The sun., 1919-01-10
improved the quality Of milk received

are subjected to inspection by the
New York Health Department, and
their product Is distributed under its
watchful eye. Cow barns must he
kept clean, water supplies for the cat
tie must be pure, mixers and milk
houses must reach a high standard
OF cleanliness. Herds must be sub
jected to the tuberculin test, and
the replacement of animals which dis
close tuberculosis costs a great deal
Of money. These are factors perma-
nently increasing the cost of milk pro-
duction compared with that cost only
a few years ago. The public which
requires pure and wholesome milk
must pay for 1t.
Temporarily the milk producers are
victims of the high prices brought
about by the war, as everybody else
Is. The machinery they use on tHeir
farms, the fertilizers they must buy
to raise feed, the feeds they s,are
obliged to buy and the labor they must
hire; all these things cost more ban
they did few years ago Mor( Der,
the farmers are being educatod in
bookkeeping. 1t Is unquestionably
true that many of them had no proper
system of accounting a quarter Of a
century ago, while to-day If 1t Is. not
true that all farmers keep books each
community has its modern Hgricul-
tural establishment, the balance sheet
Of which is consulted and needed by
the nearby farmers.
No resident of New York can be
ignorant of the fact that the cost of
distributing milk here has greatly in
creased in recent years. The employ
ees of the milk companies have won
several increases in pay, adjustments
of hours and improvements in work
ing conditions In the last few months.
The distributors, like the farmers and
! everybody else. have had to pay more
! than ever before for equipment, re-
pairs, forage and everything else they
require in their business. Meantime
the demands on their services have
| not been in any way moderated.
1t is acknowledged everywhere that
there is much costly duplication in
, the distributing system of the great
milk companies here. The wagons or
trucks of half a dozen different con-
| Germs traverse the same territory.
There is notorious waste in contain.
| ers, and the collection OF debts is fire.
| quently declared to he highly uusatis-
! factory. 1t has been disclosed that
the distributors pay tribute to jani-
tors for the milk privileges of large
, tenements.
| For all of these things. from healthy
cows Ia model barns TO uncolected
milk bills, the consumers have to pay.
The farmer Is entitled to fair profit
on his investment and his labor; the
! transportation companies cannot work
for nothing; the consumers cannot go
to the railroad terminals for milk,
but must have ii brought, if not to
their homes, as thousands Of them do,
TO conveniently situated shops. The
supply system that has grown up 10
meet the needs of the city seemed to
be rs simple and ms effective as any
| that could be devised until ii broke
down this month, to the grave incon.
venience, II not the actual danger, of
New York.
! Nor can It be said that the towns
folk have refused to pay. Naturally
they have complained, MS each year
saw the price of milk rise, but as they
complained they paid, and the present
quarrel between milk producers and
milk distributors cannot be laid at the
door of the ultimate consumer.
| Ii IS the complex nature OF the
| problems involved that makes the gen.
eral public cautious about pronounc-
| ing Judgment for or against farmers
or distributors in the present vexa-
| tiOus and alarming situation. The
consumers know they are paying high
prices for milk. prices high by what
ever standard they are judged. They
know also that they are entitled to
good milk in abundance and that the
| milk they want Is being produced
What they cannot understand Is why
The amount of money they pay 10 tho
| distributor does not provide amply
for the adequate compensation Of all
| who have to do with the milk from
the farm to the dumbwaiter. and on
this problem they get little light from
the Milk Conference, which repre-.
sents the dealers, or the Dnirymen's
League, which represents the pro,
duccrs of the milk
Governor SMITH has a difficult,
task before him In adjusting the diff
ferences between the farhers and tho
| milk men. The immediate necessity
IS to get an adequate supply of milk
for New York. But when that has
been done there remains another
great undertaking. 1t will he to in
troduce n system under which rcpcti,
ton of the present intolcrable contli,
ton will be impossible. The city and
its people cannot afford to live con
tinually in terror of row hetwper
the. producers of milk and the dis.
! trihutcrS of milk that will deprive