Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1917-11-09
CLASH WITH DAIRY LEAGUE
CONTINUED from Page y

"lf this station should be closed every
member of the league would Immediate
ly strike, they wNf Mk' W Of HE hqggf
MIX on none,
Well the milk companies "came
across with the price on six months
agreement and everybody was happy
until the time came to I X the winter
price last September, The league mem
beers were ordered to parade IN march
ing order and be ready to go on strike
October first unless the demands of the
Chief Push and his assistants were
complied with, On September Goth the
daily press published the news of an
agreement between the league and the
distributors which provided that the
latter WIf net 10 Mkf dRr lWflW mix,
The full Significance of this dld not
strike home TO the producers here until
the manager Of the Salisbury station
was called on the long distance phone
from New York and ordered 10 ioic N,
fgHoH Hr mast @U. The officers of the
loca branch Immediately got lusy and
communicated by wire with the league
offices in New York md received very
non.commitlal Telegram In reply ending
with "lettcr follows The "letteT'
came Monday morning, store otyped
circular saying that las they probably
knew, the station had been closed. II
was no news 10 the farmers, they were
appraised Of the fact the day before
when they came with their milk.
The letter went on 10 say that
although they had strenously opposed
shutting up the stations, they could not
prevent it, " etc. The farmers could
read the flaming posters whore they
were urged to stand by their guns and
not be ground down by grasping
monopoly, that the milk companies mHJI
Mkc all 81 Hr hQgHe mix on HoNt, and so on,
and extract what comfort they could
from II, but the melancholy fact stared
them in the face, that they had been
made the goat, had held the bag and
were outside looking through the pick
cts while their more fortunate brethren
around Utica and in Orange County
were well taken care of probably by
the ChiefPush and his assistants.
A committee consisting Of w. II.
Dyer and =. S. Field Immediately went
to New York to get what first hand in
formation they could and to see if the
league officers were ready to make good
some Of their famboyant promises.
They made an appointment by phone
and went to the headquarters the fol-
lowing morning which they found to be
decidedly of the de luxe order. They
occupied whole floor of one of the
great Office buildings, which are luXu-
riously furnished with money contibut-
ed by the farmers for protection"
from soulless monopoly, and well
manned by scores of bookeepers, ste
nographers and Office bows. After "A due
and proper prob ton of perhaps two
hours they were ushered into the great
Presence. Did he welcome them with
glad hand and sympathetic tear? He
did not.
In fact he acted somewhat peeved
because they were there. He could
not give them any aid or comfort. He
suggested that they might buy the plant
and run il on cooperative basis OF
course that would be an easy way out,
it would only cost about S25, 600 to do
that, small matter. When told that
his suggestion was impractical, not to
say impossible, he cody said, 1T is APP
parent that you do NOT care to help
yourselves. After which the com
mittee withdrew.
That their trip was not barren of re-
suits We point to the fact that the sta
ton at Salisbury is again running, oper-
ated by the Bronx Farms Inc. Of New
York who want all the milk they can
get Notwithstanding there was said to
be a Surplus" month ago.
The Dairymen's League is a big inst-
tuition. 1t has a membership Of 49, 600
with over GOO, 600 cows. 1t needs as its
executive head a man big enough to man.
age one of our big industrial enterprises
1t has actually got man so small
that he rattes around in his job like a
gold bead in a barn, He is sort of
pea in As centimeter gun. If any
thing comes up bigger than firing the
office boy hurry call goes out and all
of the officers from the president down
assemble to decide what to do. At pres
ent they have the city of New York on
its back, but they don't know what to do
with it. They have taken a good deal
bigger chew than they can masticate.
Some time they may get real man on
the job. One is badly needed.
F. C. DYER.
Salisbury, Vt, Nov. 5, 1917.