Tht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
163 
A  Celebrated  Milk  Case  Decided 
EFEREE  JAMES  H.  MERWIN  handed  down 
his  decision  last  week  in  the  milk  ease  which 
lias  been  before  him  for  several  months,  finding  in 
favor  of  the  Dairymen’s  League  Co-operative  Asso¬ 
ciation  and  Borden’s  Farm  Products,  the  defendants 
in  the  action,  and  denying  the  injunction  sought  in 
the  case. 
The  complainant  in  the  case  was  Frederick  Ik 
Barnes  of  Westmoreland,  Oneida  County.  New  York. 
Mr.  Barnes  is  a  dairy  farmer  and  sold  milk  for  a 
number  of  years  to  the  Borden  Company  at  West¬ 
moreland.  lie  dhl  not  sign  the  pooling  contract,  and 
in  consequence  the  Borden's  Company  refused  to 
accept  his  milk  on  April  1.  11122,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  seek  an  outlet  elsewhere  at  a  place  less  accessible 
to  him.  1 1  is  contention  was  that  he  was  discrim¬ 
inated  against  because  of  the  contract  existing  be¬ 
tween  the  pooling  association  and  the  Borden's  Com¬ 
pany,  which  constituted  a  conspiracy  to  force  him  to 
sign  the  pooling  contract  or  to  suffer  other  incon¬ 
veniences  or  loss  of  a  market  for  his  milk.  He  asked 
an  injunction  from  the  court  restraining  the  defend¬ 
ants  from  creating  a  monopoly  in  milk  and  refusing 
to  buy  his  milk  because. of  an  agreement  between 
themselves  to  do  so. 
The  court  reviews  the  whole  case  at  considerable 
length.  It  finds  that  (he  contracts  gave  the  pooling 
association  a  monopoly  of  tin)  highest  fh’iced  classi¬ 
fication  limited  to  its  own  deliveries  and  the  control 
of  the  market  by  the  dealers  buying  of  it.  The  court 
holds,  however,  that  the  pooling  association  did  not 
control  enough  of  the  milk  to  make  a  monopoly  in 
the  meaning  of  the  law  as  generally  interpreted  in 
previous  court  decisions.  It  holds  in  effect  that  Mr. 
Barnes  had  other  markets  available,  and  as  a  matter 
of  fact  was  selling  his  milk  at  a  higher  price  than 
that  paid  pooling  members  at  the  Borden's  plant, 
and  that  short  of  a  complete  monopoly  Borden’s  had 
a  right  to  buy  their  supply  of  milk  from  whom  they 
pleased.  The  court  finds  nothing  in  either  the  com¬ 
mon  law  or  statutes  and  in  the  evidence  before  it  to 
constitute  a  conspiracy,  and  the  petition  for  an  in¬ 
junction  is  denied. 
The  court,  we  think,  states  the  ease  with  admirable 
clearness  and  convincing  logic  in  the  following  lan¬ 
guage  : 
The  Legislature,  supported  by  public  opinion,  litis  de¬ 
termined  that  the  dairy  industry  and  the  farm  industry 
in  general  is  in  a  position  where  it  needs  a  different 
treatment  from  ordinary  business  enterprises.  There 
are  many  reasons  for  this.  The  farmer  is  an  individ¬ 
ualist— he  cannot  combine  his  production  in  great,  com¬ 
pact  aggregations  of  capital;  he  cannot  get  the  benefit 
of  collective  markets  except  through  a  combination 
which  is  liable  to  be  held  invalid  under  the  anti-trust 
statutes.  Just  now  the  post-war  readjustment  of  prices 
has  hit  him  first  and  hardest.  The  Legislature,  backed 
by  public  opinion,  has  determined  that  the  State  can 
afford  to  give  special  treatment  to  this  class  of  pro¬ 
ducers.  It  is  a  question  not  of  technical  constitution— - 
of  law,  but  of  social  policy. 
It  is’  true  that  if  under  the  cover  of  this  beneficent 
policy  the  farmer  should  develop  an  organization  that 
absolutely  controlled  the  price  of  dairy  products  and 
other  farm  products,  and  raised  those  prices  to  an  un¬ 
conscionable  height,  and  indulged  in  the  human  greed 
which  often  accompanies  monopoly,  then  it  is  not  only 
probable  but  quite  certain  that  the  State  would  with¬ 
draw  the  protection  of  these  exemptions  and  would 
require  the  farmers  to  come  under  the  same  laws  as 
other  business  men.  But  that  is  not  the  case  at  this 
time,  and  for  the  present  anyway  it  may  be  considered 
settled  policy  that  the  farmers  and  laboring  men  shall 
have  the  benefit  of  exemption  from  our  anti-trust  stat¬ 
utes.  This  is  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  these 
organizations  are  not  money  organizations  and  do  not 
attain  the  tremendous  cohesion  and  momentum  which 
come  from  vast  accumulations  of  material  capital  assets. 
They  are,  accordingly,  less  adapted  to  the  ruthless  ex¬ 
ploitation  of  their  advantage  over  other  people  than  are 
great  capitalistic  combinations. 
We  have  never  been  able  to  share  in  the  (excite¬ 
ment  that  has  disturbed  some  of  our  good  friends 
over  this  case.  The  laws  and  the  procedure  growing 
out  of  co-operative  effort  are  new.  No  one  knows 
just  what  the  law  is  until  the  courts  have  spoken. 
It  is  inevitable  that  the  meaning  of  the  laws,  and  the 
legality  of  contracts  used  in  conducting  the  business, 
should  sooner  or  later  come  under  court  review,  and 
the  sooner  doubtful  points  are  settled  the  better  if  is 
for  the  co-operative  system. 
'l’lie  court  has  made  it  clear  in  the  language  quoted 
above,  that  this  is  not  a  decision  on  technical  inter¬ 
pretation  of  law  or  exclusively  on  consistency  of 
testimony.  He  rightly  says  it  is  a  question  of  social 
policy.  No  well-informed  person  will  dispute  this 
statement.  It  is  in  the  atmosphere.  No  matter  who 
you  approach  in  country  or  city,  in  banking  or  busi¬ 
ness  or  labor  circles,  in  executive  chambers  or  legis¬ 
lative  halls,  the  one  general  sentiment  is  to  give 
farmers  an  opportunity  to  work  out  a  fair  deal  for 
themselves  through  collective  bargaining,  free  from 
the  restriction  of  anti-trust  laws  which  have  been 
enacted  for  the  restraint  of  capital  and  big  business. 
That  is  the  “social  policy.” 
All  true  friends  of  co-operation  will  indorse  the 
sentiments  of  the  second  paragraph  of  the  quotation. 
Farm  co-operation  must  not  aim  at  monopoly.  To  do 
so  would  refute  its  own  altruistic  policy.  Its  suc¬ 
cess  must  depend  on  an  efficient  and  economic  ser¬ 
vice.  This  is  the  purpose  of  its  existence.  A  com¬ 
plete  monopoly  would  defeat  itself  by  alienating  pub¬ 
lic  sentiment  and  inviting  competition  of  substitute 
food  products,  and  restraining  legislation,  as  the 
court  in  this  case  intimates.  Co-operation  never  had 
a  better  chance  than  it  has  today  in  this  country. 
The  sentiment  is  all  for  it.  We  can  have  the  legisla¬ 
tion  and  the  form  of  organization  we  want.  The 
courts  and  public  opinion  will  sustain  any  policy  or 
procedure  that  does  not  endanger  the  public  wel¬ 
fare.  It  is  all  up  to  farmers  now.  Co-operation  is 
on  trial.  It  is  something  that  every  individual 
farmer  must  undertake  for  himself  as  one  of  the 
factors  in  success.  It  is  a  farmer’s  work.  If  left  to 
others,  it  will  ultimately  fail.  If  farmers  themselves 
study  their  part,  and  do  their  part,  and  exercise 
their  direction  and  control,  it  will  not  make  farm 
millionaires,  neither  will  it  continue  to  make  for¬ 
tunes  for  others,  but  it  will  preserve  the  rule  of  our 
American  farm  freeholds. 
Cotton  Growing  at  the  North 
WE  have  spent  quite  a  little  time  looking  up  the 
records  of  cotton  growing  in  the  North.  At 
about  the  time  of  the  Revolution  cotton  was  surely 
grown  successfully  in  Cape  May  Co.,  N.  J.  II  seems 
to  have  been  mostly  what  we  might  call  garden  cul¬ 
ture;  that  is,  a  small  quantity  for  home  spinning. 
In  Delaware  and  parts  of  Pennsylvania  enough  cot¬ 
ton  was  grown  to  supply  many  domestic  uses.  The 
crop  has  certainly  been  grown  as  far  north  as  the 
thirty-ninth  degree  of  latitude,  but  the  authorities 
seem  to  agree  that  the  thirty-seventh  degree  is  about 
the  limit  of  safety.  These  reports  refer  to  conditions 
more  than  150  years  ago.  Since  then  new  varieties 
and  methods  have  been  developed.  We  must  admit 
very  frankly  that  the  scientific  men  and  station 
workers  say  that  cotton  culture  in  Maryland  and 
New  Jersey  is  a  dream.  We  are  told  to  "forget  it,” 
but  when  an  idea  is  firmly  fixed  in  mind  it  is  hard 
to  rub  it  out.  We  still  think  that  some  of  the  earlier 
varieties  of  cotton  will  mature  in  the  lower  counties 
of  New  Jersey,  Maryland  and  Delaware.  We  think 
the  cotton  situation  is  such  that  it  will  pay  to  spend 
some  money  in  testing  the  matter  out. 
To  Florida  by  Auto 
HARDLY  a  day  passes  without  news  from  some 
friend  who  has  undertaken  the  gas  route  to 
Florida.  From  all  over  the  North  men,  women  and 
children  have  packed  themselves  into  cars  and 
trucks,  with  tents  and  beds  and  stoves  and  food, 
“stepped  on  the  gas”  and  headed  South.  There  is 
so  much  of  this  that  it  is  beginning  to  affect  the 
working  life  of  the  nation.  There  are  many  people 
of  middle  age  or  older,  who,  10  years  ago,  could  not 
have  been  induced  to  leave  their  snow-covered  farms. 
There  was  little  if  any  productive  labor  for  them  in 
the  North,  yet  it  was  the  habit  and  custom  to  remain 
there,  often  in  discomfort.  Now,  at  the  real  ap¬ 
proach  of  Winter,  many  of  these  people  step  into  the 
car  and  start  South.  The  younger  people  stay  at 
home  to  care  for  the  farm,  or  changes  are  made  so 
there  is  no  stock  to  provide  for.  When  this  Winter 
exodus  started  there  was  little  if  any  real  signifi¬ 
cance  to  it.  but  now  it  has  become  so  general  that 
we  must  all  consider  it.  It  is  mixing  up  Americans 
as  nothing  before  has  done.  The  great  movement  of 
population  from  East  to  West  in  the  years  surround¬ 
ing  the  Civil  War  did  not  mix  the  people  so  much  as 
they  transferred  population  from  one  permanent 
home  to  another.  This  new  migration  is  different. 
It  does  not  usually  mean  a  new  permanent  home,  for 
these  birds  of  passage  will  come  back  to  the  North¬ 
ern  nest  once  more,  happier  and  healthier,  and  with 
broader  lives  than  before.  It  is  sure  to  have  a  per¬ 
manent  effect  upon  Northern  agriculture,  and  will 
help  Southern  farming  as  well.  There  has  never 
been  anything  quite  like  it  before,  because  there 
never  was  anything  like  the  low-priced  car  in  all 
history  up  to  this  age. 
Wireless  at  the  School  House 
I  believe  the  next  great  use  for  wireless  will  be  for 
transmitting  intelligence  to  our  rural  schools.  No  mat¬ 
ter  where  they  are,  wireless  will  reach  them.  Suppose 
the  Department  of  Education  at  Albany,  N.  Y..  had  a 
large  broadcasting  station,  operating  on  a  special  wave 
length,  say  400  meters,  and  all  the  little  red  school- 
houses  in  the  State  were  equipped  with  radio  receiving 
sets  with  loud  speakers.  If  one  expert  instructor  was 
employed  at  the  transmitting  station  at  Albany,  N.  Y.. 
he  could  speak  to  every  little  rural  school  in  the  State 
at  the  same  moment,  one  of  the  marvels  of  wireless,  and 
at  the  noon  hour,  when  the  boys  and  girls  are  eating 
lunch,  the  station  at  Albany  could  transmit  the  latest 
news  of  the  day.  so  the  rural  schools,  would  get  the 
latest  news  as  soon  as  city  people,  and  the  farmers  who 
have  radios  could  listen  in  and  get  ihe  latest  news  at  the 
same  time. 
I  surely  believe  that  the  wireless  transmission  of  in¬ 
telligence  will  do  more  to  uplift  and  enlighten  the  rural 
schools  than  all  the  centralized  schools  that  can  be  built. 
I  say,  let  the  little  red  schools  stand  and  use  them; 
bring  them  right  up  to  date  by  the  modern  means  of 
wireless.  Why  burden  the  people  with  a  load  of  extra 
taxation,  when  they  are  already  faxed  to  the  limit? 
W  hy  not  take  advantage  <>f  the  inexpensive  means  of 
transmitting  intelligence  to  the  schools  that  are  already 
built?  J.  HOLMES  WILSON. 
Cumberland  Co.,  Pa. 
WELL,  why  not?  We  surely  believe  that  the  ex¬ 
tended  use  of  wireless  will  have  the  effect  of 
scattering,  rather  than  condensing  population.  It 
will  not  be  necessary,  in  the  future,  to  group  people 
together  in  order  to  reach  them.  The  listening  wire 
will,  to  a  great  extent,  take  the  place  of  personal 
contact.  That  would  create  a  new  use  for  the 
schools,  and  make  them  what  they  should  be — cen¬ 
ters  of  community  life. 
A  Trick  of  Tax  Dodgers 
HE  New  York  Times  prints  the  following  story 
of  a- tax-dodging  scheme  In  Germany: 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  there  are  fax  dodgers  even  in 
Germany.  An  American  just  returned  from  Europe 
made  on  the  way  back  the  acquaintance  of  a  repre¬ 
sentative  of  one  of  our  big  tobacco  corporations  and 
learned  from  him,  in  one  of  those  moments  of  confidence 
that  often  come  upon  travelers,  of  a  queer  trick  by 
which  some  Germans  not  only  are  cutting  down  their 
taxes,  hut  also  are  getting  real  money  to  a  place  where 
the  Government  cannot  get  hold  of  it. 
This  is  the  way  the  trick  is  worked:  The  agents  sold 
to  a  retail  dealer  in  Berlin  $1,000  worth  of  tobacco.  By 
request  he  made  out  a  bill  for  $1,500  and  this  bill  was 
paid  by  real  money  to  that  amount  to  be  sent  here.  Of 
the  $1,500,  however,  only  $1,000  was  taken  by  the 
tobacco  company;  the  remaining  $500  was  deposited  in 
a  New  York  bank  to  the  credit  of  the  Berlin  merchant. 
But  there  is  more  to  it  than  that.  The  merchant 
enters  his  purchase  on  his  books  its  $1,500  paid  for 
stock,  and  then  ho  sells  that  stock  at  prices  bringing 
him  only  $1,200.  He  has  made  a  real  profit,  of  $200. 
but  an  apparent  loss  of  $.300.  and  it  is  the  $.300  loss 
that  figures  in  his  income  tax  return  as  a  deduction 
from  gross. 
That  this  is  anything  like  a  general  practice  in  Ger¬ 
many  cannot  be  deduced  from  a  single  example.  A  good 
many  Germans  have  no  opportunity  thus  to  lighten 
their  burdens — and  thus  to  increase  that  of  their  coun¬ 
try.  It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  the  case  stands 
alone.  At  once  ingenious,  simple  and  effective,  it  would 
have  a  considerable  popularity  in  any  country  where 
the  millennium  still  delays. 
Here  is  a  Dime  Dollar 
GOV.  WALTER  M.  BIERCE  of  Oregon  is  a 
farmer.  In  his  inaugural  address  he  took  up 
an  unusual  line  of  thought.  Here  is  an  extract  from 
it — unusual,  but  who  shall  say  it  is  not  true? 
A  few  days  ago  I  was  on  my  farm.  I  watched  a  beau¬ 
tiful  pen  of  white-faced  steers,  grain  fed,  ready  for  mar¬ 
ket,  aml_ns  I  watched  them  I  thought,  “You  are  worth 
about  $50  each  on  the  present  market.  If  I  were  to 
count  the  taxes  on  the  land  from  which  you  have  eaten 
the  grass,  and  the  taxes  on  the  land  from  which  you 
have  eaten  the  hay,  and  the  taxes  paid  upon  yourselves 
and  your  mother,  then  there  is  standing  against  each  of 
you  approximately  $15  taxes.  Each  steer  has  actually 
cost  this  farm  $75.  When  your  hide  is  cut  up  and 
made  into  harness  and  shoes,  and  you  are  cut  up  into 
steaks  and  roasts,  r  lien  you  will  cost  those  who  con¬ 
sume  you  about  $500  each.  The  railroad  that  takes  yon 
to  market  fixes  the  freight  rate  and  makes  a  profit,  tin* 
packer  that  prepares  you  for  the  market  fijees  the  price 
and  makes  a  profit,  the  retailer  fixes  the  price  and 
makes  a  profit,  the  hotelkeeper,  the  harness-maker  all 
fix  the  price  so  that  they  will  make  a  profit.  The 
farmer  is  the  only  one  in  the  long,  long  line  from  the 
producer  to  the  actual  consumer  who  asks  the  world  to 
tix  a  price  on  his  product,  and  he  is  the  only  one  who 
fails  to  make  a  legitimate  profit.  Only  10  per  cent  is 
allowed  in  this  instance  to  the  one  who  produces,  00  per¬ 
cent  taken  by  those  who  can  and  do  dictate  the  price. 
Slowly  in  places,  rapidly  in  other  places,  the  producers 
arc  being  financially  ruined  by  the  present  marketing 
system.  1  do  not  even  want  to  think  of  State-owned 
packing  plants  and  warehouses  for  distribution  of  farm 
products,  but  I  do  want  to  warn  the  business  world  that 
the  producers  must  have  better  treatment  and  a  fair 
chance  for  existence. 
An  Extension  High  School 
On  page  ST  I  read  with  much  interest  the  blacksmith- 
veterinarian  article,  and  find  it  a  typical,  everyday 
ease.  No  matter  what  anyone  undertakes,  the  first 
question  is,  “Are  you  a  high  school  graduate?”  Not 
that  there  is  anything  wrong  in  this,  only  the  thing  is 
io  find  a  way  to  get  the  required  education  without  ac¬ 
tually  attending  high  school.  There  are  some  corre¬ 
spondence  schools  that  claim  to  fit  a  person  for  college, 
but  as  far  as  I  know  their  certificates  are  not  recog¬ 
nized  by  the  college  authorities. 
Here  is  my  idea  of  a  remedy:  Have  the  board  of 
education  prepare  a  home  study  course,  exactly  the 
same  as  is  used  in  the  classrooms,  for  the  pupils  to 
study  during  leisure  hours  and  evenings,  but  have  them 
examined  at  the  regular  high  school  examination  in  the 
high  school  classrooms,  or  elsewhere,  if  the  rooms  should 
happen  to  be  filled  to  capacity.  'I’liis  would  give  thou¬ 
sands  of  ambitious  young  men  and  women  a  chance  to 
acquire  the  very  much  desired  high  school  graduation. 
To  avoid  enrolling  of  slackers,  have  each  pupil  deposit 
$100,  to  be  returned  at  graduation  within  a  specified 
time. 
This  extension  of  the  high  school  would  benefit  both 
city  and  country.  There  are  lots  of  boys  and  girls 
anxious  to  continue  studies  after  leaving  public  schools, 
but  forced  to  look  for  employment  on  account  of  earning 
a  living.  On  the  other  hand,  in  country  districts  the 
high  school  is  so  far  away  that  the  pupils  are  forced  to 
board  away  from  home,  which  sterns  objectionable  to 
most  parents.  i*aul  a.  uoediger. 
