Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-10-25
The Milk Problem in Politics.

Editorial Note.-The following clip
wing from the Worcester Telegram
was NOT written by Commissioners
Guptill- Of Mainei: .>as go
There is a determination among men
of Massachusetts, that the common
wealth he made better place for
farming One of the most important
points in agriculture is that the people
In cities must be supported, provided
THO food materials they need. and
charged accordingly. that the farmers
may be able to keep on raising the
food materials and delivering them in
the best possible condition to city peo-
pie. Dwellers in small settlements do
not have trouble with the farmers
-l1o till the soil about them. They al;
get along. and vote in the same ballot
ing places. The cities have become
too large for a general acquaintance,
and the city people do not know the
farmers. 81. -~..4y =.
Lawmakers have been practising as
doctors for good many years, trying
to make substitute for that lack Of
acquaintance among the farmers and
city people. They have not succeeded
well in some instances. They have
miscued seriously in legislation for the
control Of milk. as it is made on the
farms and as it is hauled to cities in
trains and sold to the people there in
large and small quantities
Consequently there is more trouble
about the milk supplies of Massachu-
sets than all the other items Of bust.
ness between the farms and the. cities.
There is so much trouble that Demo-
Gratis are trying to make milk the
chief political issue in this common
wealth. That is not solution of the
problem. even in prospect. 1t is only
another move to befuddle it. There is
no more excuse for having trouble
about milk than about sand There is
no political issue. ipyolving the sale of
sand to city people for building or
other purposes. Potatoes are not
mixed up in ploitics, nor are grapes or
cabbages.
The Republican candidate for COVER
nor. Mr.. Mccall. has stated .the milk
problem like a man of sense He has
told the simple story from Boston to
Tie WCSkcIu VI lHo beTkSnlTeS,
and back again. and then up and
down the coast Of the eastern section
Of the state. He has won the conf
dence of farmers by his talks, because
he has not become hysterical about
the milk issue. He has stated the case
plainly, and advised business methods
to replace the politics of the past in
the treatment Of the milk problem
Democrats object to Mr.. Mccall talk
Ing about craftsmanship rather than
ward politics to regulate the milk
business. Democrats object to. every
thing that is rational. They succeed
only. in the midst Of turmoil, and they
assume that the farmers can raise milk
orly by making war about it. War
produces shrapnel. not milk.
Massachusetts has had Democratic
governors for four years. and in all
that time 1t has not gained yard
against the armies which disturb the
milk business. II, is a worse record
for inaction than is applied to the
armies in Europe which fill the trench
es. 1t is four times as long a record Of
doing nothing. -. ~
Massachusetts needs laws1so framed
that it will become the habit Of its
farmers to raise the best milk and sell
It to be delivered, to city people for
their use at reasonable prices. The
Republican candidate for governor
tells that to the farmers, and they be-
lieve him. There is no other way to
do it. The more law tinkering tho
more sour milk is just as much a tru-
ism as the more thunder the more sour
milk. 1t is all the result of tumult in
both cases. Disturbing elements spoil
tempers as we'll as milk.
Mr.. Mccall is a dignified and sane
man, by his public record. not by
Euesswork. That is the kind Of man
the commonwealth needs in the ex-
ecutive chair to lead, to keep his hand
on the helm. to steady the political
forces while the laws are made or
amended. That is what the state. and
the farmers in particular. needto settle
the milk problem right. not by theory
or for political purposes. but to re-.
establish in Massachusetts, the most
important means Of making money on
the farms. by the keeping Of cows and
the making of milk and other dairy
products. F
In Maine, the city Of Portland Is
sweating under a milk problem"
Some of their supply is so dirty that
dogs are said to refuse to take a bati,
in. it. Portland called for help. It
formed a committee and invited the
secretary Of the State Board of Health,
pr. A: G. Young. and Commissioners
Guptill Of the State Department OF
Agriculture. to meet with them and as
ssist in solving the, problem. The Ken
nebec Journal had no representative
there. but the Portland newspapers tell
the story in a way that reminds us of
the wise advice Of Mr.. McCall-because
It is so different. Here is small part
of what the Press (Rep) has said: NJ
Instead of helping or trying to help,
these officials found excuses for doing
nothing. delivered long speeches about
subjects in no ways pertinent to the
issue. and the commissioner OF agri-
culture. Mr.. Guptill, went SO far as to
tell the committee that "all the peo-