New-York tribune., 1910-06-05
milk FAMINE IN SIGHT |
Shortage Feared During July and
August, Produce Dealers Say.
BUTTER AND CHEESE HIGHER
Conditions Partly Due to Natural
Causes, but Big Packers
Are in the Market.

Conditions in the butter and cheese mar
kets are such at the present time that there
may he severe shortage of milk in this
city In July and August, the months of
greatest demand for milk. There has been
shortage In the milk supply for this city
for several years. due to increasing demand
and decreasing supply Small farms up the
state have been abandoned, the farmers re-
moving to the cities. or TO the Northwest
until now nearly half a million acres of
farm land In this state lie untenanted and
milk is brought from far west as
Buffalo.
This year the situation is complicated by
conditions in the butter and cheese mar
kets. The makers of butter and cheese and
the consumers Of liquid milk are in direct
and severe competition. There is such a
demand for milk by the manufacturers of
putter and cheese that the price of milk
this month is cents a quart on the farm,
the slightest price that has been known In
June for thirty years. Last year the price
was 2lz cents a quart, and It has frequently
been as low as cents. In 1900 II was down
TO less than cent a quart on the farm.
While the price of milk has been going up
this year the prices of butter and cheese
have also been finding a higher level. But
ter is now quoted on the Mercantile Fx-
change at 80 cents pound, and cheese
brings 10 cents pound. These prices are
21k cents a pound higher than they were a
year ago. Butter is 100 per cent higher
than II was thirteen years ago. In 1897 but
ter sold on the exchange in this city for Is
cents pound. and this increase has come
despite the fact that eooooo pounds more Of
butter is shipped here weekly now than was
received in 1897.
Produce dealers lay the high price of but
ter and cheese TO the meat packers Bv-
products OF the packing houses are used to
a large extent in making substitutes for
butter. When these substitutes were first
made they were put out without any dis
unSuIshing mark but with the growth of
pure food regulation by the state and fed
eral governments the packers have been
forced 20 label their products so that the
consumer cannot be deceived That has
meant falling off in the sale of the sub
stitutes and has compelled the packers TO
md means to force their products on the
consumer
Produce dealers say that the packers are
buying up the butter and cheese in large
quantities and storing it. They instance
factories whose whole product is taken bv
the packers. Several dealers in this city
say that close watch seems TO be kept
on their consisnments. AS soon as q large
consignment is received a customer will
appear for the entire lot
The produce dealers believe the packers
intend TO hold the butter ars cheese they
are buying in storage and force the prices
so high that the poorer consumers will be
forced to buy the substitutes. The dealers
say that the packers can afford TO stand
loss of a million or more dollars on the
butter and cheese they are buying now II
they can force their own products OH the
market And they have the capital back
Of them 10 take big temporary loss
IN the mean time farmers are put under
so many restrictions by the Board OF
Health that it costs them much more TO
handle milk for liquid consumption than
II did in former years. Many have gone
out Of business, while others take their
milk TO the butter and cheese factories
More farmers are turning daily TO the fac
tories. thus avoiding the cost of the i'm
provements demanded by the Board of
Health.