New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-13
Concerning Milk Prices
Farmers in Combining Follow Custom
in Other Businesses
To N. Editor OF The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Tn. farmers Of this region ar. N
dairymen nearly all Of them shippers Of mil,
TO the New York market, and deeply inter.
ested in III. news and editorials IN Tn. Trih.
une "touchin' on and appertsinin' to- III. mil,
question. The editorial in Fridays issus m.
der the head milk Prices and Infant Mortal.
i,yv has caused much unfavorsble comm,,,
among these farmers. The opinion is frs.l,
expressed that the writer Of that srtiel. !,
much like the Dutch justice who, after hearin,
the testimony Of the plaintiff, rendered YER.
dict in favor of that individual withou. he,,
ing the other side.
This editorial says: "No lsyrnsn can t.l
whether farmers are using regulation trus.
methods to extort improper prices, whe.h.,
the distributors are making too much money
or whether milk has heretofore been 100 low
/ in price for the preservation Of the dairy Ia.
dustry."
The first query may fairly be answered n
this way: II the farmers are using trust
methods" to get better prices for milk. the,
so are the miners 70 increase the prices 0.
coal. the railroad employees 70 incres. the
costs OF transportation, the employees Of many
other industries TO get better wages and thus
enhance the costs Of the necessaries o! life
! Certainly no lover Of fair play desires 70
see one industry benefited at the exp.n. o.
another or TO see all industries but one ben.
Gifted by combination or trust methOds'
From time immemorial the farmers hsv. been
/ held up 10 ridcule as class that did no.
I have sense enough to combine and thus keep
I'D with the trust procession. X they havs
/ done so now, it shows that they have learned
: to profit by observation. They have found
that when they are among the Romans shv
must do as Romans do
/ put let's see If another interrogation n
yours may be answered as equita5ly -Four
years ago last winter, II my memory is &C.
curate, this very question ofstne cost OF pro-
ducing milk was pretty thoroughly invest.
gated By a legislative committee, with an eI'
Deputy Attorney General as counsel Ths
I committee held sessions in the cher mllspro-
ducing regions of the state, and these sssr.
/ ings were continued for several months, ua.i
the committee regarded the question as pretty
thoroughly thrashed out. Then they reported
! that the average cost OF producing quar-
1 of milk was a little more than cents IN tas
state. At that time the average price o!
milk. as paid to farmers in the same terri.
,ory was less than 4 cents. Then, too feed
was sellin, at from s18 to $50 a .on az retail
farmhands were getting from SIS to $50 q
month. and the cost of boarding them ",
about half what il is now. II 10 cost more
than A cents a quart to produce milk then
what must it cost now, with feed selling At
from $50 TO 500 a ton and help getting from
/ $50 TO $50 a month and board?
Something Wrong
The question whether distributors are get
ting too much FOR their share Of the price
I charged consumers of milk ! cannot answer
in the same way, but this is matter o.
common repute: The largest dealers oegsh
with capital OF a few Thousands, "nlen ha'
grown by sccretion to millions. Nhe'ha
this has been made by charging legitimate
profits | am unable to say, but the seriou
/ fault that may fairly be charged TO the DIS
tributers is in their methods OF DISTRIBUTOR
/ Instead of having twenty teams and forty
men 20 70 a single apartment house TO deliver
( twenty quarts of milk one team and two men
should make the same delivery. Either NIX
deliveries should cease and milk depots Dc
established all over the city, or the city shoEe
be divided into districts, each large enoass
TO require the services of one team and Two
men to deliver the milk. The milk trust-ior
there is one, just as there is trust in oil
and one in steel-might well copy some OF ne
standard methods and systematic It's DEW
cries. When it costs twice as much 70 o.
liver an article 200 miles or less from whsn
it is produced as it costs to produce that ari'
Gle there is certainly something rotten ID
Denmark" FRANZ b. MAI HAN
Stamford, n. Y, Oct. 9, 1917.