The Milk Situation 
T.ast week we crot word a few moments before s?o- 
ing to press that tlie milk dealers had surrendered 
and agreed to League prices and terms. I.ater de¬ 
velopments show some confusion. The dealers assert 
that they made no contract and no agreement. They 
say they accepted the ultimatum to pay the prices 
for the present for the amount of milk they can sell, 
and that they will refuse to accept any excess or 
surplus of their immediate needs. They have shut 
^ down over 100 plants. Mr. Cooper, speaking for the 
I-eague, admits all this except that he contends as 
a matter of good faith the dealers are under ohliga- 
tiou to take all the milk offered at stations not 
already closed. In any event, this puts the principle 
of the sundus up to the producers. This surplus was 
the contention that prolonged the fight a year ago. 
The alleged agreement by Brill to allow the surplus 
to be made into butter and cheese at the producer’s 
expense and risk was the reason for deposing him from 
the presidency of the League. The difference in this 
case, according to the dealers, is that they accept 
only what they need and where they want it, and 
leave the balance in the producer’s hand.s. 
• There are two features to this. First, the individ¬ 
ual farmer where the station is closed; and, .sec¬ 
ond, the farmers’ co-operative station, if left with¬ 
out a customer. The dealer in the latter case pays 
more than the farmers’ co-operative can get out of 
the by-products, and the latter cannot stand the com¬ 
petition for milk. Persistently followed, as the deal¬ 
ers m.ay he trusted to do, if this sj'stem hecomes es¬ 
tablished, the farm creameries or station would be 
driven out of business. This, of course, is the am¬ 
bition of the dealers. If it svicceeds the League can¬ 
not long survive. The League must protect every 
producer and every co-operative creamery owned hy 
producers. To do less would be to fail in its pledges 
and in its expressed or implied obligations. It must 
keep faith with its members. 
►So long as the surplus is not troublesome the dan¬ 
ger is not apparent, but there is certain opportunity 
for mi.schief in this concession. It puts the dealers 
in a position by which they can increase the price to 
consumers, and in that way decrease consumption. 
The extra price will cover their loss from .shrinkage 
in trade, and the surplus they create will burden 
the producer. 
Another serious danger threatens the League at 
this time. The dealers advanced the price to con-, 
sumers to 14 cents a quart for B milk, and up to IS 
cents for A milk in pint bottles. This is the fifth ad¬ 
vance in 1.3 months. The city press and consumei’S 
were friendly during the fight last October, but they 
have rebelled against the constant increases, and 
the dealers have skilfully managed to lay the blame 
on the producer. The League advertising in the city 
papers played into the hands of the dealer.s. It made 
no attempt to put the responsibility on the dealers 
for increases, and the consumer jumped to the con- 
clnsiou that the League was responsihle for the 
bigher prices charged her. The consumer does not 
know that the dealer gets more for distribution than 
the farmer gets for producing milk, and the adver¬ 
tisements did not tell them so. 
The complaints of consumers and the complaints 
in the press have called the attention of the District 
Attorney of New York and the Attorney General of 
the Htate to the matters. Dealers have entered com¬ 
plaints and indictments are threatened by the Dis¬ 
trict Attorney. The Mayor of the city has also 
named a committee to investigate. Four investiga¬ 
tions in all are promised, and the oflieers of the 
liOague are likely to spent most of their time for a 
while re.sponding to subpoenaes of investigators. 
3'he fact that dealers have been in clo.se combination 
for years seems to have escaped oflicial attention, 
but they promptly discovered the farm organization 
as .soon as it was able to do any effective .service for 
members. The dealers have been particularly active 
in furnishing c-omplaints and information to the 
District Attorney, who has announced in the press 
that he had evidence for an indictment of nine 
counts against the League. 
Commissioner Emerson of the Board of Health 
charged in an open letter that the high price of milk 
demanded by the farmers was responsible for the 
increased death i*ate of city infant,c In short, every 
efi’ort has been made to make it appear that the in¬ 
creased cost of milk in the city is entirely due to 
the increased price to producers, and unfortunately 
the League advertising contributed to that false im¬ 
pression. 
The present situation requires skillful manage¬ 
ment at both end.s. Some way must be found to 
protect every producer, and maintain an equal foot¬ 
ing for each and every one of them. At the same 
time the responsibility for recent advances in the 
Oie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
price to the consumer must he put up to the dis- 
ti-ibutor. where it belong.s. This can only be done 
etfeetively through demon.stration. We must take 
milk from the farm, pa.steurize it, and lay it down 
to the city door through grocery stores at an eco¬ 
nomic and reasonable cost for delivery. If properly 
organized and managed, this can be done at .a sav¬ 
ing of two cents to four cents a qviart to consumers, 
'riiis demonstration CommLssioner Dillon planned to 
do by the Department through the Towner bill 
which Senator Brown defeated in the Senate, and 
which did not have the sujiport it merited. ’Phe 
I.eague must now, as we have for months advised, 
do it.self what the State refused to do. If done'well,' 
in the end this will be better. ‘I.et us dLstribute 
milk at the .same profit we get for making it. Then 
if the dealers refuse to handle milk at the cost and un¬ 
der the system we adopt, we can put milk stores in 
every nook and corner of the city. It will require 
money and organization and skilled management, 
but it will reduce the cost to the consumer, increase 
consumption and put the dairy busiiie.ss of the State 
squarely on its feet. It will, however, require an 
investment and a reorganization and perfection of 
the League which iu any event is a crying nece.ssity. 
The Five Cent Bread Loaf 
At the recent meeting of the National Non-Bar- 
tisan League at Minneapolis, Prof. E. F. Ladd of 
the North Dakota Agriculttiral College gave the fol¬ 
lowing analysis of the co.st of a barrel of flour and of 
a, loaf of bread : 
It is estimated that 41^, bushels of wheat, or 270 lbs., 
will produce one barrel of flour of 1!)0 Ib.s.; that is' 
when it is milled to 72.0% of flour, and it has been 
recommended that the per cent, of flour .should be 
greater than this, but at 72.0% milled, there would re¬ 
main, approximately, 74 Ib.s. of mill feed. 
Let us take the cost of wheat as milled for producing 
one barrel of flour. The miller does not, iu the larger 
coinmeicial mills, use Ao. 1 Northern as the wheat from 
which he produces his flour, hut the average, under the 
present grades, will probably be about No. 4. Let us 
.see, then, what will be the cost of the wheat for a 
barrel of flour on the Minneapolis market if the basic 
price for No. 1 Northern is ,$2.20 Chicago. 
First, there is a differential of 3c in freight, in favor 
of Minneapolis, or the basic price at Minneapolis would 
be ,$2.17. If No. 4 wheat is used in the mills of Min¬ 
neapolis for the production of the flour, then there is an¬ 
other saving of 10 cents per bushel or the cost of the 
wheat at the mill door is ,$2.07. Let us assume that (he 
handling expense.s, commission, etc., will bring this to 
$ 2.10 per bushel as the value of the wheat that goes 
upon the rolls; that mean.s, then, that the wheat at the 
rolls in the mill has cost $0.4.’> for the barrel of flour, 
or, to summarize, as follow's: ) 
^ The actual figures : 
IVheat, 4t^ bu. at $2.10 per bu. fiO.-l.") 
Cost of milling, per barrel.' ’75 
Miller’s profit .| 
Total.$10.45 
Let us now ascertain what the returns are from this 
product as milled and converted into bread and feed 
1183 
Out There in Kansas 
The other evening we linished our haying after sup¬ 
per, and just as the thicker shades of night were set¬ 
tling around the cow lot in rolled an auto filled with 
cousins from Indiana whose curiosity to see the West 
could no longer be satisfied by staying at home, so here 
they came, making the more than 700 miles in a little 
over four leisurely days, c,-imping and cooking quite a 
good jiart of the time. And for good luck the tires had 
the same air they started with. Morning came, and we 
\\ent driving to see the numerous cousins and places of 
pioneer interest, and in the 70 or SO miles covered we 
were not more than a dozen miles from home at any 
time. 
I had ju.st read where several county draft boards 
had been quoted as saying farm help was .sufficient for 
present needs, yet I never saw roadsides and fence rows 
so foul of weeds in my more than 50 years of nativity. 
Also, there were literally hundreds of acres of Alfalfa 
spoiling to be cut, and other hundreds lying in the 
windrow bleaching out its best life. Several balers were 
at work, and one stood idle in a 20 -acre field with the 
windrow.s bleached wliite with the sun. Several small 
tractors were at work plowing or fitting the seed-bed 
for wheat; also many four-lior.se plows were at work on 
sadly delayed stubble ground where the weeds made 
plowing an unpleasant task. Not a shock of corn was 
cut, nor a silo filled, and the miildle of September here. 
Acres and acres of Kafir corn will soon be crowded 
upon the already congested work, and much stuff must 
inevitably spoil. One mowing machine seat wa.s graced 
by the presence of a woman, and a buck rake was being 
handled skilfully by a girl of a dozen Summers, though 
the country schools were in session. 
This morning the militia hoys, jicrhaps 200 strong, 
pas.sed our door on an exercise parade, not from choice, 
but compelled by the powers that be, while the parents 
of some of them were home, almost smothering in the 
jungle of weeds and overwork. Take it for what it is 
worth, this may be patriotism, politics, sense or non- 
.sense, or every-day Christianity, but it is a true picture, 
just as I found it in one day’s jaunt in the countryside, 
and I sit in a brown study at the world’s idea of peace, 
plenty and hapiiiness. 
Emporia, Kansas. 
“Dairymen's League Prices” 
The following prices according to schedule of freight 
rates ordered by Inter,state Cpmmerce Commission 
to take effect October I, 1017, are for milk per 100 lbs., 
testing P>y 2 butter fat and classified when pa.steurized 
as grade ‘B’ milk (pasteurized), as provided by the 
regulations of the Department of Health. New York 
City. For milk delivered to grade “A” plants, a mini¬ 
mum of 15 cents per 100 Ib.s. additional shall be paid; 
4 cents per 100 Ib.s. added for eacli one-tentli increase 
in butter fat; 
Milos. 
10 or under. 
Over 10 but not over ’ 20 .'..! 
()ver 20 but not over 30_ 
Over 30 but not over 40.... 
Over 40 but not over 50_ 
Over 50 but not over (>0.... 
Over GO but not over 70.. .. 
Over 70 but not over 80. ... 
Over SO but not over 00.... 
Over 00 but not over 100.., 
Over 100 but not over 110 .. 
Over no but not over 120.. 
Over 120 but not over 130.. 
Over 1,30 but not over 140.. 
Over 140 but not over 150.. 
Over 150 but not over lOO.. 
Over 1(10 but not over 170.. 
Over 170 but not over ISO.. 
Over LSO but not over 100.. 
Over 100 but not over 200.. 
Over 200 but not over 210.. 
Over 210 but not over 220.. 
Over 220 but not over 230.. 
Over 230 but not over 240.. 
Over 240 but not over 250.. 
Over 250 but not over 2(10.. 
stuff 
Mill feed..... _ $1.25 
The- above, deducted from the cost of the wheat, or 
$10.45, minus $1.25, equals $0.20 as the cost of straight 
flour, but the baker uses considerable of grades lower 
than straight flour in his shop. Nevertheless, let us 
transform this flour at $ 0.20 per barrel into 14-ouuce 
loaves of broad, and in some parts of the country the 
average weight of bread is found to be 14 ounces, and 
others 12 ounces. Therefore, we will take both sets of 
figures, and the prices have varied from 5 e to 10 c per 
loaf. We will therefore use both sets of prices. One 
barrel of flour will easily make 300 loaves of 14-ouuee 
bread, or 350 loaves of 12-ounce bread. 
Value of Loaves. 
5c 1 Oc 
300 14-ounce loaves. $15.00 ,$30.00 
350 12-ounce loaves. 17.00 35.00 
The cost of this flour was, as already stated, .$9.20. 
Therefore, when the bread is retailed at 5c per loaf of 
12 ounces, which is about the average size loaf iu this 
.section of the country, there is a gain of $G..30 for the 
material used in baking, and the cost of retailing the 
bread. Or, if we take the loaves at 10c, we have 
$25.<S0 as the difference. Certainly it cannot cost 2 % 
times as much to convert flour into bread and retail it. 
as it does for the farmer to raise the wheat, transport 
it to the mill, and for the miller to transform it into v^ver duc not over 4(>().. 
flour. Over 4G0 but not over 470.. 
There was prepared and submitted to the Committee Over 470 but not over 480.. 
on Price Fixing for wheat, by ,1. W. Sullivan, a state- Over 480 but not over 490.. 
ment giving the approximate retail prices for bread in Over 490 but not over 500.. 
several European countries as compared with Washing- Over 500 but not over 510.. 
ton. For the early Spring the data is as follows: Over 510 but not over 520.. 
Over 520 but not over ,530.. 
' ^ •vr Kf \/ vVV.*. 'V/ • • 
Over 280 but not over 290.. 
(i^ver 290 but not over ,300.. 
Over 300 but not over 310.. 
Over .310 but not over ,320.. 
Over .320 but not over ,3.30.. 
Over .330 but not over ,340.. 
Over 340 but not over 350.. 
Over 3,50 but not over 3G0.. 
Over 3G0 but not over 370., 
Over .370 but not over 380.. 
Over .380 but not over 390.. 
Over 390 but not over 4(X).. 
Over 400 but not over 410.. 
Over 410 but not over 420.. 
Over 420 but not over 4.30.. 
Over 4.30 but not over 440., 
Over 440 but not over 450.. 
Country 
Composition 
Wheat 
Ounces 
Price per 
Loaf 
Great Britain 
war bread 
32 
11 
France 
war bread 
.35 
8 
City of Lyons 
war bread 
.35 
9 
Belgium 
35 
10 
Italy 
war bread 
.35 
8 
Washington 
war bread 
14 
10 
Composition of war bread in France is 80% wheat 
and 20 %- rye, barley and corn. 
v/vvi. 
Over 590 but not over GOO.. 
Over 600 but not over (510.. 
Over 610 but not over G20.. 
Over 620 but not over (330.. 
Freight Tlates 
40-iit. 
I.engtio Prices 
Oct. Nov. 
can. 
100 lbs. 
100 ll)s. 
100 lii.s. 
.$3.24 
.$3.48 
.1(55 
.194 
3.2.3 
3.47 
.175 
.205 
3.22 
3.46 
.185 
.217 
3.21 
3.45 
.194 
.228 
.3.19 
3.43 
.20.3 
.238 
3.18 
3.42 
.211 
.248 
3.17 
3.41 
.219 
.257 
3.17 
3.41 
.’227 
.266 
3.16 
3.40 
.234 
.275 
.’5.15 
3..39 
.’241 
.'28,3 
3.14 
3..‘58 
.248 
.’291 
.3.1.3 
3.37 
.2.55 
.2!)9 
3.12 
.3.3(5 
.’2(52 
.308 
3.11 
;}.;55 
.268 
.315 
3.11 
3.:55 
.274 
.322 
3.10 
3..34 
.280 
..•529 
3.09 
3.33 
.286 
.33(5 
3.09 
3.33 
.2!)2 
.,‘54,3 
;5.()8 
3.;i2 
.2'.)8 
.350 
3.07 
3.31 
.:!04 
.357 
3.07 
3.31 
.310 
.364 
3.0(5 
3.30 
.315 
.370 
3.05 
.’5.29 
.320 
.376 
3.05 
3.29 
.325 
.382 
3.04 
3.28 
.;3.3() 
.388 
3.03 
3.27 
.335 
.39.‘1 
3.03 
3.27 
..340 
.399 
3.02 
3.26 
..‘145 
.405 
3.02 
.32(5 
.350 
.411 
3.01 
3.25 
.355 
.417 
3.01 
3.25 
.3(50 
.423 
.3.(K) 
3.24 
..‘565 
.429 
2.99 
3,23 
.370 
.435 
2.99 
3.23 
.375 
.441 
2.98 
3.22 
.379 
.445 
2.98 
3.22 
.38.3 
.450 
2.97 
3.21 
.388 
.456 
2.97 
3.21 
.392 
.460 
2.96 
3.‘20 
.396 
.465 
2.96 
3.20 
.401 
.471 
2.95 
.3.19 
.405 
.476 
2.95 
3.19 
.409 
.480 
2.94 
3.18 
.413 
.485 
2.94 
3.18 
.417 
.490 
2.93 
3.17 
.421 
.495 
2.93 
3.17 
.425 
.499 
2.92 
3.16 
.429 
.504 
2.92 
.3.16 
.433 
.509 
2.91 
3.15 
.437 
.513 
2.91 
3.15 
.441 
.518 
2.90 
3.14 
.44.5 
..52.’5 
2.90 
3.14 
.449 
.528 
2.89 
.3.13 
.453 
.532 
2.89 
3.1.3 
.457 
.5.‘57 
2.89 
3.13 
.4(50 
.540 
2.88 
3.12 
.464 
.545 
2.88 
3.12 
.468 
.5.50 
2.87 
3.11 
.471 
.553 
2.87 
3.11 
.475 
.558 
2.86 
3.10 
.479 
.563 
2.86 
3.10 
.482 
.566 
2.86 
3.10 
.485 
.570 
2.85 
3.09 
