Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1915-11-12

idllk-WuSDu lOuteS III ldlSC Clttto retrace and "crisscross" one another, thus adding to the cost of distribu tion; this duplication of effort has a direct bearing on the retail price of milk. as it increases the expenses of the milk dealers. Ca the other hand it is also a tax upon the farmer, far it tends to keep down the price paid for milk on the farm. It must be understood, however, that much of }, the waste in milk delivery under the present system, can not be entirely Trevcnted. because there are so many dealers in each locality, and competi- !'on is keen. According to the dairy experts of the United States depart ment of agriculture efforts should be mada nevertheless, by the dealers, to concentrate their business as much as possible. so as to lessen the dis tance travelled by the wagon for each quart of milk delivered by securing q large number of customers in small area
 In the District of Columbia 9S routes were measured. The shortest distance travelled by any wagon was 1O.4 miles, and the longest was 50, showing a considerable variation. me average distance for the 9S wagons was 191 miles. When these meas urcments were made there were ap- proximately 510 miles of streets Tn tho district and 250 wagons were making the retail deliveries of mllk. Figuring that each of these wagons travelled 1a.1 miles, they all covered 4775 miles each day, or 9.3 tlmes the sum of all the streets in the dls- trict Thus the time of about or every wagons was used uneconom- ical]y. More than 80 dealers were making the deliveries.
 The present trend in retail busl- ness seems to be toward the small package. A few years ago many kinds of food were sold ill hUlk which at present are purchased, to a laree extent. in small packages. lho same trend is noticeable in the relaii milk business, there being greater demand for pint bottles than ior ouarts in the five large cities receA'N studied by the department~ho hoS'oh' Washington. Pittsburgh, Philadeiphia and Baltimore. Seventy-four cFa'e's , ;n thosc cities handled daily aoont seo oo0 ouarr bottles and 361,ooo plht hottles. About Il per cent of the W- tal bot.led milk of these dealers Is handled in pints.
 IT takes considerably longer 10 wash and fill two pint bottles 'hau one ouart, moreover, it costs neaFls as much to deliver a pint as IL aces
 onar, hottie of milk, One dealer who handles quart Aottles only' says
 1,A quart of milk to make up TOT tue iuS' on one pint, vet, as the hsures N"u". there is a surprisingly large hu'''o0' of pints handled by some oeaiars'
 Where Do the Bottles to!
 The loss of bottles is a perpleN,as nroblem to all dealers ana III tue agrregatc, the total amount oi money lost reaches great proportions m wear. The life of a pint bottle ls nuch shorter than that of quart which is computed to fast from o 'o 5n trims. the average being 22.o trips. If inc dealer delivers 10000 hottles daily and they cost him 3i4 centS each. his daily expense for replaclhs hotties would be S15.55, or $3,61a.fo a year. It is necessary to use small hotties for some kinds of trade, as, for instance. the hotel CT restauran. trade. where the guests are served milk in the bottle, but the cost ot de- livery and the loss i'll bottles m con nection with this trade is usuallF very small. In some sections of the cities. customers often feel unable 10 hvv more than pint of milk at lime. this has tendency to cut dawn the consumption of milk. oth- a, s.n,ilies arc so small that they do m, raouire more than a pint.
 If a pint sells for more lnan nsl, ,aa '3ba nrice of a quart. as is often the case. then buying by the pm, IS .,.e more expensive method for the con Asumer, as he pays the extra cosl oi delivery. If there is no difference III