The Milk Situation Once More 
The April price of milk to the farmer is $2.55 per 
100 lbs. of .‘1 per cent milk. This is 5.75 cents per 
quart for 3.4 per cent milk, which is about the 
average for the milk sold in the city. The drop 
from March is nearly two cents a quart. 
The price to the consumer per quart is as follows: 
Grade A. pint bottles. 22 cents; Grade B, pint bot¬ 
tles. 20 cents: Grade A. quart bottles, IS cents 
Grade B, quart bottles. 15 cents. 
Allowing that the dealer pays 15 cents extra per 
hundred for the A grade, the share of the consumer's 
dollar going to the producer is 3S cents on the B 
grade in quarts: 32 cents on the A grade in quarts; 
28 cents in B pints and 27 cents in A pints. The 
margin in cream would be still wider. The dealers 
have reduced retail prices from one to two cents; 
but even under present conditions the consumer does 
not get the benefit of the full reduction at the farms. 
In 100 lbs. of 4 per cent milk there is one extra 
pound of butterfat more than in the 100 lbs. of 3 
per cent milk. This extra pound of pure butterfat 
it worth SO cents at present butter prices, as esti¬ 
mated on the pure food standard of 82.5 per cent 
of fat in a pound of butter. For SO cents’ worth of 
fat the .milk producer gets only 40 cents. When the 
price of milk was first calculated by the dealers on 
the fat content they allowed about the market value 
for the extra fat in milk above the 3 per cent 
standard. Since the price of butter has advanced 
they have not done so. 
If figured on the basis of butter and cheese by the 
formula commonly used by the dealers the price 
would be $2.04 for April. In April, 1916, just before 
the original milk tight, on the butter and cheese 
basis, milk prices would have figured out $1.44 per 
100 lbs. The dealers made it $1.41 that year. So 
that estimated on the basis of butter and cheese 
values, or on the cost of producing, including feed 
and labor, prices for this month seem to be rela¬ 
tively considerably lower than in 1916. 
For the moment this is discouraging. It is not. a 
cheering prospect to produce milk at a loss: but the 
situation is not as black as it looks. There is no 
real substitute for milk and other dairy products. 
This is being realized more and more by city people. 
The demand must not only continue, but it will in¬ 
crease. It would be easy to reduce the number of 
cows and cut down the supply: but that kind of a 
policy would be more like running away from the 
problem than facing it and mastering it. We have 
a natural dairy territory and our problem is to 
develop the industry—not to restrict it. 
The dealers have lost no opportunity to strengthen 
their position during recent years of eager demand 
and rising prices. Independent dealers have been 
practically eliminated, and there is virtually one 
and only one buyer of milk now in New York. The 
party that dominates the New York wholesale milk 
market will make the price of milk in the future 
as it has in the past, and as it does now. Either the 
dealers or the producers will dominate. There can 
be no dual existence in the field, except while the 
dealers are mending fences. Their position is now 
strong, but they are by no means supreme. Pro¬ 
ducers controlled the situation only for a short time, 
but the experience gave them courage and confidence. 
They will come back and take it again. The task now 
is to regain control without too staggering a cost. 
Expelling the Socialist Assemblymen 
After a stormy all-night session the New York 
Assembly expelled the five Socialists who were 
elected to the Legislature from New York City. The 
vote for expelling three of them was 116 to 28—for 
the other two 104 to 40. Some very bitter speeches 
were made, and it is probable that the sentiments 
expressed represent the honest sentiments of As¬ 
sembly members. We are unalterably opposed to the 
principles of Socialism advocated by these men. At 
the same time we feel that it was a mistake to expel 
them in this spectacular way. There are too many 
unbalanced and light-headed people who suffer from 
the disease known as hyperesthesis. They are of 
classes known as “criminals, mistaken idealists and 
social bigots." With a return of normal times we 
think these characters would mostly have been 
swept out of the onward march into places where 
they can do little harm. The trouble is that such 
am ion as the New York Legislature has taken will 
simply add fuel to the mental fire of this class, make 
them feel that they are martyrs and denied the 
■ ight ol free speech.” These people cannot live 
without publicity. Such publicity as this trial will 
he like trying to put out a fire by pouring kerosene 
m,M the same time we recognize the temper 
of the great majority of our people, and also the 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
futility of changing it at this time. Let no one, how¬ 
ever, for an instant imagine that we have any sym¬ 
pathy for the policies or the acts of these disturbers 
and radical destroyers. We have here documents and 
facts which convince us of the danger to society and 
to America in the theories which these radicals 
stand for. As to the legal aspect of this expulsion, 
a minority of the Assembly, including Col. Roose¬ 
velt, felt that the evidence was not sufficient to 
justify expulsion. The great majority was against 
them. Whatever the merits of their case, this re¬ 
sult will give all radicals a chance to pose as mar¬ 
tyrs and thus be in a position to do more mischief 
than ever. 
The “Soviet” Government; In America 
Some of our best citizens are worrying over the 
dangers of Bolshevism and the Soviet government 
in Russia. They are much disturbed lest some one 
may advocate the Soviet form of government here. 
They invite the most rigid enforcement of drastic 
laws to prevent the danger. 
Few yet understand what the Soviet government 
really is. It was not until very recently that anyone 
in this country knew just how the new Russian 
government worked, and it is the only country that 
has yet adopted the Soviet form of government. 
This is the way it. works: 
The Russian who is allowed to vote—the privilege 
of voting is not by any means general—votes for a 
member of a local body called the local Soviet. 
Then the elected members of the local Soviets vote 
for the members of the Volost Soviet. Then the 
members of the Volost Soviet elect members of 
another Soviet, which covers a wider territory. 
Again these members elect members of a Soviet 
with still broader powers and territory. The mem¬ 
bers of this Soviet finally elect members of the so- 
called All-Russian Congress. This is the governing 
body of Russia as organized at present. 
It is as if our citizens elected members of a town¬ 
ship society. These would then elect members of a 
county organization, who would again elect members 
of a State association. The members of the State 
society would then elect a provincial society, and 
these finally would vote for members of Congress. 
The original voter is just five times removed from 
the members of the governing body. 
The average American citizen will regard the dan¬ 
gers of the adoption of that form of government 
here as very remote. We think it is for any general 
purpose. It will be remembered that our United 
States Senators were once elected by votes of the 
State Legislatures. That was a small example of 
the Soviet form. It was not satisfactory, and the 
custom was abandoned. The Senators are now 
elected by direct vote. 
The only example of Soviet government that we 
now recall is the New York State Council of Farms 
and Markets. The voters elect members of the state 
Legislature. These elect members of the council. 
The council elect the Commissioner of Markets and 
the Commissioner of Agriculture. The commissioners 
again elect the men who actually do the work. The 
people are four times removed from the commis¬ 
sioners and five times removed from the final admin¬ 
istrators. This is undoubtedly the most perfect form 
of the Soviet government in America. 
The Fight Against “Daylight Saving” 
After a hard struggle, the repeal of the daylight 
saving law for New York seems to be defeated. A 
first effort to pass this repeal through the New York 
Assembly found 70 in favor of the repeal, and 64 
against. If was necessary to have 76 votes in favor 
in order to pass the repeal bill. Finally a bill repeal¬ 
ing daylight saving, but giving the cities oppor¬ 
tunity to vote on the question, passed the Senate by 
a bare majority. It came up in the Assembly, but 
after a hard struggle was defeated by one vote, or 75 
in favor of the repeal to 67 against it. At one time 
the necessary 76 votes were in sight, but an Assem¬ 
blyman from New York City changed his vote and 
thus defeated the bill. The final vote showed 71 
Republicans and four Democrats in favor of the re¬ 
peal. with 30 Republicans and 31 Democrats op¬ 
posed. Three Assemblymen were absent. Had one 
or more of those been present the repeal would have 
carried, but we are told that even if the repeal had 
been passed Governor Smith would have vetoed it. 
In New Jersey there was a desperate struggle over 
a bill providing daylight saving for that State. It 
finally passed the Assembly, but was held up in the 
Senate. As we write, the upper part of New Jersey 
has largely adopted the daylight saving time, fol¬ 
lowing New York City. This part of New Jersey is 
largely populated by commuters and town workmen. 
739 
The southern part of New Jersey is largely agricul¬ 
tural. It has solidly opposed daylight saving, and is 
still working on standard time, following the rule in 
Philadelphia. 
In New York City a local ordinance provided for 
setting the clocks ahead, and this made it. necessary 
for commuters-living in New Jersey and Connecticut 
to reach their place of business an hour earlier. 
Some of the railroads put their clocks ahead, while 
others refused to do so, thus making an endless con¬ 
fusion. In our own case, people who do business in 
New York City are obliged to get. up an hour earlier, 
while farm hands who work by the day refuse to 
come to work under the daylight saving rule. It is 
stated at Albany that farmers will organize and take 
their case into court, under the theory that the Fed¬ 
eral law restoring standard time supersedes any 
State law, and they could probably make a fair case 
of that theory. All over the State farmers are com¬ 
bining and agreeing to conduct their business under 
the old standard, leaving the cities to do as they 
please. That will bring about a straight industrial 
conflict between town and country, and if the farm¬ 
ers adopt such a campaign and stick to it, in the end 
the cities will be obliged to go back to the older time. 
In Hartford, Conn., an ordinance in favor of day¬ 
light saving was passed. The railroads refused to 
set their clocks ahead, and there has been endless 
confusion, with the result that the city will prob¬ 
ably be obliged to repeal its ordinance. The cam¬ 
paign on the part of the cities has been a very selfish 
one. The city people admit that their chief object 
in lighting for daylight saving is to gain more time 
for pleasure and recreation, while they realize that 
it means a hardship and loss to the farmers. They 
are willing to permit this, however, for the sake of 
their own pleasure; but many of them are now be¬ 
ginning to realize the hard truth, that they will pay 
for their pleasure in the end through an increase in 
food prices. 
A Woman Sheep Breeder’s Troubles 
After reading the talk about the dog law in Ttte R. 
N.-Y. I write to ask your advice. I taught school, and 
at last secured money enough to buy 100 acres of waste 
land that lay back from the road, and placed 48 ewes 
on it. I had built great air castles on my income, but 
the dogs got among them, and chased them right off the 
farm. They killed one, which we found, bit the tail 
off another, and there were three we never found. The 
rest of the flock never acted the same. Last Winter 
nine died. The blood always ran out of their noses at 
times after we got them back home, and soon they 
would die. They were not old sheep, either. I spoke 
to the assessors, and they said I could only get pay for 
fhe one I could show them that was killed. Now is 
there any way in which I could get pay for the damage? 
New York. MRS. A. M. 
If your notice was made to the assessors within 
10 days of the damage, and before the dead sheep 
was disposed of. it was the duty of the assessors to 
appraise your entire damage and report with recom¬ 
mendations to the Department of Agriculture. If 
the assessors did not recommend a fair allowance 
you could appeal to the department for a better 
settlement. The assessor was clearly in error in his 
advice. If your original notice was made within 10 
days your claim would seem to be yet good; and the 
assessor will no doubt correct his error and make 
fhe appraisal for you. A flock once chased and wor¬ 
ried by dogs never quite recovers. You have had 
the usual experience. 
Rural Mail Service and Bad Roads 
During the past terrible Winter many of our readers 
have suffered great inconvenience through a failure to 
deliver the rural mail. In some cases it was impossible 
for the carrier to get through the road. In others it 
seems evident that the carrier might have made his 
rounds had he used a little extra energy. In one case 
which occurred in Pennsylvania complaint was made to 
us by a farmer that the mail was stopped and that he 
was unable to obtain any satisfaction either from the 
local postmaster or from Washington. We took the 
matter up with Washington, asking for an investigation. 
We are told in explanation that last November the post- 
office authorities told the local road officials that the 
road on which this farmer lives was not suitable for 
travel. They further stated that unless repairs were 
made within 30 days the rural service would be with¬ 
drawn from that road. The road officials took no 
action to repair the road and therefore the rural route 
was re-arranged and this road was avoided so that the 
service was taken away from our subscriber. In mak¬ 
ing this report the Fourth Assistant Postmaster Gen¬ 
eral says: 
“In view of the policy of the department not to con¬ 
tinue rural service over roads unless they are main¬ 
tained in satisfactory condition and the failure of the 
officials to keep the road in repair, the restoration of 
service would not be justified unless satisfactory evi¬ 
dence can be produced to the effect that the necessary 
repairs have been made.” 
This may be the rule of the department, but it is a 
misfortune that no one has authority to compel the local 
load authorities to fix such a road properly. Our reader 
has been deprived of his mail service through no 
fault of his. and there seems to be no way under which 
the National Government can carry out its implied 
agreement to deliver the mail. This farmer has been 
damaged, and he thinks he would have a ease for dam¬ 
ages if lie were to bring suit against the road officers 
iu his town. 
