The Newtown bee., 1894-01-19
THE NEW YORK MILK SUPPLY.
AN INTERVIEW WITH J. H. BAKER.

AN INTERVIEW WITH J. H. BAKER. While travelling on one of the comfort able trains on the Berkshire division, the other day,it was the good fortune of the editor of THE BEE to receive an intro-
 duction to J. H. Baker, of the firm of Baker S Gray, the extensive milk con- tractors and commission men of New
 York City. Mir Baker a veteran in the
 milk business, and knows it from to z. Twenty-Five years ago he came from Us ter county, N. Y, and entered the en- ploy of a firm who were in the milk busi- ness. Eighteen years ago he began the milk commission business for him. self, soon after taking into partnership Mir Eaton. The latter's death occurred a few years ago, and T. R. Gray was | then admitted member of the firm, un- | der the name of Baker & Gray. Their | New York office is at 132d street and Lin coin avenue, New York. Baker & Gray are at present handling about 400 cans day, amounting to 16, 900 or l7 ,O0O quarts daily. In the summer at times they have shipped as high as GOO cans. They have two creameries, located at Falls Village and Cornwall Bridge, ,and at these points, | in the flush time of milk, the surplus IS held back and made into cheese and but ter. This enables them to keep the farm- CTS along, without shutting down the sur plus, as they otherwise would be obliged to do, if they did not have these creamer- ies. At Falls Village, w. N. Chapin is in charge of the creamery and J. Wise at Cornwall Bridge. Besides the milk des- patched from the creameries, Baker X Gray have the milk from at least 1Ot dairies. At the creameries, the patron: are paid the 10th of every month, anC the other dairies the 10th and 20th. Th' firm enjoys the confidence of the farm 2 CTS, never having had a check protested J. H. Baker, of the firm, gets up througl the Housatonic valley two or three time
 a week and knows his patrons personal ly. He is one of the most genial of mel and has host of friends among the farm
 CTS. Speaking of the amount of milk Tt quired to supply New York and Brool lvn and Jersey City, Mir Baker place s the estimate at 19, ,000 cans day, or 16'
 GOO quarts. In addition to this there
 consumed 300 or 400 cans of cream an
 as much condensed milk. When Bake
 tS Eaton started in business,l IS years ag'
 they were shipping l9 cans day, u
 freight rate then being 60 cents cal T while to day it is 9. Speaking of u c. general condition of business througho'
 the country, MT Baker says the panic d '72 and '73 was nothing compared wit
 this. He believes this is the hardest wi T ter the great cities have ever seen. K
 turning to the milk question again \
 Baker remarked in reply to que
 ton propounded by his interviewer: 4 oo soon as the milk train arrives in Ne a York, they have representative on u rel platform who looks after their milk al
 measure it. They ship from one
 their creameries two cans day to fill
 the cans that are not full, for the retail
 wants 40 full quarts when he buys. III
 advantage of shipping to some WI
 known firm like this is, that the shipp
 is guaranteed his pay, whether or no tn
 get their pay from their customers. 0
 gets an i3ea of the amount of milk tn
 ship. when it is known the total freig
 bill they pay is about $40,000 ye' m Just now MT Baker is busy superinten '1 .1 ing the task of filling his ice houses . Falls Village and Cornwall Bridge.