New-York tribune., 1919-01-23
The Meat of the
Milk Question
BY Anne Lewis Pierce
Director Ne2c lorh, Tribune Institute

W-N SOME recent publicity on the far
mer's wrongs and the distributors
b sins. this statement was made "Do
you understand that the farmers ASK
of these retailers only cents a quart
for milk which they sell to you for l6
margin of cents as compared with Al
cents margin which satisfied retailers IN
Philadel phia?'
In the first place, this is obviously sm
unfair comparison of New York milk as
bought 1870 miles out in the country. with
Philadelphia milk f. O. b. city The farmer
is really paid 93 cents for his milk avcrag-
ing 3.S per cent butter fat. and to this must
be added the freight and country collecting
charges, which would make the milk really
cost the distributor about 10S cents This
subtracted from rs cents shows d spread
of 81. Philadelphia authorities claim a
spread of 40 cents for January. differ
ence against the New York distributor Of
seven-tenths Of q cent instead Of 90 cents
as claimed. AS a matter Of fact the dif-
ference between the two cities under nor
NAL conditions should be larger than this,
since terminal expense in New York the
of apartment house dwellcrs. all arc admit
ted to make its distribution more costly.
Pittsburg. for similar reasons. has larger
distributing cost than Philadelphia
Another Interesting point is sha; the
union requirements here limit mans
deliveries to 800 packages a day any size
while in Philadelphia 100 quart packages
make minimum days work This indi-
Gates that the union finds delivery cond.-
tions such in New York that less ground
can be covered and substantates the claim
for. a wider margin for distribution eH-
pcnse. Such loose comparisons quoted
show the utterly misleading character OF
partial statements, and the danger OF bring
ing together figures that arc not compar-
able, and the ignoring of important cons'd'
erations.
Another vital fact is that practically all
Of the Philadelphia milk is bottled, while
only about 35 per cent of New York milk
is served in this way, and OF loose milk
New York prices to the consumer have
compared more favorahly with other places
An example of the mortifying effect OF
side issues"
AS the farmers are apparently trying TO
get even for past years OF split milN'
SO the distributors are The scapegaats o.
bygone days when the middeman was per
sc specuator; aSman who made an un-
holy margin and performed slight service
sand to whom both producer and CONSUME
charged up their troubles.
There some still at it. But unseem'y
profits often an evening up for past
losses and speculation has been in large
measure controlled. However this may be,
the sins OF the distributor at this particular
moment those of the system rather than
of the individual concern. Our leading dis
tributers have had expert accountants on
their books for many months, dsinterested
men from the outside, employed by the gov
ernmcnt, and it is established beyond
doubt that they have lost money or broken
even for. several months of The year in order
TO equallze the price and prevent de-
creased demand, their net annual profits
averaging around per cent This was only
good business.
Go DC continued)