Food 
Sirloin Steak, per lb... 
Round Steak, per lb.. 
I’ork Chops, per lb.... 
Smoked H,irn, per lb.. 
Poultry, per lb. 
Milk, per Qt... 
The Food Price of Milk 
Has the Advance in the Price of Milk Kept Pace, and is 
the Price on a Par with that of Other Foodstuffs ? 
W HAT FIGT'RES TELL.—In order to answer 
this question a study was made of the last 
i.ssue of the Bulletin of the United States Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, giving average retail prices of va¬ 
rious foodstuffs for the United States by years since 
li>07. The study revealed the figures on this page. 
AVERAGE I'RICES.—Since milk and meat fall 
into the same cla.ss as far as sup¬ 
plying food nutrients to the body is 
concerned, it has been compared to 
five different kinds of meat. It 
should be borne in mind that the 
prices given in the table are av¬ 
erage for the entire countiy. In 
the majority of cases there is an 
increase in the price of each food 
stuff each year, but it will he noted 
that the increase is much greater 
from 1915 to 191(> than for any other year. It is 
shown that the average increase per pound in the 
price of the five meats from 1907 to 1916 is 52.3%, 
while for a like jicriod milk increased but 20.2% 
in price. Had milk increased 52.3% also it would 
have .sold for 12c per (it. in 1916. Several milk 
contractors have presented figures showing, on the 
average, the same percentage increase in the price 
of milk for the ten year period 1907-1916, as shown 
in the table. The New York A.s.sociation for Im¬ 
proving the Condition of the Boor has recently made 
a comparative stud.v of retail prices on a large list 
of foodstuffs for November. 1915, and November, 
1910. They report an increase ranging from 11% 
in the case of milk to 113% in the case of potatoes. 
In no case was there a decrease. Here 
again it is shown that in the rapid in¬ 
crease's in the prices of our staple food 
stuffs during 1916, the price of milk 
has not kept pace. 
FOOD VALUE OF iMILK.—The 
price of nulk is not on a par with the 
meats consideivd on a food value 
biisis. .72 lb. of sirloin steak is equal 
in food value to a (pnirt of milk and 
at the 1916 price. !}:.2.si, is worth ?.202. 
Compared to sirloin steak at 2<S.lc per 
lb. the value of a quart of milk is 
2(>.2c. In like manner .S! of a pound of 
liork chop.s. 1.03 lbs. of round steak, 
.6.'!7 lb. of ham and 2.71 lbs. of chicken 
are equal in food value to a (piart of 
milk, making the value of a quart of 
milk when compared to these meats. 
19.2c, 25.5c, 19.1c and 66.1c respc'ctive- 
ly or an aVerage value of .‘>0c per qt. 
Hence it can be .seen that the price of 
milk can climb considerably before one 
ought to feel even half as badly about 
Inlying his milk bill as his meat bill. 
It is a strong adv('rtising point for 
milk that its food value is so great 
and its price so cheap; certainly good 
and snflicient reasons why ])eople 
should use more milk. However, no 
food pi'odnct is sold on the basis of its 
food value, but for what it will bring 
on the market. Therefore although 
milk may have a food value of .30c 
per quart when comi)ared to sonu' 
other foods, if it can be bought for 10c 
that is all it is wortli commercially. 
3’he following are some of the reasons 
why milk .sells so cheai)ly comparc'd to 
its e(piival(‘nt in other foods and why 
the price has not kept pace with that 
of other foods. 
1. Milk has hcfti fiolil siniplij as iiiilk 
and the sajtjthi is f/rcatcr than the demand. 
Until very r(?cently very little milk has been sold 
nnder a grade and label. Neither producer nor con¬ 
sumer has realized, nor do a large percent today 
naili/.e, that milk is not simply milk, but that there 
are many diffen'iices in milk which make some milk 
woi'th more than other milk. One of the principal 
hoiK's of the producer lies in putting out a graded 
and labelled product and getting a price for it 
e»c RURAL NEW-YORKER 
steer does in his carcass at maturity. Further¬ 
more, the dry matter in milk is practically all di¬ 
gested, neither is there any refu.se such as there is 
in the majority of other foods. Hence it can hardly 
l»e expected that milk will sell for as much per 
quart as its equivalent in other foods. 
3. Milk is a perishahle product. 
L’nlike most other food products milk must be 
consumed at once if consumed as milk. The retail 
and wholesale milk producers as a whole have 
miught to do with their product but to sell it as 
’07 
’08 
’09 
’10 
’ll 
’12 
’13 
’14 
$0,181 0.18G 0.194 0.202 0.204 0.2.30 0.253 0.258 
.150 .157 .162 .17.3 .173 .198 .221 .2,34 
.157 .161 .175 .193 .179 .19.3 .211 .222 
.201 .207 .217 .243 .2.38 .240 .266 .271 
.175 .177 .184 .200 .194 .200 .214 .210 
’15 
0.255 
.228 
.203 
.258 
.208 
’16 
0.281 
.246 
.240 
..302 
.244 
Avcr.ige 
.090 
-079 .081 .083 .086 .086 .088 .091 .091 
Price milk would have been in 1916 if it had increased 52.3% over 1917. 
Price milk would have sold for in 1916 if based on food value, compared to average 
food value of 5 meats given in table.. 
. 09 ,’ 
.12 
271 
5. Lack of adverti-nuf/ and appreciation of food 
value of milk. 
Until recently little or nothing has been done to 
show the consumer why he would do better to con¬ 
sume more milk. Few families can get along with¬ 
out milk, and yet it is such a common article of diet, 
and so easily masticated, that we think no more of 
it than drinking water. xVs a matter of fact, if one 
who makes a practice of consuming a pint or more 
of milk a day is shut off from his supply, he will 
at once so(dv the nutrients supplied in the milk in 
some other food, and it doesn’t mat¬ 
ter what that food is, the nutrients 
will cost more than they did in 
milk. It is realized that whatever 
increases have come in the price of 
milk have been caused largely by 
increases in the prices of labor and 
feed, and this has left the farmer 
no better off than before. 
6. As to the future price of milk. 
Increase 
1916 1916 
over 
1907 
cts. 
.100 
.096 
.083 
.101 
.069 
.089 
.016 
.041 
over 
!907 
% 
,55.2 
64.0 
52.9 
,50.2 
.39.4 
52.3 
20.2 
.59 3 
Certain factors are now oper- 
milk. Hence iihen the price of milk is too low for ating which makes it seem certain that in the near 
the most efficient farmer the only Avay he can keep future the price of milk will be a profitable one for 
fnnn lo.sing money is to sell his factory, the cow. those producing efficiently. Hundreds of dairy far- 
Not so u ith the manufacturer of other le.ss perish- mers with inefficient cows and methods are going 
ahle^ food products. If they discover they are not out of the business. IMilk and its products are be- 
making a profit they shut down their factories or ing advertised as never before. There is an ever- 
u.se the cold storage plants, but they don't stop ad- increasing demand for milk to be used in the manu- 
■\eitising, and soon the,demand is great enough ,so facture of milk products, .some of the principal ones 
thej can resume profitable manufacturing, ilanj’ being ice cream, condensed milk, butter, cheese and 
farmers are slow to realize that they are makin 
milk at an actual lo.ss. The business is of such a 
nature as to bring in a small though constant sup¬ 
ply of money. Then they figure better times are 
milk powder. These facts would indicate an in¬ 
creased demand and a decreasing supply. This is 
certainly what is taking place all through South¬ 
ern New England. The solution is efficient pro- 
suie to come, and so the dairy cow keeps on leak- duction of a graded and labelled product, co- 
ing milk, milk for which there is not a demand at a operation in marketing by units instead of as in¬ 
dividuals, and more efficient distrilni- 
tion in cities. 
H. F. JUDKINS. 
commensurate with the grade he is selling. There 
is a demand for a clean, safe product labelled as 
such. The fact that the demand for other food 
products has been greater than the demand for 
milk is one reason why other food prices have, in pro¬ 
portion to the supply, increased, at a greater rate. 
2. Cosls less to produce milk than its equivalent 
in other foods. 
The dairy cow jiroduces two to three times as 
much dry matter in one year in her milk as the 
Tall New Jersey Corn and a Thick Boy. Fig. 102 
profitable price. This is one of the principal rea- 
.sons why milk has not advanced in price in pro- 
Iiortion to other foods. 
4. Opening of ncic territories of production and 
improved conditions of transportation. 
q’he increase in the value of land near the cities 
and the abundance of cheaper lands at distances 
more remote has naturally caused the dairy in¬ 
dustry to spring up in these places. The large cities 
are constantly going farther and farther away from 
home to get their milk. Better railroad facilities at 
reasonable rates enable them to do this. The fact 
that milk can be produced cheaply at these remote 
points is due to several reasons, principal of which 
are cheaper land and more profitable cows. It is 
in these areas that the cow testing associations 
abound. If a large city was obliged to get its milk 
within a 200-miIe radiiis, who can guess what the 
price of milk would be? 
Increasing the 35-cent Dollar 
I HAD the pleasure of meeting the 
Hope Farm man at Harrisonburg 
on the occasion of the Virginia State 
Horticultural Society Convention in 
1912. I listened very attentively to 
what he had' to say about selling our 
apples in the small cities and large 
towns, and after waiting nearly five 
years I took his advice and shiiipt'd 
my apples into the coastal plain coun¬ 
try of the South and sold them di¬ 
rectly from the car to the consumer. 
I am enclosing one of my hand bills. 
I met with great success and was even 
able to sell Ben Davis apples for $3.75 
per barrel in Octol>er. I sold my en¬ 
tire crop and then had a great many 
cars shipped me by my neighbors. I 
have lost $10,000 in the past four 
years through the middleman by not 
having taken this advice sooner. The 
35-cent dollar does exist and the way 
to increase that dollar is by bridging 
the .gulf between the producer and tlu^ 
con.sumer. and this I did successfull.v 
this jia.st season, and I must thank 
yon as the suggestion came from you 
in 1912. I wish that The R. N.-Y. 
may continue the great fight that it 
is making for the producers. 
JOHN E. WALKER. 
R. N.-Y.—At Harrisonburg the Hope 
Farm man went out and liought a peck 
of apples at a local grocery. It was 
an awful collection of poor Winesaps 
and York Imperials, for the good fruit 
had all fteen sent out of the country. 
This i)eck of apples was put on the 
president's tabk'. where all mi.ght see it, and the 
people were told how the local markets (the finest 
ill tile world) were being'neglected and undevel- 
ojied. We have had many experiences in this limu 
At every fruit meetin.g some speaker .should go right 
into the local market, bu.v local apples and show 
them to the audience. A rejiroduction of Mr. Walk¬ 
er's circular is shown at Fig. 100. The original is 
6%>x10 inches. In many of the S^outhern towns the 
local merchants try to get rid of the fruit sellers l»y 
imposing a heavy fine or license, or urgin,g the rail¬ 
roads to impose a heavy penalty under the name 
of “demurrage.” 
Spray early for peach leaf-curl. 
The hot, moist pad or bandage is a pain reliever. 
There ought to be heavy trials of Sweet clover this 
year. 
