The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1691 
How Milk Prices are Figured 
Please figure out plainly, so that we can understand 
it, the way the price of milk is estimated for October 
and November, and also, by the same method, what the 
price would have been for the same months in 1915 on 
this method, compared with the price then paid. T. D. 
New York. 
The price of milk Is now estimated on the basis of 
the market quotations of butter and cheese, allow¬ 
ance being made for skim-milk and whey, and a dif¬ 
ferential allowance for nine months in favor of the 
producer and three months in fa> or of the dealer. A 
pound of butter contains .825 lbs. pure fat; 100 lbs. 
of 3 per cent milk contains 3 lbs. fat. Hence, 
3 -4- .825 = 3.63 lbs. butter in 100 lbs. of 3 per cent 
milk. The average price of 92-score butter for the 
month ending October 30 has been 63.9c. Hence, 
3.63 X .639 = 2.32. The value of the skim-milk is 
96c, making $3,281 the butter value of 100 lbs. of 3 
per cent milk. 
One hundred pounds of 3 per cent milk makes 
9.194 lbs. of cheese. The average price for same 
period was 30c. Hence, 30 x 9.194 = 2.758. The 
value of the whey is 21c, or $2,968, the cheese value 
of 100 lbs. of 3 per cent milk. The average is 
3.281 2.968 = 6.249 -f- 2 = $3,124, average fori 
butter and cheese. To this add the 26c differential 
and we have $3.38. The price last year was $3.81. 
The October price was $3.11. Last year it was 
$3.57. 
In the formula used by the dealers and the League 
4 per cent milk is used as the basis, and 4.64 lbs. of 
butter is allowed for 100 lbs. of 4 per cent milk. At 
63.94c per lb. it is worth $2,967 -f 96c for skim- 
milk, making $3,927, the butter value of 100 lbs. of 
4 per cent milk. Then 10.6 lbs. of cheese is allowed 
for 100 lbs. of 4 per cent milk, and at 30c per lb., 
with 21c for whey, we get $3,406 as the cheese value 
of 100 lbs. of 4 per cent milk. The average for but¬ 
ter and cheese is 3.927 -f 3.906 = 7.333 2 = 3.666. 
Divide this by four and multiply by 3.6 to get the 
average price of 3.6 per cent milk. The result is 
$3,299, the average butter and cheese value of 3.6 
per cent milk. The fat in milk above 3 per ceni is 
figured at 4c per point, so six points is worth 24c; 
subtracting this from the price of 3.6 milk leaves 
$3.06. To this add the 26c differential and we have 
$3.32. 
In October, 1915, the price of butter was 27c per 
lb., and the price of cheese 14.3c. Figured on the 
present formula the price of milk on the butter and 
cheese basis for October, 1915, would have been $1.41 
per 100 lbs. of 3 per cent milk. The price paid was 
$1.60. 
In November of that year the average price of but¬ 
ter was 30c, and of cheese 15.2c. The average price 
of milk on the same butter and cheese basis would 
have been $1.55. The price paid was $1.70. 
If butter and cheese were the same price now that 
they were in 1915, and prices made on the same 
basis, the October price would be 19c less than it 
was in October, 1915; and the November price would 
be 14c less than it. was that year. The price is fig¬ 
ured on virtually the same basis on which Borden’s 
figured formerly, but the higher prices of butter and 
cheese now give opportunity for making it possible 
to narrow the differential between the manufactured 
and the liquid product closer than it was before the 
war. 
The Milk Wagon Drivers’ Strike 
Last week the drivers of milk wagons in the city 
of New York demanded an increase from $33 a week 
and 1 per cent for collections to $50 a week and 2 per 
cent for collections. This the dealers refused, but 
offered $35 a week and 2 per cent for collections for 
a six-day week. After Governor Smith had ad¬ 
dressed the meeting of drivers they voted to accept 
the dealers’ offer. It was reported that before the 
Governor’s appearance the drivers were determined 
to declare a strike. The present arrangement is to 
last one year, it is said. Think of a farmer being 
made sure of a six-day week, $35 in cash, and 2 per 
cent on his milk sales! And yet—why not? 
Dealers estimate that the advance to drivers will 
cost them Yi c a quart to deliver bottled milk, and 
they have advanced the price to consumers l^c per 
quart, to make sure of a safe' margin of profit to 
themselves. They have announced the following 
prices: 
Certified. 
Grade A . 
Grade A . 
Grade B milk.. 
Grade B milk.. 
Buttermilk .. .. 
Condensed milk 
X eream. 
XX cream .... 
Sour cream ... 
30c per quart 
20c per quart 
12c per pint 
17^c per quart 
10c per pint 
12c per quart 
18c per V> pt. 
28c per % Pt. 
36c per % pt. 
18c per % pt. 
In some outlying sections of the city the prices are 
lc more than this schedule. 
Last November the farmer got $3.81 per 100 lbs. 
This month he gets $3.33, or a reduction of 4Sc per 
100 lbs. The consumer gets a raise of 70c per 100 
lbs. She now pays iy 2 c a quart more than last year, 
while the dealer pays the producer lc per quart less. 
The dealer’s margin is 2%c a quart more than last 
year for the first half of the month, and l^c for the 
latter half. 
There have been at least four city. State and Fed¬ 
eral investigations going on since August. None of 
them has yet indorsed the economic plan of distrib¬ 
uting milk through local stores. Since we first pro¬ 
posed this plan, and since dairymen unanimously in¬ 
dorsed it, 10 times the cost of putting it in force has 
been spent in investigations alone. And yet the plan 
is bound to come sooner or later. Every week it is 
delayed costs the milk industry of New York not less 
.than half a million dollars. 
New Way to Deliver Milk 
Rev. John F. Dobbs of Malden, Mass., sends a copy 
of his milk circular, which is given below. They 
handle 40 of these 814-quart cans each day, and this 
method saves the people $24 per day. Mr. Dobbs 
says that a high school boy with a car can deliver 
this milk in about an hour. 
MILK 12c A QUART 
“the high cost of living” 
is largely due to the service we require of other people. 
Take milk, for example; 100 per cent of cost and some¬ 
times more goes to the man who delivers it. Bottles and 
their care and breakage, icing and its troubles and cost, 
wide ranges of delivery—many milkmen covering the 
same territory—rents, etc., are all parts of unnecessary 
service. You can be your own milkman. You would 
like more milk? At present prices it is comparatively 
cheap for its food value. At 12c you should double the 
amount you use; it will be the cheapest food. 
We will deliver an S^-quart can of milk that will 
keep sweet for several days. It is from a tuberculin- 
tested herd, safe and pure. It is rich in butterfat. We 
supply milk bottles. You empty the big can into bot¬ 
tles, slip on the caps and set them on ice. Two days 
later, or four times a week, we call for the empty can 
and leave a full one. You get this splendid milk for $1 
a can. You can share it with the lady upstairs or next 
door if you cannot use four quarts a day. You pay once 
a month. We reserve the right to refuse your order— 
we only have one private herd—or put you'on the wait¬ 
ing list, and also to refuse an order on the basis of ter¬ 
ritory. We cannot afford to go too far to fill an order 
Write for further particulars to the farm at Town¬ 
send Harbor, or to 411 Pleasant St., Malden. 
Yours sincerely, 
JOHN F. DOBBS. 
Farmers and the Recent Industrial Con¬ 
ference 
There is little to be said about the farmers’ part in 
the recent so-called Industrial Conference in Washing¬ 
ton. They never had a look-in. It was simply a skir¬ 
mish between organized labor and the organized em¬ 
ployers of labor. The interests of the farmer and his 
part in the nation’s affairs were never seriously consid¬ 
ered. In this, however, he was not alone; the common 
people, as usual, suffered with him in the narrowing of 
the broad purposes of the conference to* a consideration 
of a conflict between two selfish groups of men. Before 
the conference assembled things looked rather promising 
for the farming interests. Three of the largest farmers’ 
organizations in the country were invited to send a rep¬ 
resentative each to the conference, these representatives 
being T. C. Atkesou of the National Grange, C. S. Bar¬ 
rett of the Farmers’ Union, and J. N. Tittemore of the 
American Society of Equity. With the idea that farm¬ 
ers are employers of labor these men were placed in the 
employers’ group of the conference. In addition to these 
three representatives of the farmers, three other men 
were named by President Wilson to represent the farmers’ 
interests in the conference; there were O. E. Bradfute, 
president of the Ohio State Federation of Farm Bu¬ 
reaus ; E. T. Meredith, publisher of Successful Farming, 
and L. D. Sweet, a commercial potato grower from Col¬ 
orado, who w r as an official in the late Food Administra¬ 
tion. These men were, of course, assigned to the pub¬ 
lic group. In the third group of the conference, the 
labor group, neither farmers nor farm labor were repre¬ 
sented, lo members of this group being appointed by 
Samuel Gompers from the affiliated organizations of the 
American Federation of Labor and four being appointed 
by the railroad brotherhoods. Out of the 61 members 
of the conference the farming interests were represented 
by six members, and these six members, ‘lstead of be¬ 
ing in any one of the three groups into which the con¬ 
ference was divided were three in the employers’ group 
and three in the public group. Is it any wonder that 
they made little impression on the conference as com¬ 
pared with the solid block of 19 members representing 
organized, labor? Neither was it a fair proposition that 
the three of their members representing nation-wide 
farmers’ organizations should be put in the same class 
with the employers of organized labor, in whose cause 
they had no special interest. In fact, as the conference 
developed, it was plain to be seen that they only weak¬ 
ened the employers’ group without doing the cause of 
the farmer any special good. The only interest they had 
in the showdown between the forces of organized labor 
and organized employers of industrial labor, was that 
of any other disinterested member of the public group, 
which is the right of the general public to have its in¬ 
terest considered in the settlement of industrial dis¬ 
putes. 
It is only right, however, to give the farmers’ repre¬ 
sentatives in the conference the credit of all getting 
together and preparing a joint statement of the relation 
of the farmer to present conditions and his importance 
in our national life. This statement was submitted 
through the employers group to the conference, but, like 
many other measures dealing with conditions-in a broad 
way and from the standpoint of the general welfare of 
the nation, this statement never was acted upon. Or¬ 
ganized labor and organized employers of industrial 
labor came to the conference with no intention of con¬ 
sidering the general welfare. They came to look after 
their own particular interests and they attended to their 
job most thoroughly. If the farmers or any other group 
had come as strongly organized or as solidly united on 
one definite plan, they would have been in the game. As 
it was, along with the rest of the representatives of the 
general public, they simply filled the grandstand. Just 
the same they came out of the conference stronger for 
not being shown up in the ugly, selfish light in which 
we now see both the fighting groups. Nothing actually 
came out of the conference except a better understand¬ 
ing by most people of the fact that the time has come 
when organized labor and organized employers of labor 
6hall no longer forget the public interest in their dis¬ 
putes and differences. It is freely conceded that both 
groups have rights to which they are entitled, but 
neither has the right to make the rest of the people suf¬ 
fer or continue to suffer. It has also given the Presi¬ 
dent a chance to take a stand in the interests of the pub¬ 
lic that farmers will everywhere endorse regardless of 
party affiliation. It means that in the future, when or¬ 
ganized labor and organized employers of industrial 
labor have disputes they must submit to arbitration 
without recourse to either strikes or lockouts and that 
in the settlement of such disputes the rest of the Amer¬ 
ican people will be represented and considered. It 
means, too, that unless these disputes are settled in this 
way, and in a way that will insure a better living for 
the average farmer through reasonable prices for his 
products, and a reasonable wage scale for farm labor 
and. all industrial labor, the average farmer will auto¬ 
matically go on a strike until conditions are such as to 
make his business profitable. There will be no an¬ 
nouncement of this strike; the farmers in many cases 
will plant less land in crops and grow less live stock. 
In other cases he or his boys will quit the farm and go 
where the high wages are paid. In the end he will win, 
because the American people must eat. b. 
State Farm Bureaus in Labor Policies 
In Syracuse on Friday will be held one of the most 
important, sessions of the State Federation of Farm 
Bureaus in the history of the organization. This 
State Federation of Farm Bureaus, one of which 
exists in every agricultural county of the State, is 
recognized as one of the most influential in the entire 
country, and whatever attitude it adopts towards the 
conflict between labor and capital will have a bearing 
upon the decisions to be reached in the conference of 
the National Federation of Farm Bureaus in Chicago 
on November 13. Other State are waiting with interest 
to learn New Y^ork’s sentiments concerning the labor 
situation. Three representatives will carry the senti¬ 
ments to Chicago in the interest of the State Federa¬ 
tion, viz.: S. L. Strivings. Frank Smith and H. W. 
Babcock. They will get their instructions from the 
meeting of 55 Farm Bureau presidents in Syracuse this 
week. One of the main speakers at this meeting will 
be Judge John D. Dillon, attorney for the Dairymen’s 
League, who will talk on the right of the farmers to 
engage in collective selling under.the Capper-Hirshman 
bill. He attended the recent conference in "Washington 
between representatives of capital and labor, and at his 
advice the farmers left the session. 
Other questions of State and national policies will bo 
discussed by this Syracuse conference. Samuel Gompers 
has announced that farmers will meet labor interests in 
conference December 13, and farmers resent his an¬ 
nouncement and question his authority to make such a 
statement. Farmers recognize the need of remaining 
neutral in the present industrial troubles, but are shap¬ 
ing a more or less definite policy or platform in the set¬ 
tlement of present difficulties. In the past few days 
this policy is rapidly taking form, much impetus being 
given it. last week at the week-long conference of °0O 
Farm Bureau agents and extension specialists in Ithaca 
and Geneva. 
One who is influential in the agricultural work of this 
State says that this policy may be briefly stated as fol¬ 
lows: “To create and maintain conditions of farm life 
that trill be such that the farms of the nation may con¬ 
tinue to be operated by intelligent and able American 
citizens .” 
“The failure of this aim,” he says, “means an agri¬ 
cultural peasantry. This might mean cheaper food, but 
it would be a blow at the intelligence and initiative of 
the nation. 
The indications are that the principal means of devel¬ 
oping the program is to be through education. No class 
of citizens has ever shown the appreciation of the value 
of education that farmers have. No class of citizens 
supports its industrial and trade schools so enthusias¬ 
tically. In no place of education are the teachers so 
closely in touch with the people they teach. 
“Hostory shows that originally the State created 
many of the agricultural education institutions, but that 
almost before they were established these institutions 
were literally seized by the farmers in whose interests 
they, were created and carried to a depth of service and 
efficiency that was not conceived of in their founding.” 
He quotes the Farm Bureaus as the most stinking ex¬ 
ample of this, and that farmers have virtually said to 
the Government agencies: “Your purpose in giving us 
direct results of the agricultural experiment stations is 
fine, but we would go a step further. We would like to 
apply this information locally. We will form a partner¬ 
ship with you and put up some money and some time 
of our own. We will couple our practical experience 
with your scientific knowledge and together we will 
carry forward the agriculture of the country.” 
At the annual conference of Farm Bureau leaders last 
week production was the great aim ; not the type, how¬ 
ever. of the past, but the production that is abetted by 
efficient methods, and that produces quality in the pro¬ 
duct. Involved in this was the culling of the non-laving 
hen. the beefing of the dairy cow that produces less than 
6.000 lbs. of milk yearly, the reforesting of poor fields, 
the grading of fruit in a way to go the law one better. 
Where city inspectors have demanded a scalded milk can 
the Farm Bureau agencies will recommend that it be 
also dried, and so on. this conference points the way to 
the development of a program that shall improve farm¬ 
ing methods and conditions and retain the cream of 
American citizenship on the farms. ir. g. f. 
