I 
^/le RURAL NEW-YORKER 
495 
Further Remarks on the Milk Situation 
The Children's Bureau of the United States De- 
hartment of Labor has issued a bulletin to warn the 
country of the short supply of milk products, the 
decrease of the dairy herds and the decline of dairy 
interests. 
The milk price commission of the United States 
Food Control, known as the Federal Milk Commis¬ 
sion, has called attention to a surplus of milk in the 
New York market, with the implied inference that 
thei’e are too many cows in the producing districts 
supplying New York. This commission has just fixe<l 
Si price for milk, to the producer for the month of 
April which is below the admitted cost of produc¬ 
tion. The United States Commission for the city of 
Chicago has done siibstantially the same thing for 
the producers in that section. 
The commissions that are fettling out information 
to us and fixing prices for us are evidently able to 
furnish evidence and arguments to prove any theory 
in need of support for the time being. Rut the 
New I'ork and Chicago commissions have certainly 
taken the most effective means to decrease the num¬ 
ber of cows in the territories under their jurisdiction. 
There is no surer way to deplete the herds than to 
compel the producer to accept a price that is below 
the admitted and demonstrated cost of producing 
milk. 
Last week the milk dealers and condensers of New 
York and the Dairymen's I.eague again agreed to 
accept the price to be fixed by the Federal Milk 
Commission for the month of April. It fixed the 
l»rice to producers at per hundred pounds for 
'■i per cent milk of B grade in the l.oO-mile zone 
.against .$.'1.22 for March, and for February, and 
.$.2.52 for .January. Last month an allowance of 24c 
per hundi-ed was made to recoui> losses for Decem¬ 
ber. This was divided so that 12c per hundred 
would be paid in March, and the other 12c in April 
so that the actual net price for March was .$.2.10 
and for April .$2..2S. 
Allowing the 12c recoup for the December prices, 
the reduction to the producers on the April price 
would be 72c ikh- hundred for March, OOc iier hun¬ 
dred for February, and .$1.14 per hundred for .Linu- 
ai'y. Neither feed noi* labor and other supplies have 
decreased during this ])eriod. Some of them li.-ive 
Increased. The dollar received for the April milk 
will not buy more and hardly as much as it did in 
.7 a unary. 
In April the producer gets 5.5c for .2..2 ])er cent 
milk. The consumer ))ays 10c i>er quart for loo.se 
flipped milk, and 14c to 20c for bottled milk. When 
the prices of different grades are averaged, this brings 
us perilously close to the .'M-cent dollar. For tlui B 
milk the farmer gets 5i/{;c for i)roducing jiml the 
distributor gets Si^c for distribution in bottles. 
Figured on 40 i)er cent of the city milk being sold 
in bottles, the dealers will have a gain for A]>ril of 
.$500,000 for their services. The producers will have 
a loss over March of .$l,0s0,000; over February 
.$1,1(50,000, over .lanuary .$1,740,000. In no month 
has the price covered the cost of production as 
shown by I'rof. Warren without any consideration 
of a lu'olit. 
When the Federal Milk Commission was apiarinted 
with the as.sertion that they would set a price for 
milk on the cost of i)roduction at a rea.sonable profit, 
we promptly went on record as our judgment that 
the commission would never do anything of the kind 
if the labor of the farm was allowed city man's 
wage.s. So far the committee has justified our judg¬ 
ment. 
When the pri(;e of milk began to advance a little 
to the fai’iner. tln^ dealer insisted that he should 
have approxiimitely 2c a quart advance for ev«'ry 
cent allowed the farmer, on the ground that the 
h'.rger investment made the extra profit necessary. 
Now that the piace has been reduced to the farmer, 
the logic of the situation would be that the dealer 
should double the reduction to the consumer, but in 
lir.-ictice the commis.sion allows the dealer a gross 
inci-ease of l.Sc a (piai-t. 
If the Feder.al Food Commission is not dominated 
and infiuenced entirely by the New York distributors 
and condensers, we are unable to account for their 
slate of mind in fixing prices for consumer and 
(h'aler, and with the exjierience we are at a loss to 
find reason for the i)roducers' consent to accept prices 
fixed by them. The actual cost of pasteurizing milk 
in a modern iilant. and delivering it on board cars 
in New York, is substantially le per quart. Stores 
distribute it at Ic. A half cent for delivery from the 
car to the store would make the total cost Sc a quart 
for loose milk to the family. This is concededly 
close figuring, but suicdy an extra cent would cover 
iimidentals and at this Ic a quart could be saved on 
]-resont cost. The cost of delivering milk in bottles 
to the store, requiring the housewife to pay a de¬ 
posit on the bottle, would not exceed an extra cent, 
and milk could be delivered in bottles through the 
stores during April for 10c. This would be a saving 
of from four to six cents for bottled milk. When 
some of the numerous commissions with millions of 
.appropriations undertake to demonstrate the econ¬ 
omy of this system of di.stribution, or compel the 
dealers to do so, they will perform a practical ser¬ 
vice in this food crisis. The existing partnership 
between our organized governments and big distrib¬ 
uting interests accounts for their failure to do so, 
but what is difficult to understand is the hesitation 
<tf the Dairymen’s League to sui)ply this trade and 
make the demonstration for themselves. 
During the October, 1010, milk fight strenuous ef¬ 
forts were made to have a committee similar to the 
Federal Milk Commission appointeft to name a price 
tor producers, and Mr. Dillon was abused in the bit¬ 
terest way for persistent refusal to yield to the 
subterfuge. At the annual League meeting in De¬ 
cember he spoke his mind freely in regard to this 
commission. Some of his best friends in the direc¬ 
torate of the League differed from diim on the sub¬ 
ject. and others have resented the frank critiidsm 
of the Commission. Experience has already amply 
justified it. Farmers cannot hope to remove 
abuses by putting their business in the hands of 
their emunies. The men who wish to do ju.stice 
1 -y farmers are iiowerless on such n commission. 
2 ’he commission was created to keep down the 
price of milk to the producer. It first yielded to 
critici.sm and appi’oached the cost of production, 
putting the whole burden on the consumer. Now it 
is getting bac-k to its original purpose, aud sanctions 
lirofits to the dealers that they would hardly dare 
demand themselves. The commission relieves the 
( Iticers of the Lc'ague from direct responsibility for 
these prices; butdt serves no other purpose. It is 
a subterfuge. It cannot exist without the sanction 
of the League, and in our judgment it should be 
abolished. 
Politics in Agricultural Activities 
Chas. W. Reynolds is a cigar-maker and barber at 
Binghamton, N. Y. lie has been very active for 
some years as a wai-d politician. The members of the 
Broome County Farm Bureau did not know him 
until recently, and now say as far as they know he 
has had no farm experience. 
The State Food Commission proposed to .appoint a 
farm specialist to secure farm help for farmers. 
The Farm Bureau recommended Mr. .Txilius E. 
Rogers, one of the best farmers in the county, and 
a man of State-wide reputation. It was a small job 
for such a man. Mr. Rogers coiild be expected to 
.accept it only as a patriotic service. Any other 
((ualified man woiild be acceptalde to the farmers. 
Mr. II. E. Babcock of Ithaca and one of the com¬ 
mittee to appoint a man for the work, presented Mr. 
Rogers’ name to the Farm and Markets Council; 
but found “everything had been fixed before the 
council met.” Charles W. Reynolds, the cigar-maker 
.and barber, with political ((ualifications only, was 
appointed at $1,50 a month. ’Phe story is a long one. 
Farmers spoke their minds. The county is in an 
uproar, and the politicians are running to cover. 
Reynolds will get a transfer to some ])lace where 
his qualifications are not so well discounted, but 
the duties of his position will not Interfere with his 
liolitical ward work at the proper tim(‘. Chas. H. 
Betts secured an exemption from examination of the 
Civil Service Commission for Mr. Reynolds. 
Why dwell on such cases? I’lie State is full of 
them. The Food Commission ami the Farm and 
5Iarkets Council were created to destroy the Foods 
.•aid Markets Department, and to promote the polit¬ 
ical ambitions of Governor Whitman. I'he poor 
little politicians are doing the best they can under 
direction. Roth the council and the commission are 
pretenses. To reform them is impossible. The agri¬ 
cultural and food work of the State can never go 
on until these political agencies are legally removed, 
and the Avork put into the hands of men with iirac- 
tical farm experience and sincere farm sympathies. 
Regulation of Feed Prices 
'I'liere has been considerable agitation due to the ex¬ 
orbitant prices that we are obliged to pay for wheat 
bran and other mill feeds when purchased at retail. 
Some weeks ago I advised you of the prices we were 
paying here. At that time I think bran was $52 per 
ton. Since then (Feb. 1) there have been two more 
“lifts” and the price is now $56 per ton, and ordinary 
scratch feed for poultry higher in price than we can 
get for our wheat. Even rye brings $2.30 per bu. at a 
local mill in Somerville, four miles distant. 
I wrote to the Food Administration, Washington, 
I) C., in this matter on Feb. 26. aud enclose the reply. 
You will note that the “fixing” of the retail profits is 
up to the several State .\(1minis<rntors, and that pend¬ 
ing their action the feed men promptly size up the situa¬ 
tion and are grasping at the last straw. 
It certainly would seem that in fixing" things the 
farmer is getting the worst of the deal all the Avay 
through. If the iron, steel and copper industries can 
have their prices fixed on a profit basis, why not the 
farmer? Instead of that the government has so ar¬ 
ranged it that he himself is in a fix when he tries to 
produce 7-cenfc milk on 3-cent-plus feeds. And to come 
to a conclusion, I may say that I h.ave again written 
to the Administration at Washington, advising them of 
the two recent advances in bran, and requesting that 
they urge upon the State Administration to take prompt 
action that this profiteering may be brought to a halt. 
New .Jersey. a. c. TiioirA.s. 
The Food Administration has fixed the price of wheat 
mill feeds at a certain percentage of the cost of wheat 
at the mill. Effective Febniary 15, the profit which the 
jobbing trade may take on shipments of wheat mill feed 
has been fixed, and on that date the State Food Admin¬ 
istrators were authorized to fix profits which retail 
dealers might take on Avheat mill feeds. 
In the State of New .Jersey this retail profit has not 
a.s yet been fixed by the local Food Administrator, but 
we understand he has the matter under consideration 
and will issue his ruling in the very near future. 
On the 15th of February all dealers in feeding stuffs 
doing business of one hundred thousand dollars per an¬ 
num and over came under license, and they will be re- 
(|uired to make monthly physical reports and quarterly 
financial repoi-ts as to their transactions. In this way 
it is believed the price of feeding stuffs will be estab¬ 
lished. 
We might say that in the fixing of the profits on 
wheat mill feeds, existing contracts were not interefered 
with, and there is still in the hands of dealers, some 
high-priced wheat feeds which were purchased and under 
control before the fixed prices went into effect. 
United States Food Administr.vtion. 
By Chapman. 
Farm Conference at Cornell 
A conference which might, with some accuracy, have ' 
been described as a conference by Cornell, since the 
resolutions adopted and recommendations made had 
been carefully thought out by the College of Agricul- 
tiirO’ iind were presented by it for the consideration of 
the delegates from the Pomona Granges, the county or¬ 
ganizations of the Dairymen’s League and the Farm Bu¬ 
reaus of .some 42 counties of the State, These expres¬ 
sions of agricultural needs aud will were adopted by 
the conference with little discussion. They followed, 
11 ! the main, well-trodden paths through the agricul¬ 
tural jungle of the day. aud expressed well the thought 
of the agricultural leaders whose activities center at 
and radiate from the great State (College of Agriculture 
01 . “The Hill.” k muuuie 
The formal address of the day wa.s delivered by Dr. 
Kaymond A. Pearson of Iowa, formerly of the Cornell 
College of Agriculture. Dr. Pearson brought the thought 
of the great Middle West and the i)roblems of the Food 
-Vdininistration at Washington vividly before his 
hearers. _ The evident sincerity and dee)) ♦•arne.stuess 
with which he outlined the nation’s iieisls and ivorded 
the exi)ectatiqns of our Allies moved the hearts of his 
audience. Without using the word, he made the patriot¬ 
ism of the farm a real, tangible thing. He talked to 
a sober-faced and .sober-mimled gathering of farmers. 
.V company of young men drilling within sight from 
the window Avas not needed to remind those pre.sent of 
the vital imiiortance of the things which they were con¬ 
sidering, and, as those strong men from the fai-ms rose 
to sing “America” it became evident that our National 
Hymn was doaa’ more tluin a patriotic song to them ; 
it Avas consecration. 
As at all coiiferences, the true thought of those pres¬ 
ent AA'as bt'st picked up, not from formal resolutions or 
the discussion on the tloor. but from the Ioav Avord in 
the aisles and the quiet undertone Avhich does not reach 
the si)eaker's desk. The New York farmer is puzzled. 
He is urged in the name of national .salvation to bend 
every efiort to the production of food, and yet he sees 
the greatest food staple of the vegetable kingdom, saA’e 
Avheat, rotting in his cellar for lack of a market. He is 
implored to save the great dairy industry of the State, 
that dairy products may not be wanting in the future, 
!ind. in the same breath, told that he cannot receii’e an 
adequate i)rice_ for his niilk becjiusc the i)eoi)le Avill not 
use what he is producing iioaa'. He is threatened by 
starvation Avhile being burdened by a suriilus of food. 
llaA'e those Avho see the si)ectre of Avant in the land a 
vision, or are they frightened by a bogy? He is frankly 
puzzled, but to one thing he has made up his mind ; he 
Avill manage hi.s oAvn farm this year. 
To those in Avhom he rightly has confidence he will 
listen. Their advice will be carefully sifted, aud what 
seems I’easonable to him Avill be adopted; but advice in 
general Avill find a poor market on the farms this year. 
The NeAV Y'ork farmer will ploAV and will plant Avith 
such Avisdom as he has accunuilated from long years of 
experience upon his own soil, and he Avill trust the Au- 
ttimn to vindicate his judgment. Granted a good .season, 
he Avill reap a harvest proi)ortionate to hi.s ability prop¬ 
erly to care for the acres under his control. If the sea- 
.son fails, he Avill fail Avith it, but he Avill not be led into 
inevitable failure by those Avho cry plow, ploAv. ploAV. 
but Avho do not know that the share turns over only 
disapiH)iutnient to him who does not look forAvard to 
long hours of cultivation and to the tasks of the har¬ 
vest. M. B. DEAN. 
The Food (’ouimi.s.sioner of Pennsylvania has now 
issued a ruling on AAdieat in farmers’ hands. The 
essential parts of this I'uling follow; 
(JFFICIAL RULING. 
Eff’ective March 25. 191S. 
1. A far.ner may take Avheat of his OAvn rai.siug to the 
mill for grinding, in sufficient (luantity to meet his 
household needs, to September 1, 191S, aud may re¬ 
ceive its equivalent in Avheat Hour. 
2. No farmer is i)ermitted to make a sale of wheat Hour 
in any quantity, under penalty of the hiAV. 
3. Purchases of Avheat Hour by farmers are governed by 
the same rules as a))ply to purchases by the general 
I)ublie. Millers and retail dealers Avill sell wheat 
Hour to farmers in quantity to meet household re¬ 
quirements for thirty days, Avheu such Avheat Hotir 
sale is accompanied by a sale in combination of an 
equal Aveight in official cereal .substitutes. This sale 
of cereal substitutes maj'- be waived by the miller or 
dealer in cases Avhere farmer.s certify in Avriting to 
the previous possession of such .substitutes in the 
• piantity s))eciHed. rogctlmr AA'ith an agreement to u.se 
the substitutes, in equal quantity, in connection witll 
the Avheat Hour for family (•oiisumi)tiou. 
