Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1473 
Milk Sixty Cents a Quart 
Since you wore here, Mrs. T. was in New York a 
woes ; said she had to pay 00 cents a quart for inilk 
brought to her room. 
O NE of our old friends sends us this extract from 
a personal letter. lie says the writer of the 
note is taking the milk diet—is forced to live entirely 
ui)oii milk. The incident occurred at a New York 
hotel. It seemed incredible that anyone should 
charge GO cents for a quart, of milk, so we wrote the 
managers of several great hotels, asking about it. 
They all reply that the report is correct, and one of 
them gives the following explanation: 
The milk that is served here is the very best obtain¬ 
able. and costs u« in quantities 28 cents per quart. To 
this we have to add service, which to a room is much 
more costly than if it was served in the dining-room, 
where everything is handier, and where the service is 
not near us direct, and personal as it would he in a room. 
ffVlien you consider that our overhead, consisting of 
faxes, wages, coni and maintenance items, has in¬ 
creased since 1014 on an average of over 140 per cent, 
ami that we have only increased our prices some 30 per 
cent, you will appreciate that we are doing our share 
in trying to reduce and keep as closely as possible to 
pre-war prices. This milk is served in pint bottles, for 
which we charge 30 cents, which, if a person should 
desire two pints, would cost GO cents. With this goes 
the service, of silver, linen, personal waiter service, 
which, being made to the room, is extremely low. A 
person buying milk at their home, in the first- place, 
does not get the grade of milk that we serve, neither do 
they get the personal attention, regardless of the ser¬ 
vants they may have. 
To carry out the “milk cure” properly, one must 
consume live or six quarts per day. No one but a 
millionaire will be likely to buy it at tills hotel. The 
Hope Farm man is telling about the development of 
what he calls “table manners.” The original dairy¬ 
man would have few middlemen between the cow 
and himself—surely not a company taking GO cents 
for each quart. It is quite evident that the cost, of 
these "table manners" runs high. 
Financial Statement of the Dairymen’s 
League 
T HE Dairymen's League Co-operative Association 
has just published its audit for the year ending 
March 31, 1022. An analysis of the statement of 
income and outgo indicates the following results for 
the year: 
INCOME 
Pooled milk other than its own plants. .$52,941,880.76 
Plant milk and milk products. 8,920.104.20 
Other income . 04.001.40 
Increase of monthly finished products... S3G.252.04 
Total increase.$62,762.41S.5S 
OUTGO 
Payments to members 
during period.$47,775,440.75 
Due members at close of 
period for March. 1022, 
milk and other items.. 4.620,146.66 $52,305,587.41 
$10,366,831.17 
Of this balance there was taken for capi¬ 
tal fund and to retire outstanding 
debts . $4,307,690.71 
Expense 
$6,050,131.46 
The expense balance includes items of bad ac¬ 
counts, patents charged off, extraordinary deprecia¬ 
tions ami interest charges. 
It would seem from these figures that it took 
substantially OS per cent of the income of the plants 
to pay the expense of the organization. 
No License For A Roadside Market 
T HE recent article describing the roadside mar¬ 
ket conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Hall of Ontario 
Comity, N. Y., lias created great interest in direct 
selling. Among other comments was one from a city 
man who claimed that Mr. and Mrs. Hall have vio¬ 
la led the law, since they have sold goods on com¬ 
mission without taking out any license. It is true 
that small quantities of fruit have been sold for 
neighbors at a fixed price per basket, and the ques¬ 
tion presented by this critic Is a most important one 
for farmers. So we sent the ease to Attorney-Gen¬ 
eral Charles D. Newton of New York, and asked for 
a legal ruling. His decision is printed below: 
I have consulted with the Director of the License 
Bureau, Srate Department of Farms and Markets. 
1’uder Section 2d4 of the Farms and Markets Law, 
it is provided: 
"The term commission merchant shall include every 
person, firm, exchange, association and corporation 
licensed under this article to receive, sell or other for 
sale on. commission within this State any kind of 
farm produce; except it'lnrc sink form produce is 
sold for consumption and not for resole. * * *" 
It appears - from your letter that a Mr. and Mrs. Hall 
have opened a roadside market in which they sell a 
good many of their own goods, but at the same time 
handle some of the goods of their neighbors on commis¬ 
sion. The very fact that they sell by the roadside indi¬ 
cates that the sales are conducted for consumption, and 
not for resale. Further, such a limited and special 
agency as they assume hardly conies within the general 
meaning of sales on commission, to be covered by the 
elaborate provisions as to bonds, licenses, financial re¬ 
sponsibility, etc. 
I am, therefore, of the opinion that they are not re¬ 
quired to have a license. 
CHARLES n. newton, Attorney-General. 
By EDWARD F. griffin, Deputy. 
“We Must Pull Together” 
As soon as the dairymen become convinced that no 
immediate results can come from continued efforts to 
unite them all in any one of the four present dairymen’s 
organizations; when they realize that no real and last¬ 
ing benefits will ever come from the use of either high¬ 
handed, arbitrary, oppressive methods, or disrupting, 
destructive, confidence-undermining attacks ; when they 
see that there may be more than one workable plan; 
when each dairyman realizes it is his duty to and he 
does support some dairymen’s organization which is fol¬ 
lowing a constructive program; when it becomes evi¬ 
dent that the only immediate relief from an intolerable 
situation can eoine from some kind of co-operation be¬ 
tween these organized groups; and when an earnest 
effort is made to that end—then, and not until then— 
will the dairy situation improve. 
If it is practical and legal for these groups to co¬ 
operate iu the same way that btisiuess men in other 
industries do, through their trade associations, iu 
backing an advertising aud educational program, or in 
mainrainiug a bureau which can keep them all posted on 
the various branches of their intricate and extensive 
business, we must find some workable plan of co-opera¬ 
tion, Several plans, all equally good or faulty, might 
be suggested, any one of which would work with the 
proper leadership and support. But a start must be 
made with one which is simple, elastic and inexpensive. 
A milk producers' conference board which would do for 
these various farm groups what the New York Milk 
Conference Board does for the dealers, is the one which 
naturally suggests itself- Through the Milk Confer¬ 
ence Board the dealers keep posted on market con¬ 
ditions. It is a most effective agency for maintaining 
that kind of co-operation which is so sadly &*<ded be¬ 
tween the farmer groups. It has been of great benefit 
to the buyers of milk. A similar plan, worked out iu 
the interests of the groups of sellers of milk, might be 
equally helpful. Certainly the organized buyers would 
welcome the stabilizing influence exerted by such a 
parallel organization. There can be no question as to 
the feasibility, legality or effectiveness of such a plan, 
with the New York Milk Conference Board ns a prece¬ 
dent. 
But something must be done, aud done quickly. The 
sad experience of the past two years has shown us 
some ways that will not work, aud it has taught us some 
valuable lessons. Almost every plan has been suggested, 
tried and failed, except the simple one long ago adopted 
by business houses iu all other lines; namely, co-opera¬ 
tion of the organized units through a trade association 
or conference board. 
If the farmers aud their leaders believe that any 
good can come from a little conciliation ami co-opera- 
tion between these groups in the way here suggested, 
let them state their sentiments clearly and plainly. If 
the man on the farm—the one who gets up early, toils 
long and late, and goes to sleep poorer than when he 
awoke, speaks his mind, I am sure he will say: 
“1 am poor, heartbroken, discouraged. I don't want 
to lead, but I do want to be well led. I can't agree 
with the others in everything, but I can agree with 
them all iu this—IFc must stop our fight bit/ nod pull to¬ 
gether. ' A PRODUCER. 
To my mind you are doing the one right thing in 
trying to get the views of the members of the different 
milk organizations centralized on one policy, and make 
that a strong one, working harmoniously for one pur¬ 
pose and accomplishment, iusteud of several lighting one 
another. I think it will be easier to get the members 
thinking alike than the representatives. I sincerely 
think the dissensions in the organizations have been 
promoted by officials who wish to hold their jobs a 
while longer. It would be better for dairymen if all the 
salaries and expenses were combined in one item to 
hire a real leader and salesman. 
All of the organizations have their weakness. Why 
net get together and let each one of the organizations 
present its own plans? Take out the weak points and 
make tip a plan with the best, points in all of them. 
The hoys here do not want to he put in a position again 
where they hold milk and lose its income while others 
ship and get their money. The K. N.-Y. always gives 
a fair hearing to anyone with an idea. Let us have 
everyone's view ; then we can fix up these differences 
and give a unified organization a fair trial 
MARTIN SMITn. 
I want to tell you how heartily 1 approve of your 
article ou the milk business, page 1373. The present 
situation with our dairy farmers is serious. I never 
saw- our farmers so depressed as they are at this 
moment. Hope certainly is at a low ebb. Many do 
not know how they are to get through the Winter. 
Taxes are heavy ami nothing much to pay with. Feed 
prices are high : milk is low. Dissension threatens the 
very existence of both organizations. Your thought of 
getting together is right. I talk it wherever I can. but 
pride and self-will are strong, so we keep on cutting 
tmr own throats. I do hope that you will keep on 
urging men to lay aside everything that stands iu the 
way and unite on some plan that will put a stop to 
the suicidal policy that prevails now. It is the ouly 
thing that will ever bring us out of our troubles. 
New York. E. v. L, 
Successful Sales of Apples 
From time to time I hU)e seen complaints made by 
your readers that they did not receive enough from the 
products that they ship to the markets after transpor¬ 
tation, commission and the cost of the package was 
deducted to pay for picking the product. I am par¬ 
ticularly interested in apples, one issue this Fall gave 
the financial statement for a shipment of apples that 
netted only a few cents before the cost of picking and 
growing had been taken out. Abort the same time that 
these apples were shipped I boxed and shipped 51 
bushels of Wolf River to a New York commission mer¬ 
chant. These boxes sold for $1.75 and $1.50 in New 
York, the whole lot netting me better than $1 per bushel 
box after deducting commission and transportation. 
You may ask why I received such a good price when 
Wolf Rivet* was selling for 50 cents a bushel in bushel 
baskets. In all I had about 125 bushels of Wolf River 
apples. I sorted out the besr and packed them in boxes. 
The balance I sold on the Syracuse market for 50 cents 
a bushel without the basket. 
I boxed Wealthy apples and received $2 a box. I 
boxed Bartlpft pears and received $1.75 per box. I am 
now selling Spy apples at from $2 to $2.75 per bushel 
box. and experiencing no trouble in disposing of them. 
These boxed apples are all wrapped in tissue paper and 
packed as the Western apples are packed. It is more 
work to put them up this way than it is to ship them 
in the bushel basket, but I feel well repaid for the 
extra work. 
The conclusion that I have drawn from my own 
experience is that the public is ready to pay a good 
price for attractively packed first quality fruit. The 
producer will make more by throwing the culls to the 
pigs than he will to lower the standard quality of. his 
package. 
There are a great many rimes that the producer does 
not get near what his product is worth, but l feel that 
the average producer has a lot to learn in establishing 
a standard for his product and maintaining it. This 
is particularly true of the Eastern farmer. 
New York. willard j. hall. 
White or Brown Eggs in New York 
EKING the year we have numberless letters 
from readers asking why white eggs command 
a higher price than brown in the New York market. 
It is well known that iu most New England cities 
the reverse is true, and brown eggs command the 
higher figure. Mr. Herman B. Yfalfeer, in the Co- 
Cperative Poultry man, gives the following state¬ 
ment about it: 
You think perhaps that white egg prices are higher 
in New York than elsewhere, because New York people 
prefer white eggs to brown eggs. Iu part that is true. 
The fact is, though, that most people iu New Y’ork who 
buy white eggs do so because about the only fresh eggs 
that go into the New York market are white eggs. 
In the metropolitan district in which eggs are sold 
on New York quotations there a re probably seven mil¬ 
lion people. Possibly a million of these are Jews. The 
orthodox Jew regards animal meat or food that con¬ 
tains blood as unclean. A blood spot in an egg makes 
it unclean food according to his creed In an egg with 
a whit ■ shell and a light colored yolk it is easier to 
find aud eliminate the blood spots. Hence the prefer¬ 
ence for the white egg. so far as the Jews are con¬ 
cerned. Some of them may quarrel with this explana¬ 
tion, and there may be other reasons, but this is the 
logical one. 
But what about the six million other people? Most 
of them prefer fresh eggs, and. without auy good rea¬ 
sons, half of them may prefer white to brown shells. 
That leaves three million people, then, who would like 
to eat fresh brown eggs. The only reason they do not 
buy the brown eggs is that they are not to be had. 
Because of the premium Jewish buyers have been 
willing to pay for white eggs, so many of us in the near¬ 
by States have taken to raising Leghorns, in the hope 
of getting our share of the higher white egg prices, that 
fresh brown hennery eggs are almost unknown in New 
York. While there are several thousand cases a week 
of nearby white henne> - .v eggs coming into this market, 
it is estimated that at this time of year there are not 
more than 20 to 25 cases a day of strictly fresh hen¬ 
nery brown eggs among the receipts. 
t That is what I meant by the statement that New 
Yorkers have to buy white eggs f o get fresh eggs. 
The Pacific producers came into this market because 
it was a white egg market. By grading their eggs care¬ 
fully. parking them nicely and using brains in selling, 
they have for years been able to get top prices. They 
have done so by talking white eggs; nothing more. 
They could not sell their eggs ou the basis of their 
new-laid value, because they are a month old and for 
most of the year have been ou ice for from two to three 
weeks before they arrive. 
The two things that we. as nearby producers of 
white hennery eggs, have to sell that have a higher 
value than the product of auy of our competitors, are 
fresh egg value and hennery quality. 
No American Production of Commercial 
Tulip Bulbs 
My attention has been called to a misleading state¬ 
ment from the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture regarding the growing of tulips in America. I 
quote the first paragraph of the press service circular 
from that department, dated November 14, 1922: 
"Most of the tulip bulbs used in this country are 
imported, hut good tulips eau be grown here at a profit. 
Tulip bulbs are already being raised in commercial 
quantities by three or four companies in Southern Mich¬ 
igan. by an association in the Willamette Valley of Ore¬ 
gon. by a company in Northwestern California, another 
in the Norfolk tegiou of Virginia and in a smaller way 
in a score of localities. The Department of Agriculture 
has beeu growing them successfully on Puget Sound in 
tin State of Washington.” 
I wish to challenge the above statement, believing tha. 
the entire importing aud wholesale trade of this country 
will bear me out in saying that no commercial quan¬ 
tities of merchantably graded tulip bulbs have yet been 
produced in America, and the very few little crops 
which have been grown are not sufficient to supply the 
Autumn requirements of even one of the smallest job¬ 
bing bulb dealers in this country. The question at 
once arises. "Why are such misleading and untrue 
statements disseminated in the public press all over the 
country at taxpayers’ expense?” j. c. Vaughan. 
