679 
Selling Water as Milk 
What is the penalty for watering milk constantly? 
IMy neighbor sells 10 to 12 cans of milk per day, water 
and all. I have watched him water his milk for several 
mornings. He is a rich man. lie ships a can of water 
a day as milk. Tie sells to a cooperative creamery and 
there is no inspection. The man who operates the 
creamery must know about it. My opinion is that the 
man who does this kind of thing is no better than a 
highway robber, and should have a criminal sentence. 
He not only robs the people who buy milk in the cities, 
bnt he is robbing his farm neighbors as well. Wo 
farmers now take a price below (he cost of production 
as alleged because of surplus. Part of that surplus is 
water, and part is ilue to .a poor grade of milk little 
better than water. I believe this custom should be 
overcome, but how are eve to do it? 
New York. ” Mii.K PROnrCEU. 
Wo have a law making it a niisdcnieanor subject 
to line or imprisonment or both for adulterating 
milk by taking anything out of it or putting anything 
into it. Watering milk comes under this statute. 
Also skimming milk, or putting preservatives into 
milk. We have a Farm and ^Markets Council of It 
members, with a Department of Agriculture with a 
INIarket Department and a Food Commision, and a 
Board of Health. The appropriations for these de- 
liartments run close to five million dollars this year. 
They have ample funds and an army of employees 
to enforce the laws, bnt the laws are violated with 
impunity. The oflicials. both State and citj% know 
that the laws are violated, and while this complaint 
is against a farmer and ought to bo punished with 
tlK! rest, the big distributors in the cities are the 
biggest and boldest offenders. If this producer 
will make his complaint to the Farm and Market 
Council at Albany, and if the offender has no polit¬ 
ical influence, he may in time be i)rosecuted. If ho 
bapi)ened to be a big dealer, or happened to have 
some political country influence, he will 'probably bo 
tipped off in advance and there will be no available 
evidence to prove his guilt. 
This producer makes a strong point when he says 
that such dishonesty is an injustice to other pro- 
<lncers as well as to the consumers. It is the con¬ 
cern of every man who makes milk in a local com¬ 
munity to see that the shipments are pure and clean 
and unadulterated, as well as to see that every man 
gets paid fairly and correctly for the amount and 
quality of milk delivered. The individual producer, 
however, cannot do this. It is a function of the 
Dairymen’s League. It can be easily accomplished 
Ity compact local organizations and strong .support 
from the League. 
The Milk Situation is Acute 
A DARK OUTLOOK.—The present milk situation 
is not, to say the least, encouraging. The executive 
committee of the League announces that while the 
May price is less than the cost of production, all the 
milk was sold, and none would be left on the hands 
of the producers anywhere. On the contrary, the 
Borden’s company announce that they are about to 
close 50 stations. Last year they closed 28 stations, 
they say, and most of them were taken over by 
farmers. They propose to continue the policy. They 
say with a subtle humor that they want to help the 
farmers. They evidently want to load some out-of- 
date, unprofitable plants off on the farmers at satis¬ 
factory prices to themselves. Without an outlet for 
the milk the plants would he no great boon to the 
farmers, and the farm-owned plants are in no posi¬ 
tion just now to increase their output. No adequate 
provision has been made for the marketing of their 
milk; and none can be made so long as the milk 
trust is permitted to dictate the price at which it 
can be sold to consumers. The dealers discriminate 
against the farm-owned plants, and in some places 
ignore the prices fixed by the Federal Milk Commis¬ 
sion and pay what they please. The League has 
given over the making of prices to producers to the 
Federal commission; and through the Country Milk 
Company it consents to the price made by the milk 
trust to consumers. Having^ delegated away its 
functions, the League is helpless. 
COURAGE NEEDED.—This, however, is no time 
for farmers to weaken. It is of all times the day 
for resolution, purpose and w'isdom. Farmers are on 
trial as managers of their own business. Their 
capacity to manage an organization and a bu.siness 
is challenged. It is up to them now to make good. 
It is up to the membership of the League to say 
what its policies shall be, and how it shall be man¬ 
aged, and by whom managed. From all over the 
State come words of concei'ii and alarm. All con¬ 
cede now that better organization must be effected 
and definite progressive policies adopted. The big, 
strong men of the organization must assume the re¬ 
©■/>« RURAL NEW-YORKER 
sponsibility for the direction of it. The need now 
is for these men to come to the front. It is useless 
to criticise the policies of the past, but it would be 
criminal to continue them. No man ever won a fight 
by handing his sword to the enemy. If the exper¬ 
ience of 40 years is of any value we may safely 
conclude that the friendship of milk dealers will 
never .'^olve the milk producers’ problems. This is 
said now because the situation is critical. It is time 
for action. 
A CRITICAL TI:ME.—There has been a general 
disposilion to wait and hope. Errors of detail can 
usually be_corrected; l)ut neglect of fundamentals is 
serious. .8onio of the strong men in the directorate 
have no donbt been influenced by :i commendable de¬ 
sire for harmony; bnt they must begin to see now 
that .a change of policy is imperative. It was ap- 
pai'ent to some at the start, Tlie League needs a 
ileci'ce of divorce from its subsidiaries and its ene¬ 
mies. 
WHAT 18 REQUIRED.—A strong council of milk 
pi'oducers is necessary to review the situation and to 
adopt a policy and a plan for the development of the 
League and the sale of milk. We have lost some 
valuable time, but if taken up promptly now the 
situation affords no cause for alarm. It does de¬ 
mand vision and courage and strong, fearless men. 
Fifty Farmers for New York Legislature 
A reader in California sends ns tlie following 
little story which is making its way through the 
papers. 8ome of our readers may have seen it, but 
ii is worth repeating: 
IT PAYS TO ORGANIZE. 
A pliiiitrr down in Kentucky had just employed a 
strang(^ negro as a mule-driver. He handed him a 
Keep a Purebred Bull 
Because: 
1. Cows are known by the “company” they 
keep. 
2. Every calf has a right to be well born, and 
the use of a grade bull is an infringement on this 
right. 
3. He has a good and an authentic record tTe- 
hind him; the grade has nothing but his tail. 
4. There is no sale for the offspring of a grade 
bull among men who pay good prices for stock. 
5. A purebred bull will sell at any time for any 
purpose for as much as a grade, and usually more. 
6. Mr. Milkman, you should raise your stock, 
and the use of a purebred bull is the first step in 
the right direction. 
7. Except for the element of the risk, the cost 
of keep is no greater than for a scrub or grade. 
H. F. JUDKINS 
braud-uew blacksnake whip, climbed up on a seat 
behind a pair of mules, and asked the darkey if he could 
use the whip. Without a word the mule-driver drew 
the black lash between his fingers, swung it over his 
head, and flicked a beautiful butterfly from a clover 
blossom along.side the road over which they were 
traveling. 
“That isn’t so bad,” remarked the planter. “Can you 
hit that honeybee over there?” 
Again the negro swung the whip, and the honeybee 
fell dead. 
Noting a pair of bumblebees on still another blossom, 
the negi-o switched them out of existence with the 
cracker of his new blacksnake, and drew further ad¬ 
miration from his new employer. 
A little farther along the planter spied a hornet’s 
nest in a bush beside the highway. Two or three hor¬ 
nets were assembled at the enti-ance to the nest. 
“Can you hit them, Sam?” he inquired, pointing to 
the hornets. 
“Yes, sah, I kin,” replied the negro, “but I ain’t 
agoin’ to; dey’s organized.” 
Tliere you have the whole story. It w'as safe and 
easy to nip off one bee at a time, but the hornets 
were “organized”—taught by instinct and habit to 
fight together for their rights and their home! Let 
us consider this in relation to this plan to put 50 
farmers in the New Yoi’k Legislature! Thus far, 
or up to this season, very few of the politicians have 
had any real respect for fai'mers or their rights. 
These farmers w^ere unorganized and, like the driver, 
their demands could be cut or bluffed off one at a 
time. Finally the farmers found an issue in the de¬ 
mand for repeal of the .school law. Then the politi¬ 
cians .saw no longer a single bee but an organized 
hornets’ nest. “Can you hit them?” said the “edu¬ 
cators.” The politicians sized up the proposition 
and said like the mule driver: “7 ran—hut I 
aint n-goin' to. Dey's organized!" That is all there 
is to it. Put 50 farmers in the New York Legislature 
and you will have an organized hornet-s’ nest, which 
will have even the politicians whipped. The remedy 
is simple. Where is the man in your county to make 
one of the 50? They ought to be selected at home 
where their courage and ability are knowm. 
Saving Daylight ” on the Farm 
Regarding the operation of the new time on farms, 
wo have no lielp as yet, and do not find it troublesome, 
really encouraging longer hours of work, which isn’t so 
objectionable when there is so much to be done and only 
ourselves to do it. Soon w'o shall have help, however, 
and I can see that our present working hours must be 
shortened. 
At a recent banquet to 200 county solicitors for the 
new Liberty Loan, all men but three, and a large share 
of them farmers, the subject was quite thoroughly dis¬ 
cussed. Not a farmer, I must confe.ss, liked the plan, 
most of them not hesitating to say it virtually gave city 
people an extra hour of leisure or time to carry out 
extra lines of work, while it forced an extra hour of 
labor out of the farmer. One man’s point of view 
seemed to have good seu.se in it. He keeps three to 
four men in the busy season. lie says now the new 
order does not make much difference. But in haying 
or harvesting the dew is not oft’ until about 10 o’clock 
(old time) so that work can be done. Then only an 
hour can be put in before noon, and if work is stopped 
at 5 B. M. (really 4 P. M'.), two hours or more of the 
best part of the working day has to be sacrificed. Hay 
and grain have to be harvested by the sun, not by any 
set time. When it was suggestetl that he begin an hour 
later in the morning, or have two hours at noon, so as 
to claim these extra two hours that are so valuable in 
late afternoon, he said that would not do. The men 
want their hours when others have them, that they may 
quit early and get out for recreation at night. For 
those already rising vei*y early in the morning, like 
farmers who peddle milk, or who deliver milk at public 
markets in the early morning hours, I can see real hard¬ 
ship, involving unreasonably early hours of rising. 
Per.sonally I like the system so far, and am wondering 
how it will work out with our man. It is really hard 
to quit so early, no matter how early one begins, when 
there is so much to do. But I have always objected to 
having the same time in Winter that we do in Summer. 
We have some very busy farm neighbors who keep quite 
a bit of help. Their hour of retiring has always been 
S P. M. Of course they object to it, and will have to 
readjust themselves. mabix g. feint. 
Cortland Co., N. Y. 
Have We a “Farmers* Representative?’* 
Your inquiry of the Food Administration about a 
circular entitled “Farmers Get More” (see page (>09), 
based on a compilation sent out by it from Washington, 
is characteristic of all answ'ers you have had from the 
Food Administration, so far as I am aware. Here is a 
report sent out by the Food Administration charging 
that the farmer has received a steadily increasing share 
of the cost of a loaf of bread on the consumer’s table, 
ranging from 2G% in 1913 to 45% in 1918. The clear 
intention of this is beyond a doubt to say in public that 
the farmer ought to be ashamed of himself for wanting 
more than he is now getting. 
Now when you take thi.s matter up with the Food 
Administration and try to show them their figures are 
wrong, do you get the thing referred to those who got 
up the figures? Do you get a sincere attempt to in¬ 
vestigate the matter and relieve the farmer of an unjust 
estimate? Do you get even the satisfaction of being 
told you are wrong? Indeed, you do not. You get a 
pleasant letter, that you print on page 610, from M. T. 
1‘hillips, who signs himself as “Farmers’ Representa¬ 
tive” in the Food Administration, in which you are in- 
fonned that he had “talked with one of the men in the 
office” and found that the table was worked up by some 
experimentalists in Washington, but that he “cannot 
vouch for its correctness.” The letter ends with this 
personal note: “There are a gootl many things' that 
we, as farmers’ representatives, are not able to accomp¬ 
lish,” which evidently is true. 
But you were not addressing any farmers’ representa¬ 
tive. You were addressing the great Food Administra¬ 
tion that had done the farmers of the country a very 
real injury with such figures. Why should not the Food 
Administation make a genuine answer to that letter? 
I should like to ask how Mr. Phillips became “Farm¬ 
ers’ Representative” in the Food Administration, what 
his qualifications are for the office, what his relations 
are there, and especially what he has done in the Food 
Administration. It is a surprise to us to know that we 
have a farmers’ representative in the Food Administra¬ 
tion, but since we have, should w’e not know about him ? 
Columbia Co., N. Y. datus c. smith. 
