The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-11-15
Milk Probers Submit Their
Findings to the Governor

Investigating the milk situation, arriv
ing at cost production and fair price
to be paid the producers has completed
its report which goes into the situation
at great length and touches on some Of
the shortcomings of the delivery sys
tenn as well. The commission was made
up Of H. L. Russell, chairman, Madison;
E. Davenport, Urbana, ILL.,; Mayor J
A. Fathers, GAINESVILLE; Mayor T. w
Thiesen, Racine; 0. r. Smith, Milwau-
lee; George Ella, Racine county; M. G.
Flack, WaIworth county; D. E. Vincent
Kenosha county; L. w. Hause, Wauke-
sha county; John lie Feber, Milwau-
kee; J. L. Fisher, Rock county.
The commission decided to fix the
price of $342 a hundred for October
as the month had already passed
and recommended the price of 1926
per hundred pounds for November. Its
report as made to Gov, Philip follows:
Milk Important Food.
"Milk is SO necessary and important
a food for all people that its price af-
fects the general welfare of every com
munity. From the standpoint Of the
consumer every possible effort should
be made to reduce its cost to the low
est price compatible with justice to the
producer and the distributor. The
emergency in which this nation now
finds itself has resulted in wide
spread feeling that the general welfare
must dominate the interests of any
individual or class. Therefore the COM
mittee has given primary consideration
to this aspect of the problem. Last
month the retail price of milk in the
Chicago market jumped from ten to
thirteen cents. To be warranted in
these times such an increase must rest
upon absolutely justifable grounds.
"The problem of finding selling
price for milk is not simply one of
ascertaining the cost Of production
and distribution. That may be the
price at which it should sell in order
to pay expense of production and
delivery to the consumer, but whether
he will take it at that price and
how much he will take are en-
tirely different questions.
Price to Consumer.
FThe price which the consumer
can afford to pay depends upon the
food value of milk as compared with
other staples, and which is far higher
than is commonly supposed; it de-
ponds upon its peculiar value as food
to the young due to the fact that
it contains specific substances that are
indispensable to growth.
"The price which the consumer
will consent to pay depends not only
upon it's actual value, but also upon
his attitude toward the price, and his
habits of using milk; indeed what
may be called the psychology Of the
consumer is one of the large factors
In the whole question. The consumer
will take some milk at almost any
price; he will take much more at a
low price. 1t he calls for more than
is produced he will have to economize
in its use, and little or no harm
will follow, but if he suddenly refuses
to take the usual amount, waste ensues
and the business is demoralized both
for the producer and the distributor.
The price at which milk will there
fore sell and sell freely enough for a
normal supply to be consumed is a
composite of many elements, and a
study of the prices for many years
shows that they only roughly follow
the cost of production.
Costs of Production.
"To determine what it actually costs
to produce market milk is so complex
a question, and one to which such a
variety of honest answers can actually
be made, that we have felt that reli-
ance alone on cost data would fail to
meet the real object of this investiga-
tion. There is no uniform cost at which
milk can be made. The manufacture
of milk can not be standardized like
the making of automobiles and put on
basis where the costs of production
can be made uniform under condi-
tions as they actually obtain. The
farmer as manufacturer is dealing
not with inert materials that can be
bought and handled as steel and
fashioned in machine, but with a
living mechanism that is subject to
all the variations of life itself.
Moreover, he has to contend with
all Of the forces of nature. His crops
are subject to the blighting influence
of storm and disease so that his
labor, however, faithfully performed,
may come to naught by reasons over
which he has absolutely no control.
This hazard factor must be paid for
in some way. The costs of his raw
materials therefore are subject to
the widest possible variations. The
silage put up this year by the Wiscon-
sin farmer has cost much more than
ever before. In many localities his hay
crop has been so reduced that he is
confronted with the condition that he
must either sell some of his stock or
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