1914. 
THE RURAL NEW-YOHKKK 
801 
CO-OPERATION FOR MILK PRODUCERS. 
Fair Profits to the Workers. 
A NEW OPPORTUNITY.—Milk producers should 
find the solution of their problem through the new State 
Department of Foods and Markets. The opportunity 
for them to organize cooperative companies, and utilize 
the services of the market commissioner for the selling 
of their goods, is open to them as well as to other pro¬ 
ducers of the State. In every neighborhood where the 
Dairymen’s League has members, it will be a simple 
matter to get the members together and cooperate un¬ 
der the cooperative law. Even where the League has 
no members there would be no delay in forming a com¬ 
pany. The‘State has made an appropriation of $20,- 
000 for cooperative organization work this year, and 
milk producers may as well get busy and get the bene¬ 
fit of the share of the service that rightly belongs *to 
them. The work has already begun. Cooperative as¬ 
sociations have already been formed in some sections. 
The purpose of the cooperative company of milk pro¬ 
ducers is to market the milk, and if necessary to care 
for it in one bulk by the company, instead of individu¬ 
ally as it is usually done now. 
EXCLUSIVE SALE.—Membership must include 
the condition that the milk produced shall be sold 
through the company, and this should be made a part 
of the by-laws or other form of contract. This is es¬ 
sential. Failure to provide for the sale of products ex¬ 
clusively through the company has been responsible for 
most of the discouragements in cooperation both in 
this country and in Europe. Beginners are always 
anxious to leave a loophole. They are perfectly willing 
to sign a contract with a New York milkman for six 
months or a year, and often without knowing much 
of anything about the responsibility of the buyer; but 
when it comes to their own company, where there is 
no question about its credit, they want to reserve the 
privilege of selling elsewhere. With the New York 
concern they readily sign a definite contract all in 
favor of the buyer. With their own company, they re¬ 
fuse a contract that binds them to anything. The re¬ 
sult is that those who refuse to sell exclusively, through 
their own company, get the benefit of the association 
when milk is flush; but as soon as there is a scarcity, 
the dealer offers a fraction of a cent more, and these 
privileged members then abandon their own company, 
and weaken the organization. It is far better not to 
have such members at all. Cooperative companies 
must be run on business principles. Cooperative com¬ 
panies failed at first in Denmark, for just this reason. 
But no such mistakes are made there now. Every 
member pledges his milk to the association. The com¬ 
panies are universally successful, and Denmark is noted 
for the success of its cooperative dairy industry. Orig¬ 
inally the Danish dairymen mistrusted one another 
and cooperative companies, just as dairymen did at first 
in Ireland, and as they heretofore have mistrusted in 
New York. The failures in Europe due to the causes 
referred to above, discredited cooperative work, and 
discouraged dairymen in Europe just as they have done 
with us. But just as soon as they organized right they 
were successful. Just as soon as we organize right, we 
shall be successful also. We now have the law, and 
the proper forms, and the State is willing and anxious 
to furnish the organizers, and start the cooperative en¬ 
terprises. 
WASTEFUL METHODS.—The method of dis¬ 
tributing milk in small cities and towns by the in¬ 
dividual farmers who produce it is extravagant and 
obsolete. As now practiced it is a slavish work, and 
the profits by no means compare with the labor and ex¬ 
pense. The present methods require duplication of 
equipment of distribution by each producer in the busi¬ 
ness. Each distributor has a certain amount of dairy 
surplus which with him figures largely as waste. At 
times his supply falls short of the needs of his custom¬ 
ers ; and as a rule the whole territory within the dis¬ 
tributing center will be covered by each of the com¬ 
peting wagons. With a cooperative dairy company in 
the neighborhood, all of the milk of all the producers 
would be delivered to the creamery or station, and then 
cooled, and prepared for distribution in bottles or other¬ 
wise. The distributing territory would be laid out in 
districts, and one equipment provided for distribution 
in each district. There would be no two wagons cov¬ 
ering the same territory. The capital and labor re¬ 
quired for distribution would be much less than now 
and the cost of distribution proportionately reduced. 
There would always be supply enough to fill the de¬ 
mand. and there would be no waste, because the sur¬ 
plus would go in with the regular deliveries to be man¬ 
ufactured or shipped to other markets. An important 
trade in butter, simple forms of cheese, and especially 
in ice cream could be developed from the creamery. 
Milk and cream are shipped from many up-State towns 
to New York, and a foreign concoction of skim-milk 
and cornstarch pudding returned to the town under 
the label of ice cream. When the ice cream is supplied 
in the town it is seldom made and controlled by the 
producers. There is every reason why the producer 
should have the benefit of this trade. By producing a 
high grade of ice cream, and advertising it, a large and 
profitable trade could be developed in every city and 
town in the State. 
ELIMINATING WASTE.—Practically every busi¬ 
ness has side lines, specialties and waste products 
to dispose of. In many lines the profits come largely 
out of waste products. The farmer must get into 
the way of saving these wastes, and of preserving for 
himself the profits of incidental products, such as ice 
cream and cream cheese. Heretofore he has not been 
able to do so, because individually be could not afford 
to develop these incidental features of his business; 
but the cooperative factory can handle the goods and 
develop the trade and turn a neglected trade and a 
waste of material into a good business and a liberal 
profit. 
DEALERS AND PRODUCERS.—During the last 
30 years about a dozen milk dealers in New York City 
have set the price that consumers must pay for milk, 
and at the same time dictated the price that the pro¬ 
ducer of milk must accept for his product. The deal¬ 
ers have managed this because they have been closely 
organized and act as one person. Producers and con¬ 
sumers have been unorganized and each deals with 
the milk dealer as an individual. The family that can¬ 
not afford to buy milk on the dealer’s terms has the 
privilege of going without it. The farmer who gets 
tired of producing milk at a loss, may sell his cows 
and go out of the business. There has been no alterna¬ 
tive. 
FORMING AN ORGANIZATION.—Now let us 
change the situation a bit. Let dairymen in every 
section organize a cooperative company. Let the mem¬ 
bers pledge the milk to their own company on the co¬ 
operative basis. Put the sale of the milk in the hands 
of a committee of their own members. If this commit¬ 
tee can sell the milk at fair prices to establish cream¬ 
eries or shipping stations in their own neighborhood, 
well and good. The committee can demand good cre¬ 
dit at good security, and prompt pay. If it cannot be 
sold locally, then provision can be made to ship or to 
manufacture it in a cooperative creamery at home. 
The individual dairyman would have no troubles. The 
committee and its salesman would have the business 
part of the company to look after. There are sections 
where a company of this kind cannot be opAated with¬ 
out a struggle. The organized forces will put every 
possible obstacle in their way. They had this kind of 
opposition in Europe too. The fruit men had it in Cali¬ 
fornia, and the wheat growers are having it now in 
Minnesota and Dakota. But where producers organize 
properly and pledge the product to their own company, 
they always succeed against the impotent opposition of 
middlemen. The only way the middlemen ever suc¬ 
ceed in opposition is by dividing the producers against 
each other. Let every member pledge all his milk to 
his own company, and after one year’s trial, no pro¬ 
ducer Would go back to the old and ruinous method of 
selling milk individually. 
SAYINGS BOTH WAYS.—The organization that 
will receive the milk, and prepare it for distribution 
and sell it will also be in a position to buy for the 
dairyman many of his supplies at wholesale prices. Feed, 
fertilizers, hay,_ flour, salt and numerous other supplies 
can be bought in bulk at a great saving over local re¬ 
tail prices, and as this system is developed much of the 
trade would be direct between one farmers’ cooperative 
company and another. The dairymen of the East 
should be able to buy their grain from the cooperative 
grain elevators of the West. The surplus products of 
one section could be easily marketed through the co¬ 
operative company in sections where such products do 
not thrive. In such cases the producers would sell 
direct to consumers through their respective associa¬ 
tions, and both would be benefited. The only expeuse 
would be the necessary cost of transportation and dis¬ 
tribution on the most economical basis. In discussing 
the possibilities of a trade of this kind it is necessary 
to remember that under the present system 65 cents 
of the consumer’s dollar goes to the distributor. If we 
increase the producer’s share by only 10 per cent, of 
the consumer’s price, the dairymen of New York State 
would realize about $60,000,000 more than they do un¬ 
der present methods; and the farmers of the State all 
told would realize $200,000,000 more than they get now. 
FARMERS AS PRODUCERS OF WEALTH.— 
Let farmers always remember this' Cooperation is not 
merely a system of buying or selling. It involves a 
great big fundamental principle of the distribution of 
wealth. Farmers are the greatest producers of wealth 
in the country or in the world; consequently they 
should be the wealthiest class in the country, or in the 
world. It requires no argument to prove that they are 
nothing of the kind. Why are they not in possession 
of the portion of wealth they create? Every man who 
creates wealth, or produces, must be supported. This 
support represents principally the cost of production. 
But most workers produce more than enough for sup¬ 
port. This extra portion is called surplus. Of course, 
it rightly belongs to the man who created it, but in 
our complex system of production and distribution a 
few men manage to control the tools of production or 
the agencies of distribution, and through these agencies 
these few men manage to appropriate all the surpluses 
to their own use. The surplus of each individual pro¬ 
ducer may Be small, but many such surpluses controlled 
by one man makes him rich. It is this accumulation 
of surpluses in one hand that makes the colossal for¬ 
tune. If the surplus of all milk values were left in the 
hands of the dairymen who produce the milk, there 
could be no millionaire milk companies. The fortunes 
they make would simply be distributed among the pro¬ 
ducers. It would not make milliouaries of any of 
them, but it will make them all more prosperous. 
ECONOMIC PARASITES.—In so far as the dis¬ 
tributor. the agent or the middleman renders a neces¬ 
sary service, he exercises an economic function in pro¬ 
duction, and is entitled to reward in proportion to his 
service. But the speculator, the manipulator and mon¬ 
opolist in food products render no legitimate service to 
anyone. They are, as far as producer and consumer 
are concerned, economic misfortunes. They are to dis¬ 
tribution what frosts and droughts and insect pests are 
to production. We are not permitted to spray them 
with lime and sulphur, but just as we labor to keep 
rank weeds out of the vegetable garden, so must we 
work to keep useless middlemen out of the distribution 
of food products. 
CO-OPERATIVE EFFORTS.—This is what co¬ 
operation is intended to accomplish. It is to preserve 
the surplus of production for the man who produces it. 
To accomplish this we must put the tools of production 
and the agencies that control distribution in the hands 
of the producers. Farmers control the tools, and we 
need in their case only to put the agencies that con¬ 
trol distribution into their hands. It is not necessary in 
all cases for the producer to follow his product all the 
way to the consumer’s table; nor would it be wise for 
the farmer to exact an excessive price. The State De¬ 
partment of Markets will aim to establish prices 
through the law of supply and demand. Surplus pro¬ 
ducts will work off quickly at low prices. Short sup¬ 
plies will demand better returns. The purpose of the 
department is to keep the channel open for the flow of 
food from the farms to the city homes. The system 
cannot be established in a day or in a year; but if 
farmers lend themselves to the cooperative system, 
within ten years the farms of New York State will in¬ 
crease from 50 to 100 per cent, in value, and we will 
have in New York State the most favored and the most 
prosperous farmers in the world. j. j. p. 
New York State News. 
DISPOSAL OF DISEASED COWS.—When the 
New York Milk Committee made the statement that the 
Department of Agriculture was giving away tubercu¬ 
lous cattle to be killed and fed to the inmates of State 
institutions, they evidently did not have full information 
on the subject. Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture 
Harry B. W inters, in the absence of Commissioner 
Huson, denied the charges made by the New York Milk 
Committee. He says the department does not give away 
cows, and such cows as are killed are killed under the 
direction of a State veterinarian, and if the veterinar¬ 
ian finds the meat wholesome it is sold. If the meat is 
diseased it is destroyed with acids and buried. “In 
every instance,” Deputy Winters is reported to have 
said, “a State veterinarian is in attendance at a kill¬ 
ing.” Under the segregation contract the institution, 
or the farmer who has charge of the cattle, has the 
right to use the milk after pasteurization but is en¬ 
joined from killing the cattle. 
GETTING FARM HELP.—The manager of the 
Jefferson County Farm Bureau called a meeting of 
farmers who want help, for April 8, «c the manager’s 
office. All farmers who are willing to take such help 
as may be secured in cooperation with the agents of the 
Department of Agriculture and give them a fair trial, 
will meet and select one of their number, or some other 
representative, to go to New York and in conjunction 
with the Department agent make a first hand selection 
of laborers to suit the needs of the farmers. Each 
farmer makes out an application fo.- the class of help 
wanted with the understanding that the laborer's trans¬ 
portation will be paid, the amount to be deducted from 
his earnings after being employed. “This is an intelli¬ 
gent way of going after farm help, better for both 
farmer and laborer than to set a carload of men down 
at a station without any definite arrangement or un¬ 
destanding as to where they shall go, or of what kind 
of work they will be required to perform. 
NEW STATISTICIAN.—Dr. Cressy L. Wilbur, 
chief statistician of the U. S. Census Bureau, has been 
assigned by Director Harris to take charge of the new 
division of vital statistics in the State Department of 
Health, now being organized. The salary of the posi¬ 
tion is $4,000 a year. Prior to his connection with the 
census department, Dr. Wilbur was chief of the division' 
of vital statistics of the State of Michigan. 
NE\\ GRANGES.—The official report of the secre¬ 
tary of the National Grange just received shows that 
during the first three months of this year there were 
12 new Granges organized in this State. The total of 
new Granges in the United States for that period was 
220 and 11 reorganized. Ohio and Nebraska are tie 
for first place with 29 new Granges, followed by Kan¬ 
sas with 26. 
GRAIN ELEVATOR RATE BILL.—Gov. Glynn 
has vetoed the grain elevator rate bill amending 'the 
law relative to the rate to be charged for elevating 
grain. The Governor says, in brief, that the present 
law provides that the maximum charge in any city not 
exceeding 130.000 population shall not be more than 
five-eighths of a cent per bushel. The amendment would 
insert after the word a “maximum charge,” the words 
“to be made or fixed by any person, copartnership, or 
corporation, or association of persons, copartnerships, 
and corporations or any of them.” The governor ob¬ 
jected to the term “association of persons” whose ef¬ 
fect might be to give legal stand to a possible combina¬ 
tion which would otherwise violate the anti-trust laws 
of the State. The governor has signed the bill increas¬ 
ing the salary of the Commissioner of Agriculture from 
$6,000 to $S,000. 
RURAL SCHOOL GARDENS.—Trophies in the 
form of cash prizes of $60, $30 and $15 are to be 
awarded by the State Fair Commission for rural school 
garden displays. A representative of the Education 
Department and one from Cornell will be in charge 
of the exhibits. 
GOOD PRICES FOR COWS.—Up in the northern 
part of the State, according to reports, the demand for 
dairy cows is strong and the prices are more than 
good. It is believed that the market will advance 
rather than recede. One farmer and breeder sold five 
calves and a yearling for $S25, and the purchaser left 
a standing order for what heifer calves there might 
be for sale, at $75 each when four or five days old. 
On another farm five calves but a few days old, brought 
$SS each. These cattle were mostly Holsteins. The 
increase in price on purebred stock has had its influenc* 
with grade cattle and these occasionally reach the $10J 
mark. j. w. d. 
