1323 
The Milk Situation Analyzed 
What Must be Done to Save It 
Part I. 
A COMMON NECESSITY.—A full supply of milk 
is the first eoiieern of the city. Children cannot be 
j’aised \\'ithout it. If the supply is diminished, 
tlie price will be high and there will not be enough 
to go around at any cost. This milk supply must 
come from the farms. There is nowhere else to 
get it, and the only way a full and steady supply 
for city consumption csin be secured, is to pay 
the farmer enough to make it an object for him to 
staj’ on the farm and produce it. As classes the 
interests of producer and consumer are identical. 
.V large consumption in the city creates a large 
demand on the farm, and assures the working of 
the farm to its full caixicity. The increased de¬ 
mand increases the price to the farmer and auto¬ 
matically tliis stimulates larger itroduction at a 
I’cducwl cost. This again means a lower cost to 
the consumer. This reasoning is based on the ns- 
sumi)filon that milk will be bought and sold on the 
01)011 market under the law of supply and demand. 
A CliOSEI) MARKET.—For more than 40 yeai’s 
previous to October, 1910, there had bemi no open 
market for milk in the city of New York. During 
this time the di.stributors of milk coiubined in one 
organization, or hy mutual consent named the pirice 
that the farmer received, and also made the price 
that the consumer had to pay. Under this aiTange- 
ment the farmer nev.r got the cost of production. 
Whole sections of the nearby territory has been 
driven out of the production of milk. Individual 
farmers throughout the producing sections of the 
l^tate have abandoned the milk production, and the 
zone of supply has been pushed farther and farther 
back until now we go five to six huudretl miles 
into Canada, Ohio and IVnnsyhanla for our milk 
isupply. The number of cows In jiroportion 
to ])opulation is constantly decreasing. From 
recent surve.v it ds found that the number of 
heifer calves under one- year old iii the State this 
yi'ar is a decline of 75,000 head over last year. 
This moans a serious reduction <>f milk supply in 
the future. 
CONTROTj of distribution.—I ll the city the 
organized control of di.strlbutiou has been maiii- 
lained by arliitrary measures. Small dealers have 
been steadily crowded out of the busine.ss, and those 
only pennittiHl to remain in it who conform to the 
rules and regulations of the organization. Small 
•lealers were not only r(‘.<tricte<l from selling under 
established prices, but they were also prolriibited 
front soliciting trade- from competitive customers. 
At one time dead wagons were emiiloyed to under¬ 
sell an obstrepe-rous deah-r who atte-mpted to inter¬ 
fere with the (‘stablished order of things, and in the 
O’MalU-y report it was shown that tlu-y ewm resorted 
to the poisoning of horses to discourage Independ- 
<-nt dealers. Only this year, when farm organiza¬ 
tions Itegaii to sell milk diivct to grocery stores, 
milk was spilh-d in the .strc(‘t. the cans battered 
and jammed and thrown inti) vacant lots, and 
junket tablets put into the milk to sour it. I.ast 
Avec-k one big concern Avas selling milk in Hartford, 
Conn., at two cents a quart less than charged else- 
Avhere, for the evident i)urpose (>f driving iiroducers 
and small dealers <)Ut of the market. This week 
the same concern is doing the same 'thing in the 
Bronx Borougli, New York, to destroy the (h-livc-ry 
from farm creameries. 
A WASd’EFUL SY?^TEM.— ^I'he comiilete control 
of the distributing business by the milk trust, and 
the large profits accruing from the busine.ss, resulted 
in an extravagant and 'AA’asteful system of distribu¬ 
tion, both in the country and in the city. In the 
country large and expensive plants Avere erected. 
In some '- Vances fanners were Induced-to make 
gratuitoxis contributions for the building of these 
])Iants. In some plac€-s there are two, three apd 
four plants in a neighborhood. In many instances 
these are expensively and extraAagantly operated. 
Each plant retiuires duplicate operating exiienses 
and, of course, the whole neighborhood could he 
taken care of much cheaper in one plant, hut with 
all the duplication of plants there Avas ever little 
if any competition in the price to the producer. 
FURTHER EXTRAVAGANCE.—In the city the 
system of disti-ihution is extraA-agant in the extreme. 
Ulants are not only duplicated, but some of them 
ai-i* extravagant in c-onstruetion. It is boasted by 
one concern that a single plant in the city costs 
more than a million dollars. Milk is carted and 
recarted all over the citj' in tnicks and Avagous. 
'I'lie big receiA’ei*s sell it to simill AA'holesalers, re- 
ipiiring an extra handling, and imposing extra 
lu'oflt. A system of credits has been dcA-eloped. 
imposing fre^inent losses. Delivery Avagons cross 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
and re-cross e-ach other on every street. Several 
wagons .supply mdlk to the same houses, making two 
or three deliveries a day. In this vsystem has groAvn 
up an extraA-agant and wasteful, if not a criminal 
system of overhead expenses. S-pecial agents are em¬ 
ployed to develop trade for this or that comi>any 
iii sections of the city. They commission janitor.s, 
pay for lu-ivileges to real estate agents, fee cooks 
and stewards and matrons of institutions, and even 
go so far as to bribe doctors for securing orders 
for their ixitients. The most reckless carelessness 
is praeticetl Avith bottles. DriA'^ers refuse or neglect 
to take them, ahd in sections of\ the city- 
heaps of them are found in Av-aste places, and thoii- 
sands of them go to the dumps. Milk cans are sent 
liere and there without restriction or. record, and 
losses are frcHpient. All of these expenses add to 
the price the consumer must pay and help retluce 
the price to the farmer. The system curtails con¬ 
sumption and discoxirages iiroduetion. 
OAPITAT/IZA^TON.-That the system has been 
disastrous to the producer is manifest from the 
condition of the dairy Industry and the dairy farms 
of the State. It is true that we have some sucessful 
and prosi>erons dairy farmers, but for the most 
part their success is due to other enterprises than 
the production and sale of milk. The average milk 
producer has held his organization together and 
made ends meet, oveiworking himself and his family 
Avithout fair compensation for the time ami labor 
expended. On the other hand, it is equally apparent 
that the mem'bei-s of the milk trust have found the 
distributing business especially profitable. The 'in¬ 
vestigation by Attorney-General O’Malley shoAved 
that the largest concerns now in the Imsiness starred 
with very meagre resources, and built up out of 
the earnings large assets, besides the payment of 
extremely large dividends on watered stock. Some 
tAvo years back one of these companies advertised 
the sale of it.s preferred stock bearing 8% dividend. 
In (its adverti.slng for the sale of this stock in the 
city papers, it made the statement that the earnings 
of the company were enough to pay six times the 
dividend on the preferred stock. The company Avas 
capitalized at that time for two million dollars, 
half common and half preferred, and this Avould 
show' on its oavu statement an earning of 40% 
annually on the common stock. 
I’UGDUCERS AN[> CONSUMERS.—In the year 
from October I, 3915, to October 1, 3910, tAVt-lve 
months preceding the milk fight, the average price 
])aid the farmer was 3.2 cents per quart for B 
grade milk of 3.4 butter fat. This grade of inilk 
retailed in the city during the whole* year at 9 cents 
p(‘r quart. 'I'hls brought milk in the 35-cent dollar 
class. For the twelve mouths from Ctetober 1930 to 
October 11M7, for tlie same grade of milk the average 
]>rice to the farmer for the AA'liole year was 41^ 
cents, Jmt the price to the consumer Avas increased 
to about 12 cents, Avhich increased tlie milk dollar to 
about 38 cents, or p(>!*!sibly a little more. The 
avei-age that year to the consumer is an estimate. 
Ill pint bottles The jirice to the consumer is 2 cents 
higher, and in half pint bottles B milk is selling 
at 20 cents a giiart. Fanners sell the hulk of their 
A milk at B milk prices, and at no time got more 
than a third of a cent extra per quart for it. The 
dealer sells it in the city for tw-o cents extra in 
quart bottles, and four cents extra in pint bottles. 
'J'bis Avould 'indicate a close approach yet to the 
35-eent dollar in milk returns. The assertion that 
the farmer is responsible for the present cost to the 
consumer is unfounded. Any excess in the rightful 
cost of milk is due to the extravagant system of dis¬ 
tribution. No one Avould claim today that milk 
could be produced on the farms at 3.2 cents per 
quart. No one belieA-es that the dealer would pay 
more if the lu-oducers AA-ere not organized to deiuiind 
more. 
Practical Food Conservation 
HE AA-orld is full of “food conservation’' now, 
but let us not forget our old friend the 35-cent 
dollar. He is still on deck. The Batavia (N. Y.) 
Noavs prints this note: 
Gharies B. Gebhardt of Penfield Avrites to tlie News 
that when he marketed his Elberta peaches he placed 
in the bottom of one of the 28-quart baskets a slip of 
paper bearing his name and address and asking that the 
purchaser (the ultimate consumer) Avrite him, stating 
how- much he paid for the fruit, Mr. Gebhardt volun- 
teeretl the information that he got a dollar for it. Mrs. 
T^. N. 8 "iytlie of No. 32 I’ortluud street, St. Johnsbury, 
Vt., the purchaser of the basket and she complied 
with, ’'I.r. Gebharclt’s request. Avritiug a note in which 
she saui she paid $2,40 for it, show'ing that the peaches 
increased 140 per cent in value after they left the 
Gebhardt orchard. 
This is better than the 35-cent dollar, but Aviiy 
should Mr. Gebliardt pay all expenses of growing 
the i)€*aebes. pay for picking, packing and the basket. 
ami get one dollar of Mrs. Smytbe’s money, while 
the handlers got $1.40? The pre.sent idea of “con- 
s(*rA-ation” seems to include taking 25 cents from 
Mr. Gebhardt, letting the handlers increase their 
share. 
* 
Cost of Producing Wheat 
M any references have been made to a state¬ 
ment by Prof. G. F. Warren of Cornell regard¬ 
ing the cost of producing an acre of Avheat in New 
York State. Here are the figures, as given at a 
meeting in Syracuse: 
Quantity Co.rt 
Seed, 114 Ib.s.$ 4.00 
Fertilizer, 142 lbs. 3.78 
Lime, 38 lbs. .07 
Manure, 2,G()G lbs. 2.40 
TAvine, 2.8 lbs.0*2 
Use of buililiugs. 7,3 
Use of land. 4.49 
Fire Insurance.00 
Interest . .8.3 
Coal for thrashing, 47 lbs. .If; 
Thrashing . 3 .0(> 
Thrashers’ meals. 1,5 
Horse feed.04 
Labor, 24.3 hours. 0.07 
Horse labor, 35.1 hour.s. 7.02 
Equipment labor. 1>.63 
Total . $32.10 
Several of these items are too Iova-. Taking the 
crop put in this Fall, Ave do not believe the average 
cost Avill fall below $.35 per acre. The Government 
price for the 3918 crop is $2, w-liich means $1.87 to 
$1.90 to the farmer. Tims it Avill require a crop of 
about 18 Imsliels per acre to pay the cost of pro¬ 
duction ! 
The Chicago Milk Situation 
After a season of conferences, the controversy over 
the price of milk for the Winter period in the’ Chicago 
dairy district came to an end when 52 of the directors 
of the Milk Producers’ Association met in the Hotel 
IMorrison, Chicago, on November 2, and discussrd the 
situation Avith Mr. ITarr.v A. Wheeler, of the Food 
Adminstration, at which time ho set, up the proposition 
that if the producers w-ould yield in this matter for the 
two months of November and December and allow- the 
Food Administration to make a price $3.22 per 300 
pounds for their milk he Avonld guarantee the Food 
Administration would make a full and complete report 
of their findings on the cost of producing milk, and that 
Avithin 00 days. He also guaranteed that their finding 
of the oo.st of producing milk plus a fair profit should 
be the price for the six months of January, February, 
March, April, May and .Time, 1918; and further, that 
if these findings should show- that milk was sold during 
the months of November and December, 1917, too low, 
the dilTerence would be made up to the producer by 
adding tliis to the price that shall be found to be the 
correct price at which he may sell his milk during the 
six months named aboA’c. This plan when w-orked out 
and carried out w-ill practically put the producing and 
marketing of ni’lk upon a new basi.s, equal with other 
industries, which is that of having a fair profit added 
to the cost of production. av', j. ktttt.k. 
Secretarv IMilk I’roduccr.s’ Association. 
Protest Against the School Law 
The IMontgonier.v County, N. Y., taxpayers' school 
. meeting took place as scheduled. Avas attended by about 
190 farmers, and lasted tw-o and a half hours. Never 
have I attended any sort of a meeting of farmers where 
I AA’itnes.sod .such determination and enthusiasm. EA-ery- 
one, Avith the exception of one di.rtrict school' .superin¬ 
tendent agreed that the T'owuiship School law was the 
most unpatriotic law- ever put over. A city mei-chant 
lelatcd that he had three brothers. Grand Army men, 
living on different farms in the \icinity, and that not 
one of them would be there today w-ere it not for their 
pensions. Such experiences as a raise in tax from $.35 
to $1.35 are quite coniinon. You Avill notice that the 
above illustration lacks* but $5 of being four times 
a normal tax. One man reported the tax on his 140 
acres to be $140. 
After two hours of disciissiou a committee of three 
wa.s appointed by the chairman (he being so directed 
by a motion unanimously oai-ried) to constitute a county 
committee and to act in co-operation Avith other county 
committees. One of onr first duties w-ill be to influence 
similar action in other counties. In this connection 
your services would be invaluable. We have decided 
not to send a petition to Albany, because those things 
are ignored, but believe that a committee from each 
county to vi.snt Albany and to act in unison Avould be 
effecth-e. We had our Assemblyman present. He stated 
that the legislative leaders all advised him to v-ote 
for it, and that he did not hear of a single objection 
from his home district. I believe that to be true. 
Farmers haA-e been so busy, and have not taken the 
prompt interest in legislative matters that they should. 
Our county committee is constituted as follows: W. 
BarloAV Dunlap, chairman; Frank Hotuling,, D. R. 
Devendorf, all of Amsterdam, N. Y. The committee will 
IniA-e its first meeting in a feAV days and I hope our 
activities may take definite form. The Grange reports 
that this biAv is not a Grange measure. Our meeting 
was also nnanimons in opposition to the employment 
of physical culture teachers in the couuti-y. We believe 
the Boaixl of Regents has too great an arbitrary pow-er. 
The board uses its threat of removal of public money 
us a Aveapon to force uiibeneficial and impracticable 
adjuncts to our school .sj-stem. i). b. devexbobf. 
R. N.-Y.—On this as on all other matters affecting 
farmers Ave stand ready to give all sides a fair hearing. 
If those AA-lio advocate the ueAv law- want to defend it 
they may have a chance. What we want above all 
things is an intelligent discussion by the country people 
Avho, too frequently, take things for granted and find 
themselves tied up to thing-; which do not suit their 
conditions. 
