Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-19
GERMAN MILK SUPPLY.
Problem Solved To Large Extent at
Berlin and at Dresden.

Berlin and at Dresden.
One of the most important questions
for consumers in large towns is thar of
the Milk Supply, Not only does milk.
with bread and meat, form the most i'm
portant food of the whole population.
but since it is the principal nutriment
of children and of the sick, the possi
billty of an abundant supply of pure and
cheap milk becomes not only an econo-
mic but also a social and sanitary pro-
blem deserving of every consideration.
Nor need we mention that. i'm these
days in which the price of all
foods has risen appreciabIy. the
rise in price of milk, though per-
haps less appreciable than in the case
of other articles of foods, has yet occa-
| stoned much discomfort and sometimes
even strong protest on the part of the
consumers. If this rise in price may be
explained by the increased cost of cattle
| forage labour. etc, and that of car
rage. since, as the cities grow. milk
must be brought from more and more
distant centres of production, yet it
must not be forgotten that an lmpor-
tant factor of the price is the gain of the
middlemen.
Milk in it's journey from the country
producer to the town consumer passes
generally through the hands of two or
three dealers, each OF whom naturally
receives his appreciable profit So while
the increased price is a burden on the
consumer. it does not reach the pockets
of the producers and is no gain TO Ma
tional agriculture.
1t is therefore for a wise policy of
consumption 10 reduce to a minimum, If
not altogether to eliminate, the work of
the middlemen, and while this would be
an economic gain, it would certainly be
no loss from sanitary point of view,
as there would be no more superfuous
and Injurious manipulation of the milk
1t is, therefore, interesting to consider
what is being done in the matter in
Germany, where the problem is consid-
cred of such Importance, that there has
ever been an agitation for law to regtl-
late the milk trade in n uniform man
ner and to guarantee it's purity. We are
helped in this study by the data given
IN an article In the August number of
the Bulletin of Economic and Social In.
teligence, published by the International
Institute of Agriculture
First of all, we must observe that in
, some German towns the problem was to
some extent solved by large establish
ments at Berlin and at Dresden. whose
large trade. immediate contact with the
producers and scientific utilization of
waste products. permit of their selling at
reasonable prices, while the very impor-
lance and the name of the establish
ments guarantee the purity and genuine
ness of the article. In 1909, the Bolle
dairy alone sold A millions of litres OF
milk at % pr the litre for unseparated
milk, delivered at the dairy, and "A pr If
delivered at the customers house, that
is u and 80 confines respectively. The
work of the Pfund dairy is only a little
less important.
Quite half of these local cooperative
societies already sell their milk directly,
but their action, to be effcacious. must
be integrated with that of the central
dairies which have sufficient means and
a large commercial organization.
In this way there have arisen central
diaries in Berlin, Stuttgart. and Ham
burg and other German towns. If, some
of these and notably the two first, do
not answer all the hopes raised by them,
they yet exert a beneficent action in
regulating the market, and setting
limit to the growth of monopolies and
some, nave given really Drliuant results.
The most important of these associa-
tons as yet is that of Hamburg, which
includes % cooperative societies with
$500 members and can dispose of the
milk of quite $500 cows. Not without
struggle has it succeeded in getting its
strong position on the market, by means
of a wise system of prices overcoming
, the difficulties that opposed its progress,
and becoming the chief suppler of the
commercial cooperative societies and OF
the whole city of Hamburg.
In this way its annual sales have risen
from 49, coo, 600 of litres in 190l-1S02 to 63.-
coo 600 in 1909-1O, while the unsold milk
100000 of litres lin the latter working
year, was made into cheese and other
produce. The Members of the society
are for the most part owners of small
or medium sized farms, who therefore
directly profit by the economies and I'M
provements of the association. 1t has
been of appreciable benefit to them not
only in respect to the sales, but also by
means of assiduous technical and sani-
tary supervision. il. encourages them to
produce a better quality and at the same
time, larger quantity.