New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-11-11
One Man Keeps
Milk Price UD.
Straus Asserts
Philanthropist Refuses To
BE More Specific Than to
Say Person Was Attend.
ing Inquiry in City Hall
Scores DairymenssLeague

Witness Declares Indepen.
dentFarmersAre Crowded
Out; Methods Criticized
Nathan Stratus, whose free milk
stations are credited with having saved
the lives of thousands Of children. said
yesterday at meeting Of the Fair
Price MIX Committee in City Hall that
zone man is standing between the pub
lie and lower milk price"
Mr.. Straus did not come to the ses-
sion to testify. He told District At
torney. Martin of The Bronx, mem
Der of the committee, that he wa.
merely an interested spectator. He
took an active interest in the proceed
ings and seemed amused at the wrane-
ling between farmer, a distributor
and representative of the Dairy
mems League.
At the close of the session Mr..
Straus was asked if he cared to com
ment.
st would hardly help" he said.
There is one man--and he is in this
room-who is standing between the
public and lower milk price He is
the cleverest milkman in the country.
He has one of the smartest LAWYERS
AS long as this combination exists the
public will continue to be beaten"
Refuses To Be Specific
The philanthropst's eyes swept the
room. They seemed to take in every
body and rest on no one. He refused
to be more specific, saying that the
name would be known in due time.
y osc in the room included Lotion
Horton, founder and president of the
ne"leld Farms Slawson Decker Com
pany; L. A. Campbell, president of the
Glover Farms Company, and l. Elkin
Nathans, secretary of the New York
Milk Conference Board.
Neil II. Strome, Of the New York
Federation Of Agriculture, was on the
stand most of the afternoon. Mr.
Strome was not scheduled to testify.
He took the witness chair after he had
objected to statements in the testi-
urer Of the Levy Dairy Company, of
Second Avenue and Nineteenth Street.
Mr.. Levy, in recounting the costs Of
operation of his company, had said
that although the milk price this month
was ostensibly 1888 a hundred pounds,
approximately seven cents 8 quart, it
was, in reality, nine cents because of
premium paid on butter fat. Raw
milk, delivered to his plants, costs
about ten cents quart and pasteur-
lied about Il cents, the witness had
testified. The Levy firm deals chiefly
with groceries. selling dip milk for
II cents and bottled for 16.
Mr.. Strome challenged Mr.. Levy's
figures. He said no farmer received
more than seven cents a quart. Milk,
pasteurized and ready for delivery
should not cost more than nine cents,
he declared
Blames Dairymen's League
The Dairymcn's League was partially
he said
ut is my firm conviction" the wit
ness asserted, that Roswell D. Cooper,
president of the Dairymcn's League, is
working hand in hand with the dealers
The Dairymen's League receives one
cent hundred pounds for milk sold by
members. This is deducted from the
farmers check and sent to the league.
why DO they work so tremendously in
this?
Last January there was big strike.
1t cost the farmers 100000 900. 1t end
ed by the farmers obtaining their price
for six days, while the distributors
fixed the figure Tor sixty. The Dairy
mems League gets between $4,000 and
100000 year from distributors. In
dependent farmers want to know how
this remuneration is earned"
Mr.. Strome charged that in June,
1918, he attempted, with other farmers
,ioii' range Coullty, 10 sen milk mere,
but was impeded by the officials of the
Dairymen's League. He narrated in de-
tail the formation and failure Of the
Country Milk Company, which, he said,
mad been organized apparently to sell
at lower price by iminatne the city
distributors. Roswell D. Cooper, presi-
dent of the league, also was presiden.
of the Country Milk Company he said
Opposition Ticket Blocked
eve attempted to launch an opposition
ticket to Cooper's slate at the Dairy
mems League convention in Jersey City
this year. We met and talked over our
plans and decided TO have about 5000
slips printed and distributed at the
meeting. We paid q printer SIS on a
$15 total cost, promising him the re-
mainder when he delivered the slips at
the convention hal. The slips never
came: We had feared spies right along
We learned that some man had APP
peared at the print shop and paid the
printer the balance, taking the slips,
which we never saw"
Strome wound up bv saying that bot
tied milk could be distributed here at
13 cents quart-with q profit Mr..
Nathans and Mr.. Levy denied this.
They also denied the truth of state
ments by Strome that five men bossed
the leagues 1900 members, 80 per
cent Of whom were dissatisfied"
Would Assist Farmers
Mark Du Bots, editor of "The Pough-
keepsie Courier" frequent witness at
milk Investigations, told the committee
that milk production was falling off
because farmers were not adequately
compensated The farmers should be
allowed to bargain in their sale Of
milk, and not be forced to sell at an
arbitrarily fixed price, he declared.
Health Commissioner Copeland, who
presided, read letter from the Milk
Conference Board announcing that no
plans for revising the present system
Of distribution would be submitted until
the matter had been taken up with
counsel. These plans had been infor-
mally promised at the previous SEES
sion.
II cannot conceive it possible" said
DR.. Copeland. addressing Mr.. Nathans,
that you are going to stand on tech
nicalities before helping us. We are
going to find way out Of the present
situation, whether you help or not.
You have been accustomed to seeing
these Investigations given up with
nothing done. but this is a different
kind of investigation if know anything