168 -ehe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Dairy Notes from Northern Ohio 
The Western Reserve of Dhio is under 
arctic conditions, a little more emphasized. 
The thermometer at noon in the sun is 
six degrees below zero, and*a 4.5-mile wind 
is raging that penetrates every crack and 
crevice and sends many a poor family to 
bed because of lack of fuel. The condition 
is all the more aggravated 'by the serious¬ 
ness of the fuel situation. During the 
Fall months no coal could be had from 
any source, and as Winter approached 
now and then a single carload would be 
shunted onto our siding and no family 
could have more than 1,000 pounds at a 
“serving!” The actual suffering has been 
acute, even the best regulated families 
have been and are shutting uji the greater 
part of their homes and living in smaller 
(piarters to conserve coal. 
I have never known the great dairy in¬ 
dustry in Northern Ohio in such turmoil 
as this Winter. The great uncertainty is 
about what the Federal commissioners of 
food products are to do and say about 
the regulation of food prices, and what 
are to be the standard i)rices for milk. Oats 
were only full normal crop. The long 
cold, wet Summer prevented hay-making 
at its best. Corn was almost a failure, 
backward and of inferior growth, making 
the most of its growth in pools and fur¬ 
row lengths of water. ,Tust as it did, in 
its feeble way, show signs of ears ap¬ 
proach maturity a big September frost 
caught it and froze the stalks to the very 
heart, followed by other frosts. Those 
who had silos rushed in the field corn to 
help out, and owing to lack of help some 
of these fields were put into the silo weeks 
late, some actually in November, some 
after the first snowfall. Mill foods went up 
in price as fast as silage went down, and 
soon it was prettj" ueai' an even exchange 
of a ton of milk and a ton of cow feed, 
and the latter has been going up ever 
since. 
Time and again the Federal commis¬ 
sioners have promised to appear and take 
up the whole matter of cost of production, 
and also of distidbutiou, but they did not 
appear in Northern Ohio, and the big 
Milk Association directors would meet 
with the city concerns and patch up an 
agreement to last until the Federal men 
came, and so prices have ‘been advanced 
from time to time until the dairymen were 
getting .$3.10. One thing the farmers can¬ 
not quite comprehend is that piices are 
set for the farm producers in very fact, 
while the man whom the farmer has to 
buy of can establish and make his own 
prices, plus a 10 per cent ijrofit. Friday, 
January 11, the dairymen and city deal¬ 
ers were to meet the Federal commis¬ 
sioners to hear and be heard. The farm¬ 
ers were there, headed by their Associa¬ 
tion president, II. W. Ingersoll, and the 
city dealer’s were as well prepared, and 
then it was discovered those Federal men 
present were not to make prices or referee 
matters, but simply met with the others 
in an “advisory capacity.” At the morn¬ 
ing session Mr. Ingersoll, representing the 
producers, said that the schedule decided 
upon was 32i/^ cents for shipments f. o. b. 
cars, Cleveland; $3.75 a hundred on a 
31/2 basis of butter fat, f. o. b. ears, Cleve¬ 
land; SVi cents at stands on railroads, 
either electric or steam, and $3.15 a hun¬ 
dred at receiving stations off from ship¬ 
ping lines. The prices are to be effective 
until April 1. 
To this the city deal s said that they 
should need to place their retail price at 
14 cents, as the costs of distribution had 
in the past year gone up from 4i/^ to 0 
cents a quart, and here the matter was 
left as this is being written, but will 
probably be the ace<'pted agreement. But 
there is another matter running parallel 
with these milk-making prices. The un¬ 
rest of the dairyman and the idea he has 
is that he is losing money in dairying 
owing to the high cost of all he buys to 
make the business “go.” This man is in¬ 
terested in noting that all the Government 
takes over has a profit side to it and hours 
of labor fixed. Cost of a thing is calcu¬ 
lated not alone from the raw material, 
but all that enters Jnto it; interest on 
capital, a salary for the maa who owns 
the plant, depreciation of working plant. 
taxes, all labor, advertising and the like, 
and a dividend-paying profit; but the 
price of milk is kept down, and by some 
figured a little below cost, and all that the 
capitalist figures in as cost. The farmer 
must donate interest on investment, his 
labor and even what the farm produces. 
If this farmer is “caught” trying to set 
a living price on his produce he is appre¬ 
hended as a sort of a “red” and brought 
before the courts for conspiracy against 
trade. All this has had this effect: dairy¬ 
men by the actual hundreds are going out 
of the business. Cow’s are now’, and have 
been for months, being sold off from the 
Western Reserve by the actual thousands, 
by singles, squads and whole dairies. It is 
rare that our little local paper does not 
contain sale notices for three to seven 
whole dairies in a single issue; not scrub 
dairies, but of the best grade breeding and 
full bloods. Their quality is gauged by 
the fact that these prices run from $75 
to $150 each right along, and two-year-old 
heifers are a quick sale at $75 to $100. 
This week three of ray neighbors are post¬ 
ing sale bills for quite 75 fine Holstein 
cows, their entire daii’ies, as -they have 
concluded to “go into other'business.” 
Yes, the commissioners said yesterday 
their main purpose was to see that dairy¬ 
ing was kept up to the high point, and a 
great number of. heifer calves raised to 
more than make good present numbers of 
cows, but gave no assurance as to aid in 
making “dairying secure to the dairyman” 
by control of prices, feeds, labor, and the 
other items that are the things that are 
undermining the foundations of dairying. 
No! these cows are not all being killed 
for beef. Possibl.v two in 10. These cows 
ar going on long trips, hundreds to Mon¬ 
tana. Oklahoma. Texas, and the young 
stock to Kentucky and Missouri mostl.v. 
Within an hour’s auto trip of the writer’s 
home are something like 500 establish¬ 
ments where the Government is having 
munitions of war and unifoi’ms. knit 
goods iind comforts made for the 1.400.000 
men in our army. Every inducement is 
made to get bo.vs, men and girls from the 
farms to work-in these establishments, at 
wages twice larger than any farmer could 
I)ay and for an eight-hour day. The farms 
are stripped of labor and labor is out of 
the question! How can this dairyman 
speed lip? The war is taking about 10 
farmer boys from each township. Six 
farms out of 10 have got to curtail pro¬ 
duction for lack of labor. No. a farm 
tractor does not help a man of 50 or (50 
very much; digs him in deeper. He has 
got to have efficient help in some way. 
•lust now’ there is a great Government, 
State and local military highway being 
built through this town..»by my door, from 
Cleveland to Pittsburgh. Last year the 
wages paid were $3 and .$4 a day, and $7 
for man and team^and eight hours for a 
day. Could any farmer hire a man from 
this Government job at $40 a month 
and board and 14 hours for a dairyman’s 
day’s work? This is not a pessimistic 
article. It is written from the standpoint 
of people who are willing and anxious to 
“do their bit.” The city press assume 
that the farmers are to be classed to a 
greater or less extent as slackers, price 
bandits and bond evaders. How’ does the 
patriotism of country and cit.v compare? 
Ohio. JOHN GOTJLD. 
Resolution of N. Y. State Agricultural 
Society 
At the general convention of the New 
York City Agricultural Society, resolu¬ 
tions were passed as follows: 
Requesting the Legislature to amend 
the Donnelly Act .so as to exempt from 
its provisions the acts of farmers for the 
sale of their products through coopera¬ 
tive or incorporatwi association.s. 
Re.solutiop to change the township 
school law in order to run it more equit¬ 
ably, but eudor.sing the township plan in 
principle in recommending that the law 
be amended, but not I’epealed. 
That the Federal Food Administfatoi’s 
be requested to demand and secure reim¬ 
bursements from dealers and- mills of all 
excessive profits taken from farmers 
through the country on brans and mid¬ 
dlings produced from wheat, taken from 
growers at fixed prices. 
That the Legislature l)e requested to 
amend the game law so as to extend the 
protection now given posted lands, 
whether posted or not. and making tres- 
I)a.ssing on farm lands without permission 
of the owner a misdemeanor, the tres¬ 
passer in addition to he liable for all 
damage that is the result of his or their 
willful entry. 
That the President be requested to ap¬ 
point a committee of five fully to inves¬ 
tigate the livestock situation in the State 
of New’ York with particular respect to 
February 2, 1918 
the advisability of encouraging the pro¬ 
duction of meat in the State, and that 
the committee report its findings with 
recommendations at the next annual 
meeting of the Society. 
A resolution respectfully .suggesting to 
the Federal Administration that every 
man of di-aft age, who is skilled in agri¬ 
culture, be not exempt from service, but 
be detailed to actual farm w’ork under 
such restrictions as shall safeguard the 
country’s interests. 
A resolution requesting the Tjegislature 
to amend the law in reference to the 
bonding of milk dealers. 
A suggestionftby Governor Whitman to 
draft labor for farm purposes was laid 
on the table, and a resolution to endorse 
a federation of the agricultural societies 
of the State and to appoint a delegate to 
I'epresent the Society at such a federation, 
was referred to the Executive Committee 
with power to act. 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings 
Farmers’ Week. Ohio State University, 
Columbus, O., .Tan.2S-Feb. 1. 
Ohio State Dairymen’s Association, an¬ 
nual meeting, Columbus, O., Jan. 31- 
Feb. 1. 
Ohio State Horticultural Society. Co¬ 
lumbus, (4., .Tan. 2‘,)-30. 
Ohio State Vegetable Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation, Columbus, O., .Tan. 30- Feb. 1. 
Ohio Rural Life Association, Columbus. 
O., .Tan. .30-Feb. 1. 
Ohio State Bee Keepers’ Association, 
Columbus. O., .Tan. ,30. 
Convention week, Iowa State College. 
Ames. la.. ,Tan. 28-Feb. 2. 
American Berkshire Congress, annual 
meeting, Orlando, Fla., Feb. 3-15. 
New York State Potato Association, 
annual meeting. College of Agriculture. 
Ithaca, N. Y.. Feb. 12-13. 
The sheep man. or the farmers who 
want to start with sheep in New York 
State, are finding out that they cannot 
obtain the animals they want in the East. 
There has been a great demand for sheep, 
and the home supply, obtainable at a fair 
price, is about exhausted. Supplies must 
evidently come from the M'est, and here 
is a case where the Farm Bureaus or a 
good farm oi’ganization could get in touch 
with similar Western organizations and 
bu.v suitable sheep. Something of this 
sort will have to be done if our Eastern 
people are to obtain their sheep at a fair 
price. A good plan would be to buy a 
fair-sized flock of ewes and obtain a ram 
of an improved breed to put at the head of 
the flock. The rams can be bought on the 
Atlantic slope, but evidently mo.st of the 
ewes must come from the lYest. 
