The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-07-23
milk famine.
Nothing but Cool Weather
Can Afford Re-
lief.
INCREASE IN PRICES
Jersey City Uses Many Cans
Sultry Weather Causes
Shortage.


section has been growing shorter and
shorter, and now. dealers say, a milk
famine is setting in. The situation is
serious and unless relief comes with
| few days prices are likely to be affected
materially.
Hot weather increases greatly the de-
mand for milk, and at the same time
| shortens the supply. When the temper
ature is high, the COWS give less. The
drought in the last two or three weeks
| the section from which the supply for the
! metropolitan district is mainly derived.
Although the farmer is getting 20 cents a
can more than last year at this time, he is
also receiving bigger prices for butter and
| cheese, and the amount of milk he diverts
| into these channels tends to decrease
| greatly the supply to the milk dealers.
Ice cream is responsible to a great ex-
| tent for the increased demand for milk
| in the hot weather Jersey city uses in
all just now about $500 cans Of milk
day. Owing to the hot weather, at
! least one-third of this amount is used for
| the manufacture of ice cream.
! A wholesale dealer in milk and cream
| said
| a iiiih Adiulue uldy HOW Ue Sdiu 10 De
| upon US. 1t remains to be seen just what
relief the expected rain will afford. If the
downpour is local, it will not improve
the situation at all. but, if it extends
| throughout the districts from which our
supply of milk comes, its beneficial eff
feet will be noted before many days are
passed. The rain refreshes the burned
| up pastures, and as a result, of course.
i the cows give more milk, but it takes
time for cause to ripen into effect, and,
no matter where the rain falls, it cannot
| give immediate relief.
| Cooler weather would improve condl-
tions Immediately for it would promptly
| lessen the demand and make the present
supply almost, if not quite, adequate. No
matter how ample the supply, the ex-
cessive demands of the hot weather may
prove hard to meet. We have been for
tunate in being able to care for our regu-
lar customers, but the wholesalers have
| no surplus to supply the smaller dealers,
many of whom are in sore straits. AT
| present families are paying from to s
] cents quart for their milk, but with a
/ few days more of hot weather there's no
telling what they will have to pay.
THE bulk of the supply for this section,
as well as for New York city, comes
from Pennsylvania and New York State.
In the dairy districts of both of these
States there has been a protracted
drought, and also in northern Jersey,
which sends a good deal of milk down
this way More than three-fifths of the
milk used here comes from Pennsylvania
and New York, and in New York city
fully eight-tenths.
.'In the hot weather people are averse
to cooking any more than they can help,
so they fall back largely on milk and ice
cream We are now handling about 55C
cans day for milk consumption, and 6OC
or 700 for ice cream. That shows what a
demand there is for cream, although we
make this line speciality, and our per-
centage of cream sold, as compared with
milk would not hold good as a general
i average 1t takes about six and a half
cans of milk for a can of cream"
Cool weather, the milk dealer said
would better the situation materially
within twenty-four hours, and would nip
the milk famine in the bud.
'"The milk supply is shorter that it has
been for years. said a local dealer
] Milk has been selling recently at prices
ranging from nIty cents TO $l a can, Wnlle
cream has brought from S. to IS a can.
| In case of a milk famine, these prices
will have to climb, and, in all probability
| rapidly. 1t has been impossible for the
wholesalers, within the last few days, to
do much more than take care of their
regular customers We are fairly be-
sieged with small dealers who finding
their regular sources. of supply suddenly
cut off, come to US with urgent pleadings
1t is Utterly impossible, under the present
conditions, to satisfy their demands"
Many milkmen in this section have in
the last few days been at their wits ends
for ways and means to continue their reg
ular routes, and more than one had had
to give up the attempt in despair. Yes
terday was particularly hard day for
them, because the sultry weather caused
a big demand for milk. 1t was also a
trying day for the wholesalers. Satur-
days demand for milk is always increased
in hot weather by the big consumption OF
ice cream on Saturday night and Sunday
1t is hoped that the cooler weather
promised will lessen the excessive demand
for milk and prevent the necessity OF
raising the price.