Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-09-10
Dairy Products Higher.

III mas long Ue6u very eSiucut W tuis
paper, and we have not been slow to an
uounce it, that dairy products of all
kinds must advance if Maine dairy men
are to continue to prosper. A Kennebec
valley dairyman who has been selling
butter for 25 cents pound advances to
80 cents to all the year round customers
1st. Others who have been
selling for 2S cents will raise the price to
50, and so it goes. The fact remains
that first class, sanitary, merchantable
milk cannot be produced and sold at the
old prices. The public will not accept
of poorer quality, hence the inevitable
is higher prices.
w. A. Hunter, clerk of the Boston CO.
operative milk producers company, who
has Just returned from an extensive
tour of the farming lands throughout
Massachusetts, is of opinion that if pres
ent conditions continue milk will be ad-
vanced to nine cents quart this coming
winter.
'The reasons why" said Mr.. Hunt,
'I will try TO explain. In the first place
milk has never been rated up where it
belongs when compared with other food
products. A man will ungrudgingly
paw from 25 to 80 cents pound for beef
steak and will even stand an advance OF
2 or cents over that, but when called
upon to pay cent or two quart more
for milk he thinks it outrageous. We
are given to understand by those whose
authority cannot be disputed, that one
quart of milk is equivalent to three
quarters of pound of beefsteak, yet
milk is retailing at S cents quart while
three-quarters of a pound of the poorest
kind of steak costs t5 cents. Because of
this lack of appreciation Of milk as a
food product, the price has not advanced
in proportion to the cost of production,
and because of the little or no profit to
be secured, the producers have been
dropping out.
s'Other large cities in the various
states have been gradually cutting into
the sections where Boston gets its sup
ply, thereby seriously diminishing the
output. We must take into consider
alton that while the output is diminish
ing, the demand is increasing, and to
satisfy that demand the contractors have
pushed back into the butter sections un-
til they have about reached the limit.
Because of the fact that butter has ad-
vanced sharply they have to pay much
more to get it away from the creameries,
and add to that the extra cost of freight
on the long hauls, they are going to be
compelled to get higher prices.
'Whel has anyone known of butter
being put into cold storage at Chicago
at q cents a pound, as has been the case
this summer? Any dealer knows that
such storage now at that price means 80
cents when it is taken out, or some one
must stand the loss.
sThese facts are enough to convince
anyone of the inevitable, but there are
three more distinct features that are
cutting the foundation right out from
under the milk producers, and it is put
ting Boston right up against paying
more or going without, and Boston can
rest assured that it is not the farmer
that is worrying. He cannot be COM
pelled to make milk If he doesn't choose
TO, and certainly not at loss.
1.-The first feature is the feed problem.
Hay has gone up to S26 ton, and we
had an extra fine crop last summer. 1t
was all cleaned out and outside cities
were consuming the new hay almost as
soon as it was cut. This certainly
means that hay will reach higher level
next winter.
Snow comes the grain question. Last
summer there was drop in prices in
June and July, but this summer prices
have scared right up higher than they
were last winter and government reports
show a smaller yield than last year.
The man who produces milk must feed
grain literally, because Boston must
have good, rich milk, and Massachusetts,
must have a foolish dual standard, that
il is hardly possible for the average COW
to reach, and we must always have mis-.
guided ones in our legislatures who pre-,
vent honest legislation in regard to cor
recting rank evils of this kind.
The second serious feature is the help
question. Farmers absolutely cannot
get help to milk the cows and because OF
this fact some of the large producers
have sold off their herds and others tell
me that they are going to do so. There
seems to be no remedy for this, and now
comes the last and most important con
dition, the board of health's campaign
for pure milk.
81 wish to be distinctly understood IL
this matter. / believe it is every mans
duty who produces milk for the market
to produce good, clean, healthy article
and insist on fair return for his capita
and labor invested. I have travelled fal
and wide among the producers and | dc
not believe all the milk that comes into
Boston is in the rotten condition that II
sometimes attributed to IT,; neither do
believe it right to frighten the consum
ers of Boston. They can rest assured
that 90 per cent of the milk is as good az
that supplied to any city in the United
States.
"Almost the first question am asked
when go into town is What is the
board of health going to doP' My reply
is. sThey are going to insist on absolute
cleanliness.' A good many farms ART
operated by men from go to Is years o.
age. They say they do not care to b
tied up to the extra conditions imposed
They cannot cool their milk down to 81
degrees and cart It three or four miles tt
the station and have 1t at that tempera
ture when it reaches the car without
L. oIofvvn thaPa III