Norwich bulletin., 1916-04-28
COUNTY IMPROVEMENT LEAGUE
 ENDORSES MILK REPORT
Has Mailed Copies to Members and
 Prospective Members.

The New London County Improve ment League has endorsed the report i on the investigation and analysis of the | Production, Transportation, Inspection | and distribution of milk and cream in | New England, and have mailed cop ies to members and prospective mem | bers together with a letter urging the farmers to keep farm account books.
 It has been apparant for sometime, says the report that the production ana distribution of milk in the New England States is not on a sound ec- onCmic basis, and that there is some thing radically wrong with the way in which this important industry is now being conducted. It is obvious that the opportunities in the industry are far from being fully realized.
 Generally speaking the per capita consumption of milk in the United States has been steadily increasing; but in certain districts of New Eng | land the per capita consumption has been decreasing for the past ten years, and the amount required has been | drawn from a larger territory, and from district more and more remote. | In short, despite the increase in our | urban population, the output of the principal agricultural industry in the | immediate adjoining territory has de- l olined. Country districts, which ought | to be fourishing, are at a Standstin. | No one has appeared to understand | the cause of the difficulty. or to have | | While the committee has received cooperation from all the dealers, and some very accurate figures from a few, | the majority could not furnish much definite data as to individual items of cost of operation. This makes it i'm possible to estimate accurately the variation in cost items and to de- termine how they may be reduced.
 In summarizing, the dealers receive about cents quart for regular de- | FE f1 f1v- 1a z s. cents (with a varying average usually of 1-2 cents to cents and 1-2 cents) for delivery to the retail store trade Sometimes being paid for the
 bottles, although this Is not generally
 the easel, and about cents per quart for delivery to the wholesale trade in
 cans.
 The consumer who has milk deliv-
 cred to his door regularly by a deal l CT pays cents to 10 cents usually
 cality. Pints are generally sold at cents or billed to consumers at 1-2 cents on monthly accounts. The con- sumer purchasing from retail stores pays : cents to cents, and in many instances 2 cents to cents for the ! bottle.
 The value of a particular quart of 5 milk or cream depends on its Cleanli- 3 ness and the percentage of butter fat and solids not fat which it contains
 
 ) different quarts. Butter fat can be readily measured when the farmers of fer their product to the dealer, and . the farmers or dealers can, by pro- t per mixing or standardizing. control il s in the product which they offer to tho . public. These percentages, together , with the cleanliness of the product
 should govern both :he price paid by
 the consumer and that received by tho
 producer
 | It is anDarau+ that +ba rnatbo5s mn . prevailing in the trade fail to give
 these factors the emphasis which thei v fundamental importance deserves. Tht
 minimum legal requirements in tn, various states are far from uniform $ and no well-recogniZed grades of mill V and cream have yet been establishet n in the trade. The farmer receive S practically the same price irrespectiv = of the quality of his product; the con 5. Sumer pays about the same whethe 1, the food value of what he buys b
 high or low. While many farmers an y dealers do attempt to base their tran r sections on the cleanliness and per \ ccntage of solids in the product, tn e lack of any well-defined and recog g nized standard and the indifference O = consumers tends to discourage sue e dealings. Milk is sold without def e mite description, and the general re
 suit is a lack of incentive to both far
 mers and dealers to improve thei
 product.
 - Partly as a result of the abSrnse C a standardized product, partly becaus l., Of the difficulty and expense of keep ID ing records, farmers now sell thei
 product without accurate knowledg
 either of it's value or its cost to then m This ignorance flinders improvemer III being made in methods of productio D. and tends to destroy the cordial rela y tions which should exist between tt is country producer and the city deale Is When the producers fail to prospe
 they attribute it to the low prices pal
 by the dealers. The dealers, on il ) other hand, are apt to regard as e2
 tortion every attempt by the produ' " CTS to raise prices. To remedy tn
 condition, the producers must acquil
 an accurate knowledge of their cost l. production sufficient to enable them