The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-02-27
Farmers View of
Whiting Milk Fight
(Cotniued from Page -

| TO back US up
Did the farmers through their
sales committee ask anything un-
reasonable? Decidedly no. They
insisted that the farmer receive
for his Surplus Milk" what the
fat in that milk was worth to
make right up into butter and al
lowed the dealer SC per pound
for making and selling that butter,
also the dealer had to figure only
16 2-3 per cent Churn Gain" when
20 per cent is what the dealer has
to figure when he buys cream
from a Creamery.
What becomes of the Surplus
Milk" That is where the Dealer
gets his sweet cream to sell as
ice cream or to put uD into =
pint jars and sell to the retail trade
at a very handsome profit, The
remainder is made up into butter
cheese, etc.
January 31st, | took two quart
jar of heav~ cream to my wife 5
aunt at West Somerville the fat
in that cream was worth here Sic
and she said eight 12 pint jars of
the same cream would cost her
over S1.50-and Mr.. Whiting j.
not willing to pay what the fat
in the surplus milk is worth and
he would not have had to pay
quite 57c---only about sic as they
only asked him Is 2-3 per cent
"Churn Gain.
| think that you will agree with
me that the Sales Committee was
more than fair to the Boston
Dealers and you and | are going
to do our part to win this fi0ht--
just as we bought Liberty Bonds
during the War.
Will it create a hardship on the
city consumer if the farmer gets
cost of production? Before | ans
wer this, let me tell YOU - |
feel qualified to speak from the
Consumers side. For nearly y
years, | was a "Consumer" in
Lynn, Mass, my children all bu.
one were born there, | have
bought all kinds Of milk from the
best "Certified Milk" to just milk
and poor at that; and all the time
we lived in Lynn, | was selling
goods in a market or taking orders
and delivering to the retail trade.
| have waited on the richest fami-
lies in the city, where quality was
ever the watchword. | have helped
poor mothers to buy Wisei' and
keep their bill down to where they
could handle it. | could write a
chapter on the experiences of u
grocery clerk. | would be a very
poor scholar indeed if | could not
learn the consumers side in twelve
years. | will answer the above
question with a great big No. 1t is
not the consumers that kicks
about the price of milk In Boston
thew do not mind owing Is or Ice
for good milk. The food experts
will tell you that a quart of milk
contains at least 25c worth of ac-
tual food value.
An ordinary family buys about
one quart of milk daily. At l2c it
would cost SAC per week, at 15c,
$1.05 per week difference of 21c
taking Street Car Conductors as
an average wage Garner and 21c
means just 20 minutes work week
ly, and they only work eight
hours a day. Is that a hardship
to put in 8 ID hours on some day
in the week? I'll say it is not.
Now, let Us come back to Yer
mont where 30 per cent of Bos
tons milk. is made. What does 1t
mean to the farmer that raises
that milk? 1t costs no more to de-
liver 15c milk than 12c milk, so
nearly all that Sc should go to the
farmer, but there is the surplus to
consider, so call it &c per quart or
$1.00 per hundred pounds. What
would it mean to you in year?
If you are getting $50 pounds of
milk daily it would mean $4,000 !
yearly difference to YOU. Could
you use that money on your farm?
How do the bankers and bust /
ness men up country feel about
it? You ask them. They know the !
farmer would be a better man to
do business with, if he would stand
up for his rights. There would be !
more money in circulation, an adj
vantage all round.
But you and |, Brother Farm /
en-, must put these things across.
We cannot expect our friends to
do it for us.
We have been like a new driver /
Of an automobile; afraid to take
our share of the road and the re-
suit is, we have had to drive in the !
hitch. You have learned that if
YOU take your share of the road, !
no one will run into you, and it is