What Keeps Dairymen Apart? 
HE RURAL NEW-YORKER has had its part in 
encouraging farmers to expect personal bene¬ 
fits from organized co-operation among themselves; 
and it feels therefore that it has a responsibility to 
dairymen to help them find a way to stop the pres¬ 
ent warfare between dairy groups, and to help them 
realize the promised benefits of organization. With 
this purpose, we have sent the following letter to 
dairy leaders in this territory, and we address it in 
this public way to all dairymen and invite an early 
expression of views from all: 
To Friends of Dairy Co-operation: 
Those of us who are responsible for the co-opera¬ 
tive movement among farmers and who have led 
dairymen into producers’ associations have a re¬ 
sponsibility to the members of these organizations 
to stop the present price warfare and to correct the 
chaotic conditions that now prevail in the New York 
milk territory. The need of constructive work ad¬ 
mits no further delay. 
To reach an understanding we must first find 
what is keeping our dairy groups apart; and then 
develop a formula under which we can reach an 
agreement. To this end we invite discussion of the 
two following propositions: 
1. What in your judgment is keeping our dairy 
groups apart? 
2. Under what broad principles and general poli¬ 
cies can dairymen and dairy groups work together 
in permanent co-operative union? 
May we have your contribution to an early sym¬ 
posium on these questions? 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
We earnestly request an expression of opinion, no 
matter how brief, from all dairymen. Names will be 
withheld, if requested. This is one of the things 
we must do ourselves. 
N. Y. Senators Need Your Attention 
H ERE is a list of the up-State New York State 
'Senators who, last Winter, voted for the school 
bill. Most of them represent rural counties, and 
they need some attention from you. There will be a 
new election next year. It is your full privilege to 
tell these gentlemen how you stand and what you 
would like to have them do. Do it respectfully but 
plainly, and make them understand what you want. 
In view of the importance of next year’s election we 
think they will do what the majority of their people 
ask. 
Lick a stamp for the district school! 
The list gives name and address and the counties 
which each Senator represents: 
D. H. Ames, Franklinville; Chautauqua and Cat¬ 
taraugus. 
M. S. Augsbury, Antwerp; Jefferson and Oswego. 
Wm. T. Byrne, Albany; Albany. 
Wm. T. Campbell, Lockport; Niagara and Orleans. 
Ernest E. Cole, Bath; Steuben, Yates, Ontario. 
Frederick M. Davenport, Clinton; Oneida. 
M. Y. Ferris, Ticonderoga; Warren, Essex, Clin¬ 
ton. 
L. W. Gibbs, Buffalo; Erie. 
Clias. J. Hewitt, Locke; Wayne, Seneca and 
Cayuga. 
F. W. Kavanaugh, Waterford; Saratoga and 
Schenctady. 
John Knight, Arcade; Genesee, Wyoming, Living¬ 
ston and Allegany. 
R. C. Lacey, Buffalo; Erie. 
Seymour Lowman, Elmira; Tioga, Chemung, 
Tompkins and Schuyler. 
S. E. Mastick, Pleasantville; Westchester. 
Theodore D. Robinson, Mohawk; Herkimer, Ham¬ 
ilton and Fulton. 
J. T. Ryan, Troy; Rensselaer. 
Barton Swift, Buffalo; Erie. 
J. Griswold Webb, Clinton Corners; Columbia, 
Putnam and Dutchess. 
W. W. Westall, White Plains; Westchester. 
Ice Not Always Required 
ECENTLY the City of New York revised its 
regulations for the cooling of milk at the farms 
by requiring all dairymen to provide two tons of 
ice per cow for the cooling of milk to be shipped 
to the City of New York for consumption purposes. 
This regulation has now been modified by the fol¬ 
lowing clause: 
“Providing this shall not apply to farms where 
facilities equally effective are provided so that 
night’s milk produced on Grade B dairies will be 
cooled to a temperature of 60 degrees within two 
hours after milking, and on Grade A dairies, be 
cooled to a temperature of 50 degrees within two 
hours after milking.” 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Dairymen, therefore, who have facilities for cool¬ 
ing night’s milk in springs or running water to 60 
degrees within two hours after milking, or Grade A 
milk to 50 degrees during the same time need not 
supply ice. The chances are, however, that a check¬ 
up will be made on producers who do not have ice; 
and to avoid annoyances and loss, should take pre¬ 
cautions to see that the cold water facilities are 
sufficient to produce the desired results. Where cold 
spring running water can be provided, the cooling 
can be done in a more sanitary wmy than in the 
average ice box. This modification of the regula¬ 
tion will save many good dairymen considerable 
needless expense. 
A Case of Consolidation 
Inclosed find clipping from our paper of November 
6. I think this is a complete answer to the claim of 
the State Board that there is to be no compulsory 
consolidation. 
One of our objections, and there are many, to the 
consolidated school is the injury to the health of small 
children living a number of miles from the school. 
Every physician claims that it is very necessary for 
growing children to have a proper amount of sleep. In 
fair weather and with good roads they would be obliged 
to get up before daylight and return after dark, and 
during stormy weather no one knows at what hour 
they would reach home, nor how much they would 
suffer from cold on the way. 
In this vicinity there are cross roads that it is im¬ 
possible to keep open while a storm is on. We live on 
a main road running east and west, and less than two 
miles from the city, and last Winter there were a num¬ 
ber of times when the mailman could not get through 
for two or three days, and one time there was no 
mail from Monday until Saturday. On Monday fore¬ 
noon the weather was as nice as one could wish, and 
every child would naturally have gone to school. Be¬ 
fore time for school to close came one of the worst 
storms one could imagine. 
Four years ago, at a distance of less than half a 
mile east of us, the snow was so deep in the road that 
people walking on the crust stepped over the long dis¬ 
tance telephone wires. One of our neighbors took a 
snapshot of the bank with the snow piled up among 
the wires. What chance would a load of children 
have of being returned home during one of these 
storms? 
The schools this clipping speaks of are situated in 
the western part of the county, where they usually 
have much more snow than we do here, and most of 
the children will have to travel on cross roads, and 
you will see by the clipping how far some of them will 
have to go. 
We are informed that our town spent over $6,000 in 
opening roads last Winter besides all the farmers did 
themselves. We read in the paper that an ignorant 
New Yorker said it would take less than $2,000 to 
keep the roads clear in a whole county. s. a. 
Fulton Co., N. Y. 
HE clipping states that four school districts in 
the town of Ephratali were dissolved and 
placed in a consolidated district. It is said that 
some of the pupils are obliged to travel nearly 10 
miles a day going and coming. In June an elec¬ 
tion was held seeking to make a union free school 
district, but this was defeated 61 to 16. We know 
. nothing of the local circumstances except that evi¬ 
dently the local patrons do not want their school 
dissolved. These districts seem to have been con¬ 
solidated by the Department of Education on ap¬ 
plication of the district superintendent. In refusing 
to revoke the order it is stated that the advant¬ 
ages of improved educational facilities will offset 
any possible disadvantages of transportation. It is 
fair to say that under the new law the schools 
would not be closed in just this way, though the 
desire of the Department would evidently be the 
same. 
More About the Milk War 
Iu the article, “Who Started the Milk War?” you 
offer space for corrections. The article was correct as 
far as it went, but I think it would have been clearer if 
you had gone further back and shown how the division 
in the^ membership and the variation in prices originat¬ 
ed. Some of us can now see clearer the wisdom of 
your warning against subsidiaries than we did when 
you first made it six years ago. There have been three 
subsidiaries since, including the pool, and the split and 
price cutting has followed, just as you cautioned it 
would, if subsidiaries were adopted. It is true that by 
a freak of circumstances in this case the usual result 
has been reversed and the members of the subsidiaries 
have in all three cases, including the pool, received a 
lesser price than those outside of the subsidiaries. This 
is as true of the members of the pool as it was of 
the members of the Country Milk Company. 
The variation in price began simultaneously with the 
first subsidiary and has been a feature to contend with 
since. In 1921, when the officers of the old Dairymen’s 
League also became officers of the pooling association, 
with authority to make prices for both, the dealers were 
buying of both associations, but the members of the old 
League were receiving more than the members of the 
pool, because the dealers paid the old League members 
direct, with only one cent per 100 lbs. deducted, while 
the management of the pool received pay for the pooled 
milk and made reductions for expense and losses in op¬ 
eration and certificates of indebtedness. The manage¬ 
ment of the pool then authorized the dealer to reduce 
the price to the old League members to correspond with 
the pool price, the only inference being that the dealers 
might put the difference in their pockets. The dealers 
generally did not take advantage of this privilege, but 
some of them did, and the experience widened the 
breach between the producing groups and laid the foun¬ 
dation for the non-pool organizations. This was really 
the serious beginning of the price war between pro¬ 
ducers. 
19 
This brings the record down briefly to April 1922, 
when the management of the pool made the provision 
in its contracts that the dealers to whom it sold milk 
must give it the preference in the high price milk class¬ 
es, where you took it up. old leaguer. 
New xork. 
A Sheffield Milk Producer Talks 
I have nothing to add to your .explanation of milk 
prices m issue of Dec. 22. The article was fair and 
truthful. I would, however, like to correct the state- 
ment in League Netcs of Dec. 21, under the heading “A 
I ool Price that Talks,” in which it says : “The price 
which fhe Sheffield farmer will receive for his milk for 
November is only 15 cents higher than the League’s 
gross price.” The Sheffield farmer received $2 752 
The League gross price was $2.43. The difference was 
cents. The Sheffield farmer received $2,752 in 
cash. The pool members received $2.23 in cash, or~52.2 
cents less in cash, or 42.2 cents less, counting the eei~ 
tiheates. 
The results of the November reductions do not show 
the reasons for congratulations to the pool farmer that 
the News intimates, nor the disaster of the reduction 
to the Sheffield farmer. In November, 1922, the Shef¬ 
field farmer received 46 cents in cash more than the 
pool farmer. In 1923. the Sheffield farmer received 52.2 
cents more than the pool farmer in cash, a gain of 6.2 
cents. The Sheffield farmer received 2.7 cents more 
than in 1922. The pool farmer received 3.5 cents less. 
There was no change of prices by anyone in November, 
1922, and the records prove that instead of helping the 
pool farmer at the expense of the non-pool farmer, lie 
is 6.2 cents short. Like you and apparently unlike the 
News, I see no advantage to anyone in this ruinous 
course. It could be changed any time the League asso¬ 
ciation consents to withdraw the policies that many of 
us could not accept when the pool was formed and that 
were responsible for the split in a once splendidly united 
organization. Sheffield producer. 
New York. 
Bringing the Milk Producers Together 
I have been a subscriber to The R. N.-Y. ever since 
the Tribune Farmer ceased publication, and recognize 
you as a friend of the farmer. 
As an average pool producer I would like to say 
something about the present milk situation and I know 
that there are other poolers who feel about the same as 
I do. In your article on page 1549 you did not state 
that during the year 1921 the poolers stood the burden 
of the surplus milk. It seems to me that the Dairy¬ 
men’s League Co-operative Association, Inc., is the 
only farmers’ organization that really makes the price 
for milk, both pooled and non-pooled. If all the milk 
produced within shipping distance of New York were 
dumped on the market the price that the Sheffields 
could pay would be so far below the pool price that it 
would cause farms to be deserted much faster than at 
present. The Dairymen’s League, as far as it is able 
to do so, prevents this dumping. The division in the 
ranks of the producers is without a doubt the cause of 
the present low prices for milk, and the main question 
is how to get them together. I do not know how either 
the Eastern States Milk Producers or the Non-pool 
Association aims to control the price of milk, but it 
seems to me that our organization aims to control the 
price by controlling the surplus, and it offers to all 
farmers who will join equal rights with its members. 
Now what would happen if we should all join one of 
the other groups, either the Eastern States or the Non¬ 
pool? What provisions have they made for caring for 
the surplus? If we should all join the Sheffield Pro¬ 
ducers group would we go back to times such as they 
were before the Dairymen’s League began to function, 
when the Milk Conference Board named the price, re¬ 
gardless of cost of production? In 1914 the Sheffield’s 
paid for 3 per cent milk from February 1 to October 1, 
an average price of $1 per hundredweight; for January, 
$1.45; for October, November, and December, $1.50. 
These figures are taken from my book. I would like 
to suggest that The It. N.-Y. ask the leaders of the 
various groups to discuss, through the columns of The 
R. N.-Y., plans to get the groups together, regarding 
price making and surplus, feeling sure The II. N.-Y. 
would be glad to act as mediator and stop the needless 
waste of farmers’ money. an average pooler. 
Cider Released for Vingar Making 
I inclose a clipping from the Torrington Register of 
Dec. 17. which mentions the return of 40,000 gallons of 
hard cider to Mr. Alderman of Burlington, Conn. This 
cider is in large tanks, and was sealed up by Federal 
agents a month ago. It will now be allowed to go to 
vinegar. This decision is very much appreciated by 
the general public and deserves favor for the reason that 
it embraces good common sense with justice. I think 
if cider were allowed to be sold after fermentation, and 
without the addition of drugs, we could make use of a 
good many more bushels of apples every season. This 
would be helping the farmers. Aside from this, it 
would also be in line with the pure food laws, which 
should ever be upheld and given the preference in any 
case. wsr. f. abeling & son. 
Connecticut. 
I N this case it appears that the cider was con¬ 
demned as “hard,” and thus an intoxicating bev¬ 
erage. As such it was to be destroyed, but on ex¬ 
planation that it would change to vinegar the con¬ 
demnation order was revoked and the cider has 
been returned to the owner on agreement that it 
shall be used in vinegar making. 
That State Fair Fruit Exhibit 
I note in your issue of Dec. 15 a communication from 
John L. Langham, who volunteers the information that 
he was superintendent of the fruit exhibit at the recent 
State Fair at Syracuse. I further note the names of the 
judges, none of whom I have ever met, though I know 
Prof. Hedrick by reputation. I spent possibly two 
hours in looking over the fruit exhibit on that occasion, 
and I unhesitatingly confirm the remarks of The R. 
N.-Y. as to the quality and manner of exhibit. It was 
the most inferior exhibit of fruit I ever saw at our State 
Fair, and I have heard the same opinion expressed by 
three other men from this (Chemung) county. Un¬ 
doubtedly the Chemung County fair exhibit was better 
than the State Fair exhibit. w. w. HEDRICK. 
New York. 
