7fn RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1517 
Latest Developments in the Milk Situation 
COMING CONDITIONS.—Tlie price of milk for 
October has not been made at present writing; but 
the old propaganda that we have heard for 50 years 
is working freely and fully. We are told that there 
is a surplus of condensed milk and powdered milk: 
that the factories must close down unless the dealers 
are asked to serve as trustees for the farmers’ milk. 
In this event the farmer would pay the cost of manu¬ 
facture and take what was left, if anything; in 
other words, that the dealers do not want to buy 
any milk. This is pure guff. Tt would be good, if 
true, but unfortunately it is not true. No one would 
go without milk just because the New York milk 
dealers decided to go out of business. No one would 
be hurt but the dealers. Everyone else would profit 
by their disappearance. The consumer would get 
milk cheaper, and use more. The producer would 
have a steadier market and better prices. 
DISTRIBUTERS’ PROFITS. —The dealer is 
-imply playing his usual bluff, lie has no notion 
of giving up the business. What he wants to do is 
to buy milk for less than the cost of production, and 
continue to draw big profits from the -business of 
distribution. Tn the last contract the farmer was 
allowed .18% cents per hour for his time in pro¬ 
ducing milk. Lot the men who distribute it figure 
their time at the same rate, and the demand for 
milk in New York State will be so great that the 
number of cows will need to be doubled to supply 
the milk needed. And what is there sacred about 
the person of the distributer that he should be paid 
more for his time than the producer? In intelli¬ 
gence. skill and endurance the producers as a class 
outrank the distributers. We have yet to hear one 
sound, sane reason why the distributer of milk 
should be paid more for his time than the man who 
produces it. If there is a reason, we invite some 
one to stand up and give it to us. 
REDUCING FARM PI MCE 8.—There, of course, 
i- no reason. Yet the whole propaganda of reduced 
prices to the farm is based on the theory that the 
distributer must have bis full previous reward, and 
the producer take less. This in face of the fact that 
the price per hour to the unskilled driver of a de¬ 
livery wagon in the city is more than double the 
price allowed per hour for the labor of producing 
the milk. The difference to other classes of distri¬ 
buters is more. 
FUNDAMENTAL VALUES.—The value of an 
article in exchange is justly based on the amount of 
labor necessary to produce it. Give us hour for 
hour of equal skill and energy, for the things we get 
in exchange for milk, and no one will have reason 
to complain. 
LEAGUE PRICES.—The League Co-operative As¬ 
sociation paid its patrons for July milk in the plants 
it operates 05 cents a hundred pounds less than the 
dealer paid other members. The management say 
the failure to pay full price was due to the lack of 
capital and short supply of raw milk, caused by the 
fact that some of the patrons insisted on selling to 
dealer plants in the neighborhood. This failure of 
the League Association plants to pay full price gave 
the dealers an opportunity to assert that the price 
is too high, and they are making the most of the 
argument. Anyway, there are two prices for milk. 
The patrons of the association plants get loss than 
the others, and it is now realized that this cannot 
continue without serious consequences. It will be 
remembered that we anticipated this embarrassment 
three years ago. As we pointed out then, subsidiaries 
are a danger because they cause some members to 
be favored above others, and all members must he 
treated alike if the organization is to be permanently 
successful. The management 1ms now accepted this 
principle. Tt seeks to avoid the embarrassment by 
means of a new plan, which has been proposed to 
the membership. It does not abolish the subsidiary, 
but it proposes to pool all the milk so that members 
who sell to the dealers will help make up any loss 
to those who deliver to the association plants. Un¬ 
der this plan the farmer would receive no direct 
returns for milk. Payment would be made to the 
association. The average price would then be ascer¬ 
tained and each producer would he paid on the 
average basis by the association. All would get the 
same price, but it would not be known until payment 
time. To adopt this plan the management proposes 
that each member sign a new agreement to put full 
control of the milk and the returns for it in the 
bands of the association. 
DEMAND GOOD.—Tn the meantime there is a 
good demand for milk and cream. The dealers will 
stay right on the job and take the milk. 
Buying for Schools and Institutions 
The following letter comes from the head of an 
institution in New York where 150 or more people 
are fed. This is a fair sample of others: 
I am enclosing a clipping about apples, which I took 
from the paper this morning. One of our young men 
teaches out near Paterson, and he told our housekeeper 
a day or two ago that one of his members advised that 
we buy things in Paterson and bring them in in a truck. 
We are facing a strenuous season, financially. It 
behooves us in a special way as to how we may secure 
our food price at the lowest possible figure. Would 
you advise our buying a supply of apples and potatoes 
in some region, having them stored and brought in once 
a month or so? We thought of buying a truck, but it is 
an expensive proposition. w. w. 
The newspaper clipping contained an article by 
Frank M. Bradley, president, of the New York Fed¬ 
eration of Agriculture. Mr. Bradley gave the follow¬ 
ing table of figures to show the cost of marketable 
apples and the farmers’ prices: 
The bushel baskets of apples sold at 
wholesale in New York for. $0.75 @$1.35 
The commission man got 10 per cent 
(little enough, we agree, for the 
work) _.07 %@ .13% 
The hauling in New York on this lot 
was .05 @ .05 
The railroad charged for freight.15 @ .15 
The ice and use of a refrigerator ear 
cost ..05 (eh .05 
The baskets and cap cost.33 @ .33 
The grower received for the 10 lbs. of 
apples, out of which he must pay 
for picking, packing, growing, and 
pay for his own time.09%<??' .03% 
The grower paid $5 per day to pick and grade the 
apples. The costs per basket were: Picking. 12c; grad¬ 
ing and packing. 0c. 
Tn a bushel of 2-in. apples there are about 300 fruits: 
2%-iu.. about 210; 2%-in.. ISO to 100; 2 : L-in.. 140 to 
150. 
For the 2%-in. apples the grower received one-third 
of a cent each. 
These figures are conservative and mean a steady 
loss to the grower. Owing to the system of distribu¬ 
tion in this city (it is. in fact, a monopoly) there is 
very little chance for a small buyer to obtain food at 
any fair price. Institutions or co-operative societies 
serving 100 or more people can buy better. 
Some of the markets, like the one in Paterson. N. 
J.. offer better bargains than can be found in New 
York, but one must be a very shrewd buyer and a 
first-class judge of produce in order to make good. 
These markets are not in any sense a benevolent en¬ 
terprise. Trading in them is a sharp game on both 
sides. With a rapid track a good buyer could load 
up at such a market and deliver goods in the city at 
a gain of say 15 per cent under New York prices. 
This would mean buying for about 150 people. 
In buying a stock of potatoes if would be bettor to 
go down into Monmouth County. N. .T.. or some sim¬ 
ilar potato section and buy a season's supply. Stor¬ 
age in the city is expensive and not sound. A good 
way for such an institution would he t<> own a light, 
rapid track, capable of running 50 to 00 miles into 
the country. Then advertise for supplies and go out 
after them. Many farmers would be found who have 
comparatively small quantities of produce for sale. 
They have no local market, and could not well ship 
to middlemen. An advertisement would reach them 
and a light track from the city could come right to 
their door and get the goods. With some such plan 
both parties would be helped. The fanner would get 
more than the commission man would pay him. and 
the buyer would get cheaper food. This could only 
be done by combining the city buyers and reaching 
farmers direct. When the new tunnels under the 
river are completed we think this plan of buying 
will be greatly developed. 
Liquidation of the Farmer 
Many of the daily papers are waking up to the 
farm market situation. The following is taken from 
the Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat mid Chronicle: 
Liquidation of the cost of food products by deflating 
the prices paid tlie farmers for their crops is proceeding 
famously. Of course the news has come only as a whis¬ 
per to the city dealers; and the restaurant keepers ap¬ 
parently have not even heard that the war is over, to 
say nothing of the hard swat that ha- been given the 
farmer. They still charge war prices. 
But the farmer knows that lie has neen hit. Down 
in the cabbage growing region of Yates and Ontario 
counties there are farmers whose expenses in planting 
the crop went into the hundreds of dollars who will not 
get hack the money they paid >>ut. At present there is 
almost no market. One fanner took a load of cab¬ 
bage to Geneva. lie found no one who wanted to buy. 
and rather than draw the load back peddled it out at 
lc a head. Another man with a fine field of cabbage 
has.invited bis friends to come and help themselves; he 
will not bother to cut it. When a price is mentioned 
it is only $3 or $4 a ton. 
Potatoes are not ready to dig in any quantity, yet 
they are but $1 a bushel to tb rt farmer and likely to 
drop still farther when he has them to sell. Early 
apples are unsalable and the outlook for peaches is far 
from bright. Many of the evaporators will not open at 
all this season, so the bulk of the drop apples will be 
lost; and in the present state of affairs he would be a 
hold prophet indeed who would predict a good price for 
the big crop of Winter apples. So far grain does not 
seem to have been hit very hard, but wool, which is of 
some account to many farmers, is away down. 
Verily, the farmer is being liquidated with a ven¬ 
geance. lie was begged to keep the world from starv¬ 
ing when the war tva6 raging. He was hedged about 
with restrictions so that he barely made living wages, 
while the speculators were coining millions, and now he 
e.m hardly give away the produce he has paid good 
money and worked hard to raise. Funny no one seems 
to think of liquidating the grabbers. 
Farm Buyers are Deceived 
The enclosed clipping, cut from the Enterprise and 
Journal of Orange, Mass., issue <>f September 3, illus¬ 
trates the manner in which unscrupulous real estate 
agents take advantage of unwary purchasers of farm 
property who rely entirely upon the agents’ word: 
“A man and wife with nine children arrived in Orange 
Wednesday night from East Providence. R. I., bound for 
Warwick. They had traveled almost all day and it was 
a tired looking family when they left the train. They 
were bound for the White Farm on Beech Hill, which 
they had bought, and their weariness gave way to utter 
dejection when they were told that the buildings on the 
White Farm had been struck by lightning two weeks ago 
and damaged. It appears that the farm was bought of 
an out-of-town real estate agent, who told him the farm 
was only two miles from the Orange station.” 
The town of )\ arwiek is situated some nine miles 
from the Orange station, over a very hilly road, and the 
road is almost, if not. quite impassable at times during 
Winter and Spring. Warwick is one of the “old” hill 
towns of the State, and could once boast of a consider¬ 
ably larger population than at present. There are some 
good farms there, but the distance from market is a 
serious obstacle in farming operations, unless one has 
capital for motor equipment, and in that locality such 
equipment would be useless at times. I have known of 
several similar cases. In some instances the victim has 
sacrificed the property for what he could get. usually at 
a considerable loss. Iu other cases the family is still 
holding on and trying to win out in an unsuitable loca¬ 
tion. 
Every prospective farm purchaser should either in¬ 
spect the property he intends to purchase in person, or 
should write the selectmen or board of trade in the town 
where the property is located for information before 
closing the deal. 
Milk Prices and Grain Costs 
The New York Times recently said iu an editorial: 
* * * Feed is said to he selling for much less than 
at this time last year, and the distributers are said to 
feel that this reduction should be reflected in the price 
the producer receives for his milk. 
To this Mr. Lee F. Hamner makes the following 
reply; 
Beiug a producer of milk in Ulster County. N. Y., as 
well as a consumer of milk in New York City, I was 
not only interested but surprised in the statement, care¬ 
fully guarded by “it is said.” that dairy feed prices are 
lower than they were a year ago. My feed bills did not 
bear out that statement, which was evidently made in 
preparation for price fixing for October. The following 
prices were given me on August 30. 1920. by our local 
feed dealer in Gardiner, N. Y. 
Price Per Ton 
in August 
Kind of Feed 1919 1920 
Wheat bran . $52.00 $58.00 
Colonial ships. 05 00 70.00 
Light ships . 04.00 05 00 
Middlings . 07 00 80.00 
Hominy . 00.00 75.00 
Dairy feed (balanced ration). 75.00 83 (X) 
Gluten . 74.00 70 00 
Dilmeal . 100.00 74.00 
Cottonseed meal . 80.00 70.00 
Oats, per bu. 1.00 1.20 
The items all show marked increase iu price except 
oilmeal and cottonseed meal, which are minor items. 
The milk situation will not. be helped by such mis¬ 
representations on the part of the distributers in their 
consistent attempt to place on the producer the respon¬ 
sibility for increased prices to the consumer. 
Michigan Farmers’ Candidate was Beaten 
Official figures on the Michigan primary- in which 
Milo D. Campbell was entered as a farmers’ candidate 
for Governor, show that he was defeated by Attorney 
General Groesheek. who is a Detroit lawyer, by a plu¬ 
rality of 30.120. A few scattering rural precincts are 
missing. Groesheek got his plurality in Detroit, the fig¬ 
ures -bowing that outside of Wayne County he ran but 
10‘j ahead of Campbell. 
There were nine Republican candidates iu the field. 
Up to a week prior to the voting Mr. Campbell seemed 
to be in the lead. At that time he was charged with 
making an alliance with a politician who is much dis¬ 
liked in Michigan, one who was prominently connected 
with the Newberry scandal of 1018. The story was 
published as a sensation in many papers throughout the 
State. Mr. Campbell denied the charges, hut it was too 
late to overcome the effect of them, and it is believed by 
his friends that this story was the cause of his defeat. 
The candidate in whose behalf the story was sent out 
did not benefit greatly if at all. for he ran third, more 
than 11.000 votes behind Campbell. 
This result shows the farmers what sort, of political 
tricks they will have to contend with in trying to rid 
State governmen s of political gangs. The farmers, 
through lack of- experience, are not familiar with polit¬ 
ical strategy and therefore are unprepared to combat it. 
More voters are influenced by what they read in the 
daily papers than by any other agency, and the poli¬ 
ticians are in position to get their stories into the papers, 
while the farmers are not. This disadvantage is being 
gradually overcome ■ in Michigan and in some other 
Western States, where newspapers have become cogni¬ 
zant of the importance of agriculture to the welfare of 
cities. Many of them now publish a good deal of au¬ 
thentic farm news, and in their editorial columns are 
fighting the farmers’ battles. If this growth of senti¬ 
ment favorable to agriculture continues as- it seems it 
must, the general public eventually will become suffi¬ 
ciently enlightened to accord the farmers their just dues. 
