying bricks. 
What do you think about it?" 
“Well, there is nothing to stop you from doing what 
I did or doing, only be prepared for hard work, a level 
head and a stout heart. Take that hoe and follow me; 
take next row. If at the end of row you are still in 
the same notion, you will do.” 
Well, it was hot: blackberries, wild morning-glories. 
Canada thistles, all had to come out. root, branch and 
all. Result, friend is still laying bricks. H. L. o. 
Pennsylvania. 
G ENERALLY speaking that sort of medicine will 
kill or cure the man with a touch of the baek- 
to-the-laiuling disease. That is why we suggest a 
good dose of it before these gentlemen pay down 
their money. There has been developed a class of 
people who think they can take a piece of waste land 
or a broken-down farm, "shape it up.” make it pro¬ 
ductive and then sell it at an advance that wilt 
pay well for their time. That has been done, but 
it requires an expert in farming and in salesman¬ 
ship to do it. Having been through the business 
three times, we are not as enthusiastic over it as 
we were 30 years ago. What are years for if not 
to collect experience? 
The Third-party Idea 
Why’ cannot the agriculturist and the temperance 
people of the cities get together for mutual benefit 
along political lines? Neither of the old political parties 
is giving the farmers a square deal. On the other hand, 
the temperance people are not receiving a fair shake. 
I believe that (50 per cent of the rural population aud 
40 per cent of the city population are in favor of the 
Eighteenth Amendment, and against letting down the 
bars of the \ olstead act. This rural-urban combination 
would make a strong team in the political arena. 
CITY SUBSCRIBER. 
I T would; but how. under present political con¬ 
ditions, can such a combination be made, except 
through one of the old political parties? One reason 
for the recent Republican defeat was the fact that 
the machine leaders dodged the issue and made a 
platform which did not fairly represent the party 
sentiment. The Democrats openly declared for 
beer and wine, and thus showed greater courage and 
honesty in the question. A third party will get 
nowhere under present conditions. If a great mass 
of voters wants a certain thing, they must make 
one of the old parties work for them. 
Ttie man who sets his heart upon a scrub and will 
not cull her from his laying stock, against adversity 
will surely rub, and old hard times will give him many 
a knock. 
