The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Milk Prices Under the Pooling Plan 
Under the j)lnn adopted by the Dairymen's League 
C'o-operative Association milk is divided for price 
adjustments into four different classes, depending 
entirely on the use to be made of it. The first class 
is milk sold in fluid form, and includes milk con¬ 
verted into cream, when the skimmed milk is 
sold in fluid form. The price for May is $2.30 per 
hundred. 
Class 2 is milk converted into cream and skim- 
milk which is not sold in fluid form, plain condensed 
milk, homogenized mixtures, ice cream and fancy 
soft cheeses. The May price for this class is $2.10 
per hundred. 
Class 3 is milk used in the manufacture of evapo¬ 
rated whole milk, sweetened whole condensed milk, 
whole milk powder, Swiss, iimlmrger. pineapple, 
Edam and similar cheeses. The May price for this 
milk is $1.80 per 100 lbs. 
Class 4 is milk made into cheese or butter. In 
cheese the yield is figured on the basis of 9.GS lb. of 
cheese to 100 lbs. of 3.0 per cent milk, and 4 cents 
per lb. is allowed for making. The price will bo 
figured on the average run of colored and uncolored 
flats on the New York market for the month. If the 
whey is used to make into sugar I lien 10 cents extra 
will be added to the price. 
For milk made into butter 4.17G lbs. of butter will 
be allowed for each 100 lbs. of 3.0 per cent milk, 
and 5 cents per lb. allowed for’making. The price 
will be figured on the average New York price for 
butter scoring 02 points. If (he sldm-milk is used 
or sold, 10 cents per 100 lbs. is added to the whole 
milk price, and if the whey is used to make sugar 
another 10 cents is added, or if the skim-milk is 
used to make powdered skim-milk 20 cents per 100 
lbs. is added to the whole milk price. The prices for 
this class of milk cannot be determined until the 
quotations for butter and cheese are known for the 
last day of the month. There will be two prices for 
the milk used to make cheese, provided any of the 
whey is iiscd to make sugar. There may be four 
different prices for the milk that is made into but¬ 
ler. assuming that some of the skim-milk is used for 
the different purposes. In all there may be nine dif¬ 
ferent. prices. Our understanding, however, is that 
after the expense of operation is deducted, the re¬ 
mainder of the proceeds will be apportioned among 
fhe members in the pool on the basis of the pounds 
of milk delivered by each member, and the assess¬ 
ment for capital fund will be charged against each 
individual account, the purpose being to sell the 
milk at different prices for the different uses, but to 
pay all producers the same price per 100 lbs. except 
for differentials in fat and freight rates. Of course 
the price to the producer cannot be made known un¬ 
til the account is closed for the month, and the re¬ 
sults are all figured out. Dealers who have been 
paying twice a month will be obliged to resort to 
monthly payments. The management has prom¬ 
ised detailed reports, and we hope to print them 
when available. 
Express Companies and Egg Shipments 
Since this new law went into effect on packing, etc . 
I have not had a broken egg now in 12 months. It: is 
plainly to be seen that the express employees are more 
careful, and the breakage they want to lay on the 
shipper. My eggs were packed last year the same as 
years before, and I have shipped to New York City for 
15 years. My express agent here tells me it is with the 
train hands at the New York end where the trouble was 
all the time. J. H. M. 
New York. 
I have received your letter with check for $17.27 from 
American Railway Express Company in payment of my 
claim of eight months standing. I thank you very 
kindly for your effort in getting a settlement in this 
ease. I am glad to say that the shipments an* going 
through all right now without exception. Just why the 
express company permitted tin* mishandling that was 
prevalent all of last Summer is more than I can under¬ 
stand. E. T. 
New York. 
On another page we print the views of tin* Ameri¬ 
can Railway Express Company on the egg breakage 
subject. The views of our subscribers differ some¬ 
what as to the cause of the breakage, but as the 
regulation has gone into effect it will be wise to 
eliminate all second-hand lillors. 
We are willing to admit that there has been bad 
packing by shippers, and that fillers have been used 
when they were not in good condition to afford pro¬ 
tection to the eggs, but we cannot concede that ‘‘most 
of the trouble lies in the packing.’’ Express handlers 
have been notoriously careless, and the express com¬ 
pany must assume their share of the responsibility. 
Some of the damage lias been so great that it could 
not be charged to the fillers used. The egg breakage 
claims reached such proportions that it was found 
necessary to formulate some method of packing that 
would afford protection, but this was not done until 
the shippers had reached the point where they could 
not stand the loss, and liled all the claims. When 
it meant, the outgo of so much money the express 
company started -their course of education. The 
regulations were changed and applied, but many of 
the agents in the country districts did not. have the 
information, or 't least did not give it to the ship¬ 
pers. and though the circulars were said to have 
been sent out broadcast, many country shippers had 
not received them nor heard of them. Still, the 
express company bases the rejection of claims for 
egg breakage on the fact that the packing instruc¬ 
tions were not followed. The proof is left in many 
cases to the delivery men, and their word taken. 
Consignees insist, they signed for the exact damage, 
and in the delivery record office the record cannot, 
be found. It does not appear that shippers had 
general information until late in the Fall of 1920. 
and some did not have it until we published the 
regulation, or advised them in personal letters. It 
is, therefore, safe to place as much of the responsi¬ 
bility for egg breakage on the express handlers as 
on the packers of egg shipments, if not more, as the 
eggs mean money to the country farmer. We are 
getting 50 per cent less egg breakage claims this 
year than were received last year, and it is very 
evident from the reports coming in that the handling 
of egg shipments is improved, for many shippers 
write, as the two correspondents above, that they 
have prepared their eggs in the same way for years, 
and yet the improvement only started the last Sum¬ 
mer. 
We believe in the campaign for better packing, 
and will help it all wo can. It will have good results, 
hut the express company must accept their share of 
the responsibility. One authority writes that his 
Observations are that the breakage is chargeable to 
the carrier, and results largely from the indifference 
of employees, unreasonable delays and lack of im¬ 
proved methods, though he admits the requirements 
for packing and marking shipments wore never on 
a more scientific basis than they are today. Further¬ 
more. there should be no delay in making adjust¬ 
ments, and when the claim runs for over a two or 
three-month period interest should be paid on the 
claim. The transportation companies will not grant 
credit to a shipper, and lie should have consideration 
when his goods are damaged. 
Canada’s Wool Market 
HAVE read with much interest the reply printed 
on page 051 to my article, “How Canadian 
Farmers Marketed Wool.” by J. Fleming, of Moun¬ 
tainside. Manitoba. All that Mr. Fleming says re¬ 
garding wool sales is true, but the fact remains that 
the Canadian Co-operative Wool Growers, Ltd., did 
sell their 1920 clip, which cannot be said of the wool 
associations this side of the line. 
True, prices were not as bright as two or three 
years back, but the reduction in wool prices has been 
no greater than on other prices. Many farmers, 
holding an aggregate of millions of bushels of pota¬ 
toes, would gladly sell for a price below cost rather 
than see their potatoes go to waste, but there is no 
market. This is true right down the line, including 
wheat, corn, oats, cotton, etc. Therefore wool is hut 
a part of the great proposition the farmer faces, 
namely, of a stock to the sky and no demand at 
anywhere near a cost-of-production price. 
The article I wrote about Canada’s wool sales 
pointed out the manner and methods employed there, 
and I am forced to believe that the Canadian system 
has a very practical lesson for farmers of the United 
States to adopt at the earliest moment, namely, get 
together as a united body and stop this localized 
sales plan, which has been responsible for placing 
the wool growers at a great disadvantage. In fact, 
where every little community sells together, they are 
openly competing with one another. A United States 
centralized wool warehouse and sales force is the 
only salvation of the wool business. As long as 
farmers in Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, Ohio, New 
York, are selling wool in competition with those of 
New England, etc., all are at a great disadvantage; 
whereas if all wool were centralized under the sales 
control of one great organization we could hope to 
compete with wool growers of a country like Canada, 
where business methods prevail. Probably the olli- 
cers of the Canadian Co-operative* Wool Growers, 
Ltd., are as sad as Mr. Fleming that they could not 
get 40 to 00 cents for his wool, and that of other 
farmers, but the fact that these men were able to 
sell his wool before it further shrunk is testimony 
that they have a far better sales method than we 
here, v here thousands of farmers haven’t even seen 
a check for their last year’s wool to date. 
When farmers must sell good cow hides at $1 
each and almost give their wool away, it means that 
763 
someone Is going barefooted and barelegged in the 
near future. We can easily appreciate that the 
powerful middlemen are piling these great stocks of 
cheap stuff in their warehouses, at the disadvantage 
of our farmers, and that they will reap profits by the 
hundreds of millions from the pocket of the producer 
and tbe ultimate buyer. There is little incentive in 
the United States today to raise sheep or cattle for 
wool or hide purposes under these circumstances, 
and someone must a little later pay the same fiddler 
the farmer is now paying. 
The farmers’ organizations must go one step fur¬ 
ther than to date if this continues; namely, operate 
the mills and tanneries which convert their produce 
into the finished article. The greedy middlemen 
•have set the stakes, and it is now up to the con¬ 
sumers to decide whether they care to walk to them 
or not. Most farmers have decided that they will 
not produce much for the selfish interest in the 
future to gain upon, and this is the sane position to 
hike. EARLE W. GAGE. 
Let “ Industry ” Get Down to Business 
The executive committee of the Luzerne County, 
Pa., Farm Bureau, at a recent meeting expressed the 
sentiment, that, whereas considerable publicity has been 
given, editorially and otherwise, in urging farmers to 
greater production in spite of losses sustained during 
the past year, nevertheless there does not seem to be 
any general publicity directed toward greater produc¬ 
tion in industries. The officers of the bureau feel that 
farmers, as a class, will produce all the foodstuffs neces¬ 
sary to supply the country, even though they have suf¬ 
fered considerable loss in the past year. But they also 
feel that normal conditions cannot prevail until industry 
as a whole can be stimulated to greater activity. 
The farmer has always done his full share in operat¬ 
ing his business, even under most unfavorable condi¬ 
tions. It. is certain that labor and employers of labor 
must do as much as the farmer in this period of read¬ 
justment before complete normal conditions can be re¬ 
stored. When industry can take its losses as philo¬ 
sophically as the farmer has done, and still continue to 
produce, then will the country at large begin to prosper 
as it never has prospered before. 
Tt. N.-Y.—The city newspapers have been urging 
farmers to plant all they can get into the ground, 
regardless of cost or conditions. Yet other indus¬ 
tries have slacked up in order to dispose of goods on. 
baud at a high figure. It is a great scheme—this 
urging the farmer to work so that everything he sells 
will be cheap, while others are to work so that what 
the farmer must buy must he high in price. Some 
years ago the unorganized farmers might have fallen 
iii with this nice little scheme. Now they are feeling 
(he power of organization and they will not. work 
themselves to death in order that “industry” may 
have cheap food, high wages and high prices for 
what farmers buy. 
We Must do it Ourselves 
Cambridge Valley Grange No. 1090, wishing to take 
some action on the adoption of “fool time” in our little 
town, the resolution below was adopted. It is already 
bearing some fruit, ns some of tin* merchants have hung 
a notice in their windows that they will keep open on 
standard time. The strange part of it is that most of 
the residents do not want the change of time . The 
board of trustees seemed to take all tin* responsibility 
of the whole thing. We had planned to go to Salem to 
trade, as that village is on standard time, but some of 
our merchants still have a few brains left and do not 
want us to go. 
“Whereas, tlu* New York Legislature repealed the 
so-called daylight saving law, and whereas the trustees 
of the village of Cambridge have voted to adopt said 
law for tin* coming Summer, and whereas most of the 
merchants have expressed their willingness to conduct 
their business on new time, which will cause much in¬ 
convenience to many people, especially the farmer ; there¬ 
fore he it resolved that we, the members of Cambridge 
Valley Grange No. 1090 go on record as being opposed 
to the action taken by the trustees of the village and 
that we give our trade to the merchants who will keep 
their places of business on standard time as in the past. 
And be it further resolved that the secretary be in¬ 
structed to send a copy of this resolution to tin* board 
of trustees and every merchant in town.” 
u. c. carter, Secretary. 
Jersey Poultrymen to Pool Their Eggs 
The product of close to 100.000 New Jersey hens has 
been pledged by the poultrymen of two of the State’s 
big poultry centers, Toms River and Vineland, in the 
initial movement for membership of the New Jersey 
Poultry Producers’ Assosciation. At the opening meet¬ 
ing nt Toms River on April 20 poultrymen representing 
34.000 hens contracted to sell their eggs co-operatively, 
and at a similar meeting at Vineland May 3, 45,000 
more birds were added. Other poultrymen have since 
come in. The leaders in the association are aiming to 
sign up ut, least 150.000 birds before beginning the co¬ 
operative selling, but they will probably have 300,000 
birds. The purpose of the association is to pool the 
members’ eggs, grade and pack them as a standard 
product, and sell them co-operatively. 
When the required number of birds are signed, a 
board of I t directors, all member poultry producers, 
will be elected, who will select officers and employ the 
necessary agents to conduct the work. A central office 
will he opened at Trenton, and probably packing and 
grading houses will be established at Vineland and at 
Toms River. A salt's office, it is expected, will be main¬ 
tained in the vicinity of New York. 
