Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-09-23
PUBLIC OPINION
THE MILK SITUATION

EDITOR EVENING NEWS:
Kindly allow me a little space in
your valuable paper in which TO cast
a few sidelights on the milk situa-
ton in this city.
When I read in last Wednesdays
News of the drastic" heroic action
of the health board in revoking the
license of a grocery store l was in
Heed surprised but when | read that
the incentive was that if the health
board revoked a few of the licenses
the dealers themselves would de-
mand that the creamery furnish
them with perfect milk or else they
would trade with a creamery that
did," 1 realized that the health
board either was not doing its duty
or was ill-informed as to the activi-
ties of milkmen in Perth Amboy.
In the first place, is 1t not the duty
of the board to see that perfect
milk only be delivered for con-
sumption in this city? When a
storekeeper sells a bottle of mill. he
does not worry about the quality of
the milk for he KNOWS that the
Board of Health is supposed to allow
only high grade milk into the city.
Yet the board is seemingly trying
to shift this responsibility to the
storekeeper and threatens to revoke
more licenses because the BOARD
ITSELF is failing to do its duty.
Bravo.
Secondly, storekeepers in this city
buy their milk from milk dealers
who, in turn, get their milk from
the To demand" any
thing from a milkman is ridiculous.
If you want something from a milk
man you beg leave to fmplore him
to hearken II your wishes. For the
milkmen of this city are organized
into an association which contains
about twenty or thirty members.
The purposes r several, among
which are CD to monopolize the dis
tribution of milk, CO to maintain
a standard price and (3) to restrain
more men from entering the busi-
ness.
In proof of %: In order to mo-
nopolize the distribution of milk all
the milk men must belong" as N
the case with this association.
In proof of Cd: A few months
ago the price of milk varied greatly.
Now there is a standard price set
by the association and none of its
members dare lower it.
In proof of (3): I present a typi-
cal case. Several months ago a To-
cal man desired to enter the milk
business. For a few days he re-
ceived milk from a dairy and then
the shipments stopped. Cause: All
the local milkmen who also pur-
chase milk from this dairy cancelled
their orders SO the dairy refused
milk to this man for fear Of losing
it's local trade. Result: This man
is now in the milk business in New
Brunswick where, thank God, NJ
such an association exist.
Suppose you are buying from a
milkman milk bottled by A. You
do not approve of the milk. You
do not like the milkman himself nor
his methods of doing business. You
fire" the milkman and want to get
someone to deliver you BIS milk.
You cannot do this for the %associa-
ton retains for itself the right to de-
eide who shall serve you.
Does this mean that all the milk
men favor this policy? 1t does not.
But the more fair-minded ones
must abide by the decisions of the
majority for they know that the
weapons that will be used against
them will not be gentlemanly ones.
Every statement contained in this
letter is a reality and not a trend of
the imagination. The facts have
been gathered from intercourse with
milkmen, from discussions with
them and from personal observation.
To the grand jury and the prose-
cutor: The milk situation in this
city must be cleared up eventually
why not now?
BEN KASS,
1922 Catalpa Avenue.