The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-02-11
MILK PRICES
DEFENDED BY
AN AUTHORITY
Clarence w. Barrow, Far
mer and Financeer, EX-
presses His Views

To the Editor of the Bostor
Herald:
I note your editorial inquiring,
"Why is milk so high?"
Allow me to respond that milk
is not high. 1t is the cheapest
food commodity in the world nj
the price You pay at our front OF
back door. It is so cheap that it
is dangerous and that is why pure
milk or milk produced, cooled and
transported under the supervisors
OF analysis and medical milk com
missions, is sold at twice the plrCe
of ordinary farm milk. Yet OF 80
cents a quart, certified milk has
three-quarters of the food value Of
Il pound Of the best roast beef. In
deed, when the best roast beef IS
delivered to you at 60 cents a
pound, uncooked, the best certified
milk should sell for 45 cents I
quart on the basis Of food values
alone, and The Greatest value is in
the milk without cooking or heat
in" which destroys valuable vita
mines.
No man ever vet drank a glass
of milk that paid in its production
transportation and delivery a fair
days wage. Milk is sold ordinarily
as a surplus nroduct from the farm
1t is of irregular production, ac-
cording to season. grasslands and
the state of the herd. The milk
farmer has more problems to
wrestle with than an manufact-
urer In hot weather. when there
is greatest demand for milk, its
production may suddenly drop off
10 to 20 per cent. The heat that
increases the human demand cuts
off the bovine supply.
You speak about the industry
and the PRODUCERS as though milk
were a manufactured article. You
have your milk supply in the city
because the farmers in the aggre-
gate produce surplus which is Of
little value at the farm after the
family dairy wants in milk, cream,
butter and cheese have been sup
piled. The balance is thrown in
to the market for what it will
brine. and it never brings its cost
to the farmer Therefore he can
not stand the expense of medical
supervision and chemical analysis,
nor can he afford to comply with
the 80 conditions laid down by
medical milk commissions for the
production of certified milk, FL
nancial necessity compelS him to
dodge on the question of a clean
milk SUNNY. He cannot afford
washed cows. washed barns o.
supervision Of personal cleanliness
with his help. He must throw hi
surplus of milk into the CONNER
ical market. That is what the
majority of people get.
The distributor who brinoS it to
them finds everything has been in
creased by the war. Milk delivery
mems wages are 200 per cent,
above pre-war nlices; trans por-
tation is in every respect higher
and even farm help is nearly
double what it was before 1914.
If the press of the United States
would investigate the milk Ques-
ton with a desire to serve the
public and the rising generation,
they would call for increased
prices for milk and Improvement
of the dailyman's condition and
position.
The call for cheap milk is a call
for a bad product, and as all milk
looks white and very much alike
the burden is more and more upon
the authorities 10 supervise the
milk in it, production and its de-
livery, and eliminate. as far as
public sentiment will permit, the
diseased COWS.
The country is not yet back to
a prewar basis where farm labor, |
hay or grass are cheap.
But if YOU Mr.. Editor, will CO.
operate with the milk producer and
show him how to increase his crons |
and at the same time teach the |
people in the cities the value of !
milk, and the double value of pure
milk. you will be assisting the ,
health of the entire community.
4 1