The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-01
All the New England
Milk Supply.
NEW YORK TRUST
Makes Attempt to. Round
Up Local Producers.

The promoters of the giant milk trust
that has recently been formed in New
York are looking with covetous eyes at
New England.
One Of the agents of the trust called
on City'sAuditor John B. Bowker The
other -daS. and endeavored to get Mr..
BowlSer to aS~e pt a position as organ
izer for New England for branch
trust to control the New England field
and the Boston market. CitS Auditor
Bowker was asked to state his own
terms, but declined to give the.matter
any consideration
Former Senator Charles A. Gleason
OF New Braintree, who has q winter
residence in Worcester, was next APP
preached by the agent Of the New York
trust, but he, too, declined to listen
to the overtures Of the representative
of the trust.
The scheme of the trust magnates is
to organize the different territories
supplying a large milk centre, like Bos-
ton, for instance, by inducing the milk
producers in the field to take shares
of stock at $40 a share. The number
of shares that a producer is allowed is
governed by the quantity of milk he
SHIPS to the market.
In New York no producer is allowed
to send more than one can of milk
40 quarts in the New YorE market-for
each share of stock held9in the trust.
In this way the surplus milk that has
always been the stumbling block in the
pathway of good prices for the pro-
ducer, is eliminated, and the producer
not only gets slightly advanced price
per quart for his milk, but also re-
ceives interest on the stock held in the
trust
In New York the offer of half a cent
more per quart is made to the pro-
Queer. The price to the producer in
the New York market is not given, but
1t is lower, slightly lower, than the
price to the producers in the New Eng
land upion, who ship their milk to the
Boston market
1t is the intention of the New York
trust to raise the price of milk to the
consumer from to cents a quart.
This would be the policy in New Eng
land II the trust was successful in or
ganizing branch for this field.
worcester consumers would hardly
feel this increase, because they receive
their milk direct from the producers.
There is no middleman. between the
producers and the consumers, as there
is in Boston.
The scheme, as outlined to-,City Au-
ditor Bowker and Former Senator
Gleason did not appear to them as
very advantageous to the producers
The increase in price to the producer
offered was only half cent a quart,
while the intention, as announced by
the trust man, to raise the price of
milk to the consumer, promised a
largely increased revenue to the new
middlemen, the organizers of the trust.
Outside and independent of the stock
holding producers in the New York
trust, there is the trust proper. with
a capital stock of S10,0000 00 This is
the corporation that buys the milk of
the producer and either sells 1t to the
retailers or does the retailing on it's
own account.
If the New England territory is or
ganized, the same plan will be carried
out. But according to City Auditor
the prospects of controlling the entire
territory shipping milk to the Boston
market would be very slim. The ter
ritory is supposed to be controlled by
the Boston milk contractors, who re-
ceive their milk from the members of
the New England MIX Producers I'm
ion.
The milk shipments from union pro-
ducers to the Boston market are close
to a million of cans--17 pints each-a
month. But in addition to this there
are also half a million cans shipped
monthly by producers who are not
members of the union.
This is the trouble that confronts the
successful formation OF a New England
branch of the New York trust.