The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
867 
A Snag in the Milk Conference 
T HE report of the first meeting of the Milk Com¬ 
mittee of Fifteen, held on May 24, gave dairy¬ 
men a thrill of hope in that the members unani¬ 
mously agreed on a common price standard, and on 
a price of $2.33 per 100 lbs. for Class 1 June milk. 
This is an increase of 47 cents over the May price. 
In order to remove one of the principal causes of 
price-cutting, the other groups accepted the pool 
multiple price plan so that all could figure prices on 
the same common basis and avoid price disputes. 
On a roll call every member of the committee voted 
for the $2.33 price for June. 
Three days later the price committee of the Shef¬ 
field Farms Association met in New York and adopt¬ 
ed the following resolution: 
Resolved, That we endorse the action of the commit¬ 
tee representing the five groups of producers, taken at 
Utica, N. Y., May 24, 1924, in recommending for the 
present the multiple price plan, and we also endorse 
the recommendation of the said five groups, namely, 
that for the month of June Claes I milk be offered at 
$2.33 per 100 lbs. with the usual differentials. 
The executive committee of the Non-pooling Asso¬ 
ciation adopted the following resolution: 
Resolved, That this committee approve and adopt the 
action of the Committee of Fifteen representing the 
five groups of producers taken at their meeting held at 
Utica, N. Y., May 24 last, in recommending the pres¬ 
ent multiple price plan and the recommendation of said 
Committee of Fifteen that for the month of June Class 
No. 1 milk be offered at $2.33 per 100 lbs., with the 
usual differentials. 
The representatives of the independent groups 
adopted the following resolution: 
Resolved, That this committee approve the action of 
the Committee of Fifteen, representing the five groups 
of producers, taken at their meeting held at Utica, N. 
Y., May 24 last. in recommending the present multiple 
price plan and the recommendation of said Committee 
of Fifteen that for the month of June Class No. 1 milk 
be offered at $2.33 per 100 lbs., with the usual differ¬ 
entials. 
The representatives of the Eastern States sent as¬ 
surances that the $2.33 price for June would be 
maintained. 
It was then discovered through the New York 
Milk Conference Board that the League pool had 
already given out its price, and that its June price 
was substantially the same as for May, except that 
Class 3 was reduced 10 cents per 100 lbs., the Class 
1 price being $1.86. On inquiry Mr. Slocum said 
they had sent out the price on May 23. This was 
the day before the League members voted in the 
committee for the $2.33 price for June. He thought 
the League members of the committee knew that the 
price had gone out, but this is probably a mistaken 
impression. Urged to reconsider the $1.86 price and 
confirm his members of the committee, Mr. Slocum 
said that he could not do so, because some of the 
dealers had already accepted the price. He also 
said that the price could not be changed without a 
meeting of the executive committee. 
The other groups will have no choice but to follow 
the price set for the pool volume of milk. 
This experience will mean at least a million dol- 
lai’s loss to the farmers who supply New York City 
with milk alone for the month of June. Every dairy¬ 
man can figure his own loss at 1 cent a quart. Just 
when our hopes were turned to a new order of 
things this disappointment comes as a discouraging 
and disheartening blow. We appeal to dairymen, 
however, not to despair or to give up. The darker 
the cloud the nearer we are to sunshine. This dairy 
muddle will yet be cleared up. There is now ample 
time to prepare for the July price. Work will begin 
on it at once. Dairymen will be advised of every 
step and every important factor in it. The commit¬ 
tee meets June 7. Its members are the hired men 
After a lengthy discussion as to the relative mer¬ 
its of the different price systems, Mr. Halliday of¬ 
fered the following resolution: 
Whereas, The price of milk has reached such a low 
point that its production cannot be carried on profit¬ 
ably, thus depreciating values of farms, cattle and 
equipment, and causing great hardship and financial 
distress, and 
Whereas, This committee representing the various 
existing groups of dairymen was created to recommend 
some plan that may save from disaster the dairy inter¬ 
ests contributory to the New York milk market, there¬ 
fore he it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of this committee that 
all milk be sold by all groups on the same price plan, 
and at present such plan be the so-called multiple-price 
plan; and he it further 
Resolved, That this committee recommends to the va¬ 
rious organizations of dairymen supplying the metro¬ 
politan market that said organizations offer Class I 
milk of the producers for the month of June, 1924, at 
$2.33 per 100 lbs. for 3 per cent Grade B milk in the 
200-210-mile zone, with the usual differentials. 
Tlie approval was uuanimous. The next meeting 
of the committee will be on June 7, 2 p. in., standard 
time, at Hotel Utica. 
Figuring the Soldier’s Bonus 
N OW that Congress has voted the bonus or com¬ 
pensation to the soldiers, the next step is to 
figure what is coming to each one. The payment is 
in the form of paid-up life insurance, with the priv¬ 
ilege of borrowing on it under certain conditions. 
General Frank T. Hines, Director of the U. S. Vet¬ 
erans’ Bureau, has issued instructions for figuring 
the amount due. 
The Director called attention to the fact that, the 25 
per cent increase to be added to the adjusted service 
credit before applying as a net single premium to pur¬ 
chase the endowment insurance as called for by the act, 
has already been incorporated in the factor and should 
not be added to the adjusted service credit before mul¬ 
tiplying by the factor. The table of factors and in¬ 
structions follow: 
Factors to Determine the Amount of Paid-up 20-Year 
Endowment Insurance Purchased by the Adjusted 
Service Credit, as Defined in Sec. 201 of the Act. 
Age Factor 
20 . 2.545 
21 . 2.544 
22 . 2.542 
23 . 2,540 
24 . 2.539 
25 . 2.537 
26 . 2.535 
27 . 2.532 
28 . 2.530 
29 . 2.527 
30 . 2.524 
33... 2.521 
32 . 2.517 
33 . 2.513 
34 . 2.509 
35 . 2.504 
36 . 2.498 
37 . 2.492 
38 . 2.485 
39 . 2.478 
40 . 2.470 
41 . 2.460 
42 . 2.450 
Age 
Factor 
43.... 
2 439 
44. 
. 2.426 
45. 
. 2.413 
46. 
. 2.398 
47. 
.. 2.381 
48. . 
49. 
. 2.345 
50. 
. 2.324 
51. 
. 2.302 
52. 
.. 2.279 
53. 
. 2.254 
54. 
. 2.228 
55. 
2 201 
56. 
. 2.172 
57. 
. 2.143 
58. 
. 2.113 
59. 
. 2 082 
60. 
.. 2.050 
61. 
. 2.018 
62. 
. 1.986 
63. 
1 954 
64. 
. 1.921 
65. 
. 1.889 
Instructions.—Allow $1 per day for each day of home 
service and $1.25 per day for each day of foreign ser¬ 
vice. Deduct $(50 from this sum. Multiply this re¬ 
mainder by the factor opposite the age nearest birthday 
to date certificate is issued. The factor includes the 
25 per cent increase, and this increase should not oe 
added to the adjusted service credit before multiplying 
by the factor. 
EXAMPLE 
Age at date of issue. 33 years 
Home service . 380 days 
Overseas service . 100 days 
(180—60) X $1.00=$120 
100 X 1.25= 125 
$245 Adjusted service credit 
X 2.513 Factor at age 33 
$615 Adjusted service certificate 
A New York District School Meeting 
of the dairy industry, and farmers have always had 
a remedy for the hired man who repeatedly fell 
down on his job. 
At the meeting at the Utica Hotel in Utica, N. Y., 
on May 24, communications were received from Mr. 
C. F. Bigler, president-secretary of the New York 
State Holstein Association, containing the following 
resolution: 
Whereas, In conference at Utica, N. Y., May 14, 
1924, five groups of milk producers elected a committee 
and agreed to meet May 24 and formulate plans for es¬ 
tablishing a basic price for milk, therefore he it 
Resolved, That the breeders of Holstein-Friesian cat¬ 
tle in New York State, assembled at Earlville, N. Y., 
urgently request this committee to formulate such plans 
as will insure uniform prices by all groups selling milk 
to distributors. 
It was agreed that each association contribute $25 
to the expenses of the committee, and M. B. Gar- 
lock was elected treasurer. 
It was voted that The Rural New-Yorker, Amer¬ 
ican Agriculturist, Dairymen’s League News, and 
Non-Pooler be invited to send representatives to 
meetings of the committee; that copies of the secre¬ 
tary’s minutes be furnished to these papers, and that 
John J. Dillon and E. R. Eastman be made honorary 
members of the committee. 
Apparently District 35, Owego, Tioga Co., N. Y., has 
not allowed the spirit that animated the “Boys of ’61” 
to entirely perish of the ravages of time. This is the 
district that gave the Union cause General I. F. Gatlin 
and Colonel Benjamin F. Tracy as part of its quota of 
distinguished soldiers in the Civil War. The former 
lost a limb before the defenses of Petersburg; the lat¬ 
ter became Secretary of the Navy for the Harrison 
Administration, and to him belongs the honor for the 
initial impulse that resulted in the admirable naval 
program afterwards adopted. Both of these men were 
of agrarian birth and rearing. 
A large representation of both sexes met for the 
recent school election, and for the first time in the his¬ 
tory of the community the occasion was observed as a 
jubilee. Four of the district’s fairest daughters dis¬ 
tributed the goodies in a manner well befitting queens 
of the realm, while the descendants of its illustrious 
sons ate and drank and made merry. 
Frank Tracy, son of the former Secretary, was elect¬ 
ed chairman. Edgar Lewis, who has served the dis¬ 
trict as trustee for over 30 years, was re-elected, while 
Minnie Cairns, recently arrived here from Delaware 
County, but who takes a royal interest in putting 
through a worth-while school program, was given the 
collectorship, and B. B. Hughes, formerly of Kansas, 
retains the clerkship. 
A beautiful wool bunting flag was received and ac¬ 
cepted as a gift from Colonel George D. Catlin, son of 
the General above mentioned. m. h. c. 
UR school reports are still coming in. Almost 
without exception the school meetings were the 
largest ever held in the district, and there was a 
genuine spirit of interest and good will. No one ex¬ 
pects any miracle or spectacular jump to perfection 
in the management of the rural schools. It will be 
slow work in many places, but the results will be 
sure. Much will be done this year, and more next. 
The foundation of all is a better community spirit 
and local pride in the school. It is safe to say that 
has been started in a great majority of the school 
districts. It must be done through local influences 
—it cannot be forced upon the district by any out¬ 
side group or by any new law. Most of the new 
school bills that have been recently proposed violate 
the first principles of home rule by ignoring the 
wishes of rural people. We must, first of all, gain 
the confidence and good will of local people. The 
best way to gain such confidence and good will is 
through the Rural School Improvement Society. 
District branches are being formed every day. Has 
your district organized yet? Organize! Help out! 
Write to D. Boyd Devendorf, Amsterdam, N. Y., R. 1. 
The Cost of Farm Life 
I am interested in the statement on page 791 regard¬ 
ing the cost of living of a farm hand in the Hudson Val¬ 
ley. I think these figures given are nearly correct. 
However, I will give you a few facts as they appear in 
this vicinity. In the first place, the farmers as a rule 
are doing as little as possible, owing to the scarcity and 
high price of labor. Many of them are doing just what 
they can do themselves, and some are not putting in any 
crops more than a few potatoes and a garden just for 
their own consumption. They make their hay and keep 
from two to eight cows, and some of them are keeping 
sheep. There are a few still selling milk; they are 
milking from 10 to 20 cows and are offering for wages 
$2 per day and board, but are unable to get the help at 
that. The help (if they could get it), would begin 
work at 7 o’clock in the morning and stop at 5 o’clock, 
while the farmer starts his work around 5 o’clock, and 
he is lucky if he is through by 7 at night, so it seems 
to me the farmer should receive at least $2.80 per day 
for his labor, over and above his board. That would 
be at the same rate he is offering for help, and then he 
has all the worry and the wear and tear, while the 
laborer has nothing to worry about, only to get his 
money. There was some wood being cut in this vicinity 
this past Winter. The farmer who grew the wood and 
paid taxes on it for at least 40 years was paid $1.50 
per cord, standing, and it cost for getting it cut $3 per 
cord; in other words, the man who cut it got twice as 
much as the man who grew it, and it took the man to 
grow the cord of wood 40 to 50 years, and the man 
who cut it only a few hours. Apples were selling in 
this vicinity last Fall at a very low price; around 75c 
to $1 per barrel. A few with very nice apples might 
have got a little better than that. It seems to me the 
farmer as a rule is the poorest paid man of any class, 
when he should be the best, for everything comes from 
the brown soil. h. C. near. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
What Do You Think of Crop Surveys? 
In a recent issue of one of the weekly farm publica¬ 
tions the artist has conjured up a sketch of an impos¬ 
sible looking contrivance which would seem to repre¬ 
sent a tractor equipped with a wireless receiving set. 
The old farmer is driving this monstrosity across a field 
at a reckless pace, and yelling to his hired man: 
“Rome says the world’s potato patch is too big already, 
John; we’ll have to plant corn instead.” This picture 
is followed by an article making a lame attempt to tell 
what a wonderful help the government crop survey is 
to the farmer. Now, that was a great surprise to me. 
I never knew of any farmer receiving any benefit from 
it,, and I fail to see how he could. This service cer¬ 
tainly cannot obtain statistics on acreage planted, etc., 
until the crop is actually in the ground, and then it is 
too late for anybody to shift from one crop to another. 
However, I can readily see how this advance infor¬ 
mation would be invaluable to the grain, stock and pro¬ 
duce speculators, as, with fairly accurate statistics to 
work on, they know just how to handle the situation 
when the various crops come in. Therefore, I had 
come to the conclusion that this service was originated 
and maintained ostensibly for the farmer, but really 
for the benefit of the speculators. My conclusions might 
have been wrong, though. They generally are. 
Would the subject be of sufficient importance and in¬ 
terest to be spared space in The R. N.-Y. for opinions 
of some of your other readers and, possibly, editorial 
comment? Robert c. goff. 
New York. 
It. N.-Y.—W e think so. and we will open our columns 
for brief statements and experiences. We think the 
activities of the government in its efforts to help the 
farmers are fairly subject to criticism or praise, pro¬ 
vided these can be given without prejudice or partisan 
feeling. What do you think of these crop reports? 
Eastern Apples Wanted in Nebraska 
In an article on quality of Connecticut apples, Mr. 
Hollister, on page 207, seems to think the time will 
come when the orehardists of the East will wake up to 
the marketing of their apples. One of them is worth 
more than half a dozen of those Western apples. Oh, 
for a Rhode Island Greening or Baldwin or Spitzen- 
berg or McIntosh, just to have one to eat! Do you 
think we get such apples as I have described here in 
Omaha? Never! I searched Omaha this Winter and last 
Winter for Eastern apples; would take them by the 
barrel, box or dozen; not one. Now, Omaha is a city 
of 250,000 population. It lies about half way between 
New York and Portland, Ore., so you have no farther 
to ship west than Oregon has to sinp east. Wake up, 
you orehardists of the East; get in touch with Omaha 
and other Western cities. Your apples are always good, 
and will bring better prices than Western pumpkins. 
The fact is, people in this eonntry raise their children 
and feed them these Western apples, and children think 
it all right. Honest, they don’t know what a good apple 
tastes like! n. e. white. 
Nebraska. 
