New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-05
What Ais the Milk Business ?

We print elsewhere on this page letters
from dairy farmers expressing their
views of the milk situation. Diverse in
many respects, they are in complete &C
cord in portraying the hard lot of the
dairymen-his long hours, hard work, the
increased cost Of labor, feed, and other
elements which make up the cost of pro-
duction, and the need for higher price
for milk if he is not to be driven out of
business. One farmer presents balance
sheet showing that for couple of years
he actually has operated his business at
loss.
According to the census of 1916, New
York State was the leading state of the
Union in production of milk and in the
total value Of dairy products. 1t is
matter of common knowledge that many
dairy farmers for several years back have
been going out OF business, either selling
their farms or converting them to other
uses.
They have insisted that they could not
make it pay-this in spite of the fact that
there has been a steady increase in the
price of milk and cream and butter to con-
sumers. 1t is manifest that New York
cannot afford to have its dairy interests
run down, either as a matter Of supremacy
in one of the most important fields of ag-
riculture or as matter of supplying the
vast demand of its cities.
The farmers say they are not getting
fair share of the profits of milk at the
present prices. The distributors insist
that they are paying all that the business
will Justify, in view of their investment
and operating costs, and show detailed ex-
pense statements to back up their posi-
ton. Naturally. the consumers object to
paying more for milk and cream than they
have been accustomed TO pay.
What is the trouble with the milk bust
ness then? Two points are evident at the
start. One is that the farmer who has
anything resembling an accurate knowl-
edge of what his product costs him is a
rare dairyman. Few farmers keep books
in detail; very few keep them with the ac-
curacy of a successful merchant or manu-
facturer. All know in general that they
have to pay more for what they buy to
keep the farm running, and most of them
insist that they are unable to increase the
receipts from sales to a point to offset the
oIaOuata1y
Yet the dairyman who takes into con-
sideration the added value to his farm
through restoration Of the fertility Of de-
pleted soil-one Of the acknowledged bene-
fits accruing from big herd of cattle-is
unusual. One of the Tribune's correspon-
dents. maintains that on his farm crops
have been getting poorer year by year
That is certainly contrary to the expert
ence of farmers in Western states, who
after the fertility of the virgin soil has
been exhausted, shift from grain crops to
grazing or dairying to restore soil fertility
and so add value to the capital investment.
The statements regarding costs and profits
seem general rather than completely ac-
curate.
The second important point is that year
by year the standard of milk has been
raised. Consumers have been educated to
demand a certain minimum degree of but
ter fats-that is, of richness-and an ever
increasing maximum of sanitation in the
handling Of milk, from the time the cow is
brought around for milking to the time the
milk is left at the door in the morning.
Some farmers have been intelligent enough
to meet this demand; others haven't been
able TO or willing to. Naturally, they suf-
fer. Some still regard the distributors
rules about stable cleanliness and Health
Department regulations requiring pasteur-
ization as nonsense.
Few farmers understand the cost TO
which the distributors are subjected in en-
forcing the laws and their own rules for
sanitation; few farmers give much thought
10 the cost Of handling milk from the time il
leaves the receiving station until it is de-
livcred % the consumer. The burden Of
their complaint is that the distributor gets
more than half Of what the consumer pays,
and this is not fair.
Il may we'll be that the farmer is not
receiving enough for his milk; it is possible