Evening star., 1911-01-27
NO SIGNS OF TRUST
Says Committee on Milk OF
Chamber of Commerce.
MONOPOLY LACKING HERE
Rumor of Organization to Control
Raw Material Unfounded.
CONSIDER REPORT MONDAY
President Oyster Calls Special Meet
ing to Take Up Subject.
Want Congress to Act.

The Chamber of Commerce will meet to |
consider the report of the special commit |
tee on milk investigati ton of the chamber
next Monday night at s o'clock in the
chambers assembly hall. The call for the
special meeting was made by President
James F. Oyster in view of the Importance
of the subject to the citizens of the Dis
trict. The committee. which is headed by
J. Louis Willige. recommends that Con-
sress enact legislation governing the con-
troll of the milk supply for the District,
and tho members of the chamber realize
that If anything is to he done before Con-
gress adjourns speedy action must be
taken.
In the course of the report of the milk
committee the charge made by repre-
sentatives Of the milk dealers at the
| hearings granted by the committee and
also by the District Commissioners, that a
milk trust was being organized which
would put all the small merchants out Of
business is declared to be without foun
dation Regarding that the report says
No Evidence of Milk Trust.
Referring to the contention of the rep
resentatives of the milk dealers, both at
the hearing before the District Commits
.sioners and before this committee, that
vast milk trust, backed by thirty million
dollars of capital, was endeavoring to
gain control of the raw milk product of
the country. the committee begs leave to
state that 1T has been unable to find any
evidence whatsoever of such combina-
tion, nor has 1T transpred as the result
of its Investigations that any of the Off
cials of the federal or District govern
ments or others appearing in private
capacity before the committee have been
I fn rnl l1Q6 or inf N h
The manufacturers of pasteuriZing ma
chinery or by other commercial interests
DR.. Melvin, chief of the bureau of ami
NAL industry, perhaps facetiouSly remarks
in this connection that the local milk
dealers have an organization, but that
this is not regarded as a trust or COM
binatiOn in the usual sense Of those terms
Freeman may be quoted as saying that
the Milk Exchange in New York fixes the
price paid to the producer, and Winslow
observes that there is some indication
of such a combination in Boston. Bor-
denis Condensed Milk Company, which
has been charged with perhaps monopo
lizing the condensed milk output. argues
that combination to control the raw
milk production or supply would be an
impossibility by reason of the economic
conditions surrounding the production of
milk, as each man producing milk is
unit in himself and must therefore be
reckoned with individually.
THE health officer of Seattle, Wash
expresses himself as follows on this
score: We sent one gentleman to Jail
for two months for conspring with others
to raise the price of milk some two years
since; we believe that the milk trust
collapsed at that time
Unsuccessful in San Francisco.
''Dr. iMcNutt, health officer Of San Fran
cisco, Cal, reports that an attempt was
made to control the raw milk production
and supply OF that city, but without
success.
With regard to the attempted monopo-
iiZatiOn of the market for forms of milk
other than raw milk, DR.. Melvin under
stands that one concern is believed to
condensed milk. but states that the de-
partment is unable to furnish particulars,
referring at the same time to the fact
that other brands of condensed milk are
also to be found on the market. The lat
ter consideration does not, however. nee
essarily preclude the possibility that the
various brands are controlled by one
central agency.
1T is obviously. though. much more
likely as general proposition that con-
densed, evapOrated. powdered or other
compositions Of milk may be the sub
ject of centralized commercial control
than that raw milk might be SO monopo-
| lized. it being quite as feasible In the
judgment Of the committee to combine
the entire population OF our country into
| a trust against the interests Of the indi-
vidual as to attempt control nationally
of the output of raw milk"