Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1299 
The Milk Situation Unchanged 
Tlie milk situation has not materially changed 
(luring the last week. Farmers in some locations 
have an outlet for the milk at the regular prices. 
The producers in other sections are entirely without 
customers for milk, and are obliged to sell at a dis¬ 
count or to make the milk up into butter or cheese 
at home. The Borden’s Company in an interview 
last week stated that previously they took milk 
from 10,000 farmers, but on October 1 cut the number 
down to S,000. This would leave 2,000 farmers, or 
one out of every five milk producers who previously 
sold to Borden’s, out of a customer. This company 
confers freely with the food administrators and 
expresses a willingness to co-operate with them, but 
insisted that as the farmers’ price advanced half a 
cent on November 1, it would be necessary to add 
another cent to the consumer. The city. State and 
Federal food administi*ators have requested them 
to suspend the advance until November 4, in the 
hope of inducing farmers to reduce the November 
price for milk at the farm. There has apparently 
been no suggestion for the reduction of the cost of 
distributing milk as a means of relief to the con¬ 
sumer. Nobody in the confei'ence seems to have 
suggested to the administrators that the stores all 
over the city are anxious to distribute milk at an 
expense of one cent a quart, and that the great 
bulk of the milk of the city coidd be distributed 
in that way for 12 cents a quart and pay the farmer 
the Noveml)fsr price. This woidd be a reduction of 
2c a quart on tbe B-grade milk, and a reduction of 
from 4c to Gc a quart in the cost of delivery of some 
other grades. It has just come to light that in the 
city of Hartford, Conn., where the Borden’s Com¬ 
pany is in direct competition with local dealers, it 
has reduced the prices to 12%c for B-grade pas¬ 
teurized milk delivered to the homes, and 1.3i/4c for 
the A grades. With all these evidences of excessive 
cost of distribution which have been accumulated 
for years, the food .‘idministrators have no relief 
for the city consumers of milk except a demand 
that the price to the farmer be reduced. 
The New York Food Council 
Governor Whitman resents the farmers’ defeat of 
George W. I’erkins. He expresses the resentment 
in his choice of commissioners to conduct the new 
Farms and Markets Council. 
When the original Wicks bill was killed in the 
Legislature last Winter, it will be recalled that the 
defeated but astute politicians promptly proposed a 
new measure, popularly known as the Wicks bill No. 
2, and officially designated as the Farms and Mai’- 
kets Commission bill. While the e.s.sential purposes 
to be attained were not different from the original 
hill, by allegations that it was to take the Agri¬ 
cultural Department out of politics, and by assur¬ 
ances that the new commission would be dominated 
by farmers, the Legislative committee and officers of 
some of the farm organizations of the State were 
induced to withdraw opposition to it, or to approve 
it. In an open meeting Governor Whitman promised 
some of these representatives of these farm organi¬ 
zations that since he was unfamiliar with the subject 
himself, these officials of the farm organizations 
would be oblig('d to name the meiid)ers of the com¬ 
mission. 
Failing, however, to secure amendments to (he 
original draft to satisfy the reciuirements of Mr. 
Perkins, the bill was passed and approved by the 
Governor with an apology, and a new bill was 
pi’oiiiptlj’ proposed as a war measure to meet the 
requirements of Mr, Perkins. It failed of passage 
in the regular sessioius, but was revived and finally 
passed after much opposition and haggling in the 
special session of the Legislature called for the pur¬ 
pose of considering this bill. The record of the hill 
is now a matter of history. Jlr. Perkins was nom¬ 
inated by Governor Whitman to administer the law. 
Farmers and farm organizations vigoi’ously i)rotested 
against confirmation by the Senate, which finally 
refused to confirm the nominations. After an ad¬ 
journment the Legislature met again; the Governor 
again presented Mr. Perkins’ name, and the Senate, 
in response to the opposition of farmers and food 
consumers, again rejected the nomination. Three 
commissioners were then appointed to administer the 
law, none of whom fairly represented the agricu}- 
tural interests of the State. 
In the meantime the commissioners to administer 
the Farms and Markets law were not appointed. 
The Agricultural Department was permitted to con¬ 
tinue the struggle with its burden of politics until 
last week, when the following men were appointed 
to administer it: 
John ilitclmll. Mount Vernon, Commissioner from 
the State at lai'ge; Herbert L. Pratt, New York; .Tames 
H. Killough, Brooklyn; Charles A. Wieting, Cobleskill; 
Lyman M. Wright, Hartford; Frank M. Howe, Syra¬ 
cuse; Floyd M’. Shoemaker, Elmira; Frank M. .Tones, 
Webster; Ira T. Gleason, Buffalo; Otis II. Cutler, 
Suffern. 
Henry Mo.skowitz, Commissioner of Public IMar- 
kets of New York City, is an ex-officio member of 
the council. 
In this list the food dealers have at least three 
prominent representatives. The city is represented. 
Standard Oil is represented. The political exigen¬ 
cies of the Governor are represented, and the agri¬ 
cultural iiderests seem to be the only interests of 
the State that have been conspicuously overlooked 
in the appointment of the commission. If the of¬ 
ficials of farm a.ssoclations who were ])romis(al the 
privilege of naming the commission were consulted 
at all the result does not app('nr in the list of the 
appointees. 
While it is universally admitted as a State scandal 
that the Agricultural Department, since its organi¬ 
zation, has been honeycombed with politic.s, and 
never more complet(dy dominated by political con- 
sidei’ation than at the present time, the department 
was organized for the benefit of farmer.s. It is well 
known that the commissioners of agriculture have 
never been able to resist the political demands on the 
department. So far the Department of Foods and 
Markets has been free from politics within but not 
free from poiitical attention from the outside. It 
was organized under the initiation of the State 
Agricultural Society. It was organized in response 
to the demand of that .society, the Grange and prac¬ 
tically all of the other strong organizations of the 
State. It was never given appropriation enough 
proiierly and efficiently to organize it, but hampered 
as it wa.s, it demonstrated the possibilities of useful¬ 
ness in behalf of the producers and consumers of the 
Stat(\ Both of these (h'partments, intended and d(‘- 
vised principally for the benefit of agriculture, are 
now taken entirely out of tbe hands of the farmers, 
and put in control of a commi.ssion dominated by 
other interests. Whether this was done in resentment 
to the farmers’ opposition to Mr. Perkins, or in actual 
contempt of the farm interests of the State is a 
matter of small importance. The agricultural inter¬ 
ests of the State are in the hands of men without 
knowledge or experience of farm needs, ff'he f.armers 
of the State are humiliated. 
Wheat Situation and Prices 
Mr. 11, r. Hoover, the Food Administrator, gives 
the following table to show the world’s surplus 
whe.at. This means the amount which could be ex- 
liorted if the oc(>ans W(M'e free to ships: 
Bu.shcls 
Thiited States . 80,000,000 
Canada . l.'50,000,000 
q'otal North American surpln.s. 2.30,000,000 
.\ustralia : 
Now-crop surplu-s . 120,000,000 
I’rc.sont surplus. 120,000,000 
India: 
I’rosont surplus. 50,000,000 
New-crop surplus . 70,000,0(K) 
.\rgontina: 
Estimated surplus from .Tanuary harvest 180,000.000 
'Potal, other supplies. 540,000,000 
Grand total . 770,000,0(K) 
3\) this should be add(‘d large stores of wheat in 
liussia. IMr. Hoover puts the total import require- 
niejits of Europe at 577,700,000 bushels. If peace 
were declared this surplus wheat would be quickly 
distributed, as thousands of .ships would be set free 
for this trade. So there is no world shortage. It is 
simply a matter of distribution. In regard to crop 
insiu’ance for the 1018 crop, Mr. Hoover says: 
For this rca.soii it wa.s felt that if we were to ask 
the American farmer to expand largely his acreage in 
wheat, he should have .some assurance that he would 
not do so at his own lo.ss, if peace intervened. Congress 
therefore gave a guarantee of .$2 per bushel at primary 
terminal markets as to the 1018 harvest. This guaran¬ 
tee does not apply to the 1017 harvest; and, while the 
United States Food Administration has developed a 
method by which, .so long as the Food Administration 
lasts, the farmer may receive an assurance of .$2.20 on 
the ba.sis of the Chicago terminal market for his 1017 
wheat, I would lik«> to have it clear to every farmer in 
the TTuited States that the Food Administration by law 
comes to an end with peace. So if peace should come 
between now and the 1018 harvest there will be a period 
in which no guarant(!es exist, and in whidi the price 
of wheat may fall much below present prices, due to 
('ompetition from the more distant countries. 
Even if carried over, 1017 wheat will not fall within 
the 1018 guarantee, and it therefore must be of prime 
interest to the .\merican farmer to get his 1017 wheat 
into the market at the earliest moment. This state¬ 
ment is made not that I anticipate early peace, but to 
i.ssue a warning that by failure to get his wheat to 
market the farmer would be ab.solutely gambling on 
(he continuation of the war, with nothing to gain by 
withholding his 1017 wheat and all to lose should peace 
arrive. 
The Effect of Food Legislation 
Already farmers are beginuiiig to get a ta.ste of 
the legislation that was ])ut over ou them last Win¬ 
ter in the Wicks I)i!l No. 2, and virtually permitted 
it to become a law without the opposition of the 
farm organizations of the State, hut actually with 
the approval or consent of many of them. This Idll 
authorized appointment of a City Market Com¬ 
missioner with authority from the city to buy and 
sell food. 
Selling under the natural law of the .sui)ply and 
demand now at tbe time that New York State i)ota- 
toes are being harvcshal, potatoes have been selling 
in the Now York market at from $1.G0 to .$2 per 
bushel. .\s :i politic'al campaign im'a.sufe it is an¬ 
nounced in the city i)ap(H‘s that il.ayor Mitchel, 
through his Food Commissioner, has ordered 100 
carloads of potatoes from Steuheu County, to be 
thrown ou the city market at .3c a pound to the city 
consumer. Georg(? W. Perkins contracted for these 
potatoes last Spring at $1 per Inishel. 3'lie dumping 
of a hundred carloads at one time on the market at 
reduced price necessiu’ily disturbs the markets and 
reduces the price at the time tiiat the New Y’ork 
farmers are heginning to market their crop. As we 
have la^fore pointed out, with the ])resent legal lua- 
chinei'y, the city politici.an looking for political effc^ct 
may at any time buy potatoes or other supplies out¬ 
side of the State and arbitrarily establish a low 
price for farm food products at the time of harvest. 
If, as a result of this manipulation, consumers would 
reap any permanent benefit, and in that way increase 
demand, there might be some toleration of even a 
bad principle; hut evei'y student of the subject knows 
that a manipulation of this kind will always dis¬ 
courage production and increase the control of the 
speculators, and in the end the consumer sutlers in 
larger proportion than the producer. Mr. Gappei’ 
has stated that the control of wheat prices has cost 
the Kansas farmers $.300,000,000. I.ater on we may 
be able to estimate what the mani])ulation of i)<>tato 
prices has cost the farmers of New York State, 
The Uncertain Potato Market 
3’he rommitt('e of Public Safety of Pennsylvania re¬ 
ports that for tbe past .30 days householders have been 
pnrchas’ng enough potatoes to carry tlujin through the 
Winter, dfiie fact that this movement has begun about 
a month earlier than usual would seem to indicate that 
the storage demand may be met by the first of Decem¬ 
ber, and, possibly, by the middle of November. 
T'hat report comes from Philadelphia, and the same 
condition is reported from most large markets. Many 
housekeepers have taken the advice to buy in quantities 
and store. In former years most of these people bought 
in smalhu* lots—om* month’s supply at a time. Taking 
the larger supplies this year has made a strong demand 
and held prices up. That is the opinion of practically 
all the large up-Stat(‘ dealers, and most of them .say 
privately that they expect prices to fall after there 
storage supplies are bought up. 3’he potato situation 
has been different this year from (“ver before. The 
Government reports continue to insist that a big crop 
has been grown. Tn every previous year these reports 
have sent prices down, but this year prices have held 
up or increased. Heavy buying for Winter storage on 
the [lart of consumers is the reason given for this con¬ 
dition. If this is true, and the Government crop report.? 
ire anywhere near right, prices should fall later, and 
Jiat is what mo.st dealers prcalict. We have many 
reports of injury from blight and frost, and the bad 
weather has prevented di„giug of thou.sands of acres. 
The public will use incianisod supplies of potatoes this 
year as bread substitutes, and if shipments to the big 
markets can be regulated reasonably prices ought to 
hold. This is a year, however, when every record and 
lirecedent is l)eing upset. The worst upsetting, locally, 
will come from the new plan of permitting New York 
City to buy and sell potatoes. One result of this will 
be that speculators and dealers will use such sales as 
a club to frighten growers into selling, fifiius they will 
get the potatoes at a lower rate, and sell them where 
there is no Government compidition. In England and 
Europe these efforts to fix iiric-es and sell through the 
Government have uniformly made trouble, aud there is 
fierce complaint from farmers, except in Germany, 
where the Russian ju-isoners are worked in large squads 
at a cost of a few cents per day. This will mean mil¬ 
lions of loss to farmers without compensating saving to 
consumers. 
