TS/te RURAL NEW-YORKER 
241 
Faulty Milk Inspection; Buying Farms 
Writing Paper in Milk Bottles 
On Fridaj', Febi’uary 2nd. an inspector of the De¬ 
partment of Foods and Markets found a bottle of 
‘•B’’ Grade milk from the Sheffield Farms Slawson- 
Decker Co. in the apartment of Mrs. Charles Cavan¬ 
augh, of 1016 Wood.vcrest Ave., the Bronx. The in¬ 
spector’s attention was called to the fact that there 
was a black substance suspended in the milk on the 
inside of the bottle. On examination it was found 
that this black sub.stance was really severaK large 
pieces of writing paper. This writing paper had 
already been used and carried with it absorption of 
writing ink. 
The distributor’s agents in the Bronx have in¬ 
structed the milk consumers to place some paper 
in the neck of the bottle after cleaning to keep out 
dust. When the housewife washes the bottle and 
the dust is kept out by the paper, the bottle may 
then be filled without rewashiug by the distributor. 
It is evident that in this case, the men a't the bot¬ 
tling plant overlooked the paper in the interior of 
the bottle and filled it with milk without washing. 
The attention of the City Board of Health has 
been called to the violation, but no action taken, 
and the incident affords another evidence of the 
difference between enforcing milk regulations in the 
country and in the city. There is no mercy when 
adulterated milk is found coming from the farm, 
and if the act is wilful there ought not to be, but 
the same act in the city is ignored. If the State 
will give the Depai’tment of Foods and Markets one 
city inspector it will guarantee to 
make the inspection as rigid in the 
city as it is in the country. 
Farmers who still think the milk 
contest between producers and deal¬ 
ers is settled for good are altogeth¬ 
er too optimistic. The contest is 
hardly begun, and there never was 
a time when the faianer should more 
persistently prepare for the market¬ 
ing of his own product than just 
now. The advance of 2c a quart to 
the consumer since October, with 
only Ic advance to the producer, in¬ 
dicates a disposition on the part of 
the dealer to reduce consumption 
and in that way to create a sundus 
on the farm. ’Phere are people who 
persist in saying that the producer 
does not care how much the deal¬ 
er charges the consumer. We con¬ 
tend differently. The amount the 
consumer has to pay is the greatest 
concern of the producer, and the 
farmer must see to it in his own in¬ 
terest that the consumer gets the 
milk at a fair price. 
A less alarming symptom is the 
tendenc.v of at least one large deal¬ 
er to buy up milk-producing farms. 
It is reported that this comi)any 
has its agents out looking for 
farms in milk-producing sections. 
velop can be promptly handled either in sour milk, 
for which there is a large trade, or by working it 
into butter or cheese, for which there is always a 
ready demand in the City of New York. With such 
an equipment last October milk would have been 
coming to the city regularly and the city people 
would have received almost, if not quite their reg¬ 
ular supply. The bill provides that the Commis¬ 
sioner receives ami sells the milk, or manufactures 
it and sells the by-product and keeps out of the 
returns enough to pay the expense of handling, in¬ 
terest on the plant, insurance, up-keep and a per¬ 
centage sufficient to pay the cost back to the State 
in 50 years, so that the State will lose nothing by 
the transaction. It simply helps finance ;the pro- 
positioii in the meantime for the people. 
The consumers of the city are even more insist¬ 
ent in the demand for this plant now than the pro- 
ducei’s. ’they may well be, becau.se it actually 
means more for them. They are now paying 11c 
a quart for Grade “B” milk. Through this plant 
the consumer could buy this milk at 8c a quart de¬ 
livered to her door in bottles from the stores. She 
couhl get the same milk for 9c a quart and pay the 
farmer from a half a cent to a cent a quart more 
than he is getting now. 
The cost of this equipment is a mere trifie in 
comparison with the benefits at a saving of from 
two to four cents a quart in delivery. The saving 
for the whole city supply Avould be not less than 
$50,000 a daj' to the consumei’s. The savings would 
I»ay for the plant three times over every month. 
Of course thei’e will be a strong opposition from 
Education For The Milk Consumer 
Analyzing on its editorial page a statement is¬ 
sued by Commissioner Dillon on the recent advance 
of milk by dealers, the New York World makes thf 
following editorial comment: 
THE MYSTERY OF MIl.K. 
Because it is losing more money than usual at this 
time of yeai’, the Borden Company I’aises the price of 
B milk to 11 cents quart. Because he sees tliat “the 
present high cost cannot last,” Loton Horton seeks 
to unite sey^eral smaller dairy companies with the 
Sheffield to economize in distribution. 
Commissioner Dillon thus analyzes the February cost 
of a forty-quart can of milk: Farmer, $1.74; freight, 
B4 cents; pasteurization, 15 cents. The consumer pays 
$4.40, of which the distributor takes $2.17, all other 
costs combined being $2.23. Grade A milk costs $2.53 
of the consumer’s $4.80. 
What has happened is this: The farmer gets prac¬ 
tically 1 cent a quart inorh, the r-eckoning being by 
weight. The distributor takes another cent for him¬ 
self, charging the consumer 2 cents more than last 
year. For forty quarts of B milk he gets 43 cents 
more than the farmers, with their vast investment, 
heavy labor, high cost of feed, and cartage. For forty 
quarts of A milk he gets 26 cents more than the farmer, 
the railroad and the pasteurizer together. 
Why should this charge be necessary? If we ac¬ 
cept Borden statements as to losing money more rap¬ 
idly, though taking half the heightened cost, how can 
we account for such an amazing fact? Why are they 
losing more money though exacting a cent a quart 
more for their services? What other explanation can 
there be than Mr. Dillon’s—^that the system of deliv¬ 
ery is a costly failure? Mr. Horton’s experimental 
economies should be worth Avatching. 
At last the city papers are beginning to understand 
the reasons for the advance in the price of milk, 
and the difference l>etween the producers’ and the 
consumers’ price for food products generally. Through 
the city papers the consumers are also beginning to 
understand, and this information is 
one of the best assets that the far¬ 
mer cotild pos.sibly pos.sess. The 
credit of this educational influeiice 
must be given to the Department of 
Foods and Markets. These matters 
have been discussed for years in 
farm gatherings. They have been 
well understood in the country. 
The farm papei’s have published the 
figures repeatedly, but neither the 
city press nor the city people took 
much notice of them, and certainly 
never understood the facts. When, 
however, these statements of fact 
are issued in cold figures by an of¬ 
ficial of a State Department the.v 
have special educational signi¬ 
ficance, and by the freipient repe¬ 
tition of them, in an intelligent way 
the city consumer has begun to un¬ 
derstand the situation. When the 
city consumer sees she pays $4.40 
for an article of food for AA’hich the 
farmer gets only $1.T4 she begins 
to realize what she pays for distri¬ 
bution, and .sooner or later she can 
be trusted to helj) correct the abuses 
of distribution. 
Notes from Department of 
Foods and Markets 
Some purchases have already been 
made. The late.st report is a pur¬ 
chase of 60 farms at one station, 
which this company has oi-dered bought at an aA’- 
erage of $15 per acre. In vieAV of the fact that this 
comi)any has never been able to make milk on the 
farms it noAV OAvns without a loss, there is little 
grf)und for alarm in the competition it Avill offer 
in the production of milk. The puiTose Avithout 
dmiht is to be in a position to control milk in case 
of a repetition of the October experience. It is, 
hoAvever, a poor rule that Avill not AA'ox’k tAvo AVays, 
and if the dealers find it to their adAqxntage to go 
into the production of milk, even at a loss, ex- 
I>erienee may force the conclusion of the pi’oducers 
that they can no longer afford to remain out of 
the distributing busines.s. 
A City Milk Market 
Senator ToAvner of Dutches^s County Avill intro¬ 
duce this Aveek a bill to provide a milk market, 
pa.steurizing plant and a creamery in the City of 
NeAA' York. The bill carries a request for an appro¬ 
priation of .$300,000 for the establishment of this 
plant. This is virtually the same bill that the De¬ 
partment of Poods and Markets requested Senator 
B icks to introduce last year, and AA'hich Avas side¬ 
tracked for the Wicks Investigation Committee. 
Every producer understands the necessity of this 
agency in the city. With it milk and cream can be 
received direct from the producing centre.s and pas¬ 
teurized in the city, and any suiplus that may de¬ 
The Farmer Goes Hunting in Town 
(From the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch) 
the dealers, but the producers of the country and 
the consumers of the city outnumber the dejilers, 
and from the present attitude of the public on the 
high cost of living, it is doubtful if many represen- 
tatiA'es at Albany Avill liaA'e the courage* to line up 
against it. Wb projiose to make a list in the near 
future of those Avho are for it and those who op¬ 
pose it. 
Saving “Cartage” 
The Department of Foods and Markets. Avhile 
only two years in existence, has alreiuly produced 
some indirect results that the producer may not 
alAvays realize. As an example, previous to the 
organization of the Department every producing 
shipper knoAvs that the rule Avas to charge 
12c to 25c a barrel for cartage from the docks to the 
commission dealer’s Avarehou.se. Apples were xisu-* 
ally sold on the dock, but the charge was made on 
the return jmst the same. When the Department 
began to receive consignments of apples, and to 
sell them for the account of the shipper, little by 
little this custom was dropped, and today it is prac¬ 
tically abandoned entirely, .so that without counting 
any other infiuence the Department has saved the 
individual .shipper 12c to 25c a barrel, and at least 
so long as the Department exists, there is no prob¬ 
ability that this fictitious cartage will eA^er again 
be found on an account of sales. 
204 Franklin St., New York City 
February 8, 1017. 
EGGS. — Under liberal receipts, 
market has fluctuated from 2c to 5c per dozen since 
last week. At this Avriting, strictly fancy State and 
nearby hennery Avhites are selling from 40*c to 51c per 
dozen. State and nearby gathered Avhites, 45c to 50c: 
fancy State and nearby hennery broAvns. 45c to 48c; 
State and nearby hennery brown and mixed gathere<l. 
43c to 49c; Western and Southern girthered whites. 
45c to 48c. 
BUTTER.—Prices with light receipts advanced from 
3c to 4c per pound on fancy marks. Fancy Western 
creamery, 45c to 46c; prime to fancy. 39c to 4514c: 
best Eastern dairy, in tubs, 37c to 3Sc; prints 400; 
mixed packages, .32c to 30c. 
CHEESE.—Prices one-half cent higher than last 
Aveek. Export demand has been active. State, whole 
milk flats, held specials, 25c to 26c; flats, prime to 
fancy, 24c to 2514c; fresh Avbite and colored flat.s, 22c 
to 25c; held tAvims, 2414c to 25c: Cheddar.s, feesh and 
held, 25c to 2514 ; fancy single daisies, 25c to 2514c: 
State skiims, choice and specials, 1914c to 21c; loAver 
grades, 12c to 19c. 
DIVE POULTRY.—Express receipts of nearby live 
poultr.v continue light. Chickens, 21e; foAvls, 23c to 
24e; roosters, firm at 1514^; turkeys, 20e to 25c; ducks. 
22c; gee.se, 18c to 19e. 
DRESSED POULTRY.—Receipts continue light 
Avith good demand. FoavIs, 22c to 2314c; roasting 
chickens, 2.5c to 28c; broilers. 35c to 50c; ducks, 24c 
to 26c; geese, 20c to 25e; turkeys, 31e to 35c. 
LIVE CALVES.—Prices unchanged from last week. 
Fancy calves, 14c to 16e; good to prime, 13l4c to 15e; 
common, 11c to 12c; buttermilks, 17c; yearlings. 7c 
to 714c. 
DRESSED CALVES AND IAMBS.—Market firm. 
Prices one cent loAver than last Aveek. Fancy. 20c to 
21c; good to prime. 19c to 20i4c; common, ISe to 19c: 
buttermilks. 12e to 14e; hothouse lambs, $11 to $15 
each. 
LIVE LAMBS AND SHEEP.—Live Spring lambs, 
(Continued on page 258.) 
