Evening star., 1933-12-10
INDEPENDENT DAIRY
PROTEST MAY LEAD
TO MILK PRICE WAR
Distributor Charges Nation
aI-0Wned Units Get Pref
erentiaI Treatment.
WAKEFIELD CUTS PRICES
ON CREAM, BUTTERMILK
Maryland and Virginia Officials
Reported Fearing Breakdown
of Market Agreements.

A milk price war is ready to break
In Washington, it was indicated last
night
One of the larger independent dair-
les already has served notice it cannot
afford to compete longer with the Ma
tional Dairy Chestnut Farms and
Chevy Chase Diaries, and that it intends
to buy either outside milk and cream,
or contract with farmers independently
of the Maryland and Virginia Milk
Producers Association
The distributor, the Walker Hill Dairy,
has notified the producers association it
must reduce its class z (cream) prices
or the dairy will be forced to abrogate
It's contracts with the association. Asso-
clatlon officials, in return have advised
oficials of the dairy company that if it
does not buy its cream through the
association, class l milk (for fluid con-
Sumption) will not be shipped to Walker
Hill.
One dairy, Wakefield, already has cut
cream and buttermilk prices
Inc hight between Walker Hill, owned
by James j, Ward and James j. Ward.
Jr., former Chicago distributors who
sold out their interest in that CITY and
pought the local dairy, and the associa-
tlon centers principally around alleged
preferential treatment accorded the Ma
tlonal Dairy Product Corporation sub
salaries in Washington.
Shipping Charge Added.
Being the sole operators of receiving
StauonS-1n Frederick and Walkerville,
Mo-CheStnut Farms and Chevy Chase
Darles are able to buy class 2 milk
Tor reduction to cream at cents less
Per gallon than the Walker Hill Dairy.
converted to cream prices. this means
tnat 10-gallon can of 40 per cent
cream costs the two trust diaries
SIG, as against $40 that Walker Hill
must pay. The association claims it is
worth the additional cents to shin
milk all the way into WASHINGTON
rather than divert it to Walkerville and
Frederick.
Ihompson's Dairy, the largest in
dependent distributor in the city. has
the same preferential rate of 4 cent?.
because 1t receives direct shipped;
cream, that is, cream which is already
converted by the producer The differen-
tlal IS applied, according to the pro-
oucers' association, because it costs less
10 ship cream than milk, due to the
TACT the skim already has been removed,
thus eliminating excess weight.
That association officials are worried
over the possibility of complete break
Gown in milk prices in this market was
SHOWN definitely at Midlands, Va,
Thursday evening.
FRANK Walker, president of the
producers organization, warned the
farmers they must sit tight" and not
light amcng themselves, and above all
not be weaned away from the associa-
ton. or the bottom" would fall out
OF the market.
War Would Follow"
At that meeting, he referred to at
&. temptS Of Walker Hill to buy class 2
milk at less than regular contract
prices. He told the farmers that if
the association gave in" to this one
distributor" it necessarily would have
to cut prices to all other dairy COM
panies. A general price war inevitably
would follow, he said
Should Walker Hill acquire enough
Independent shippers to supply its needs
at less than the associations regular
prices, it was pointed out, the three
larger dairies-Chestnut Farms, Chevy
Chase and Thompson Immediately
would demand a reduction, and the
light would be on in earnest
The bottom might not be reached
until prices here have declined to a
level with national milk prices-the
cost at which milk can be bought, say,
IN Wisconsin and Minnesota. the larg-
est milk-producing sections in the
country.
What effect the local Health Depart
nlent regulations-Said to be the strict
est in the country-would have on the
fight is problematical Many farmers
are of the opinion that if the fight is
not stopped before it fairly gets under
way. the first move would be to have the
department approve dairy farms in
distant Maryland, Pennsylvania, South
ern Virginia and possibly West Vir-
ginia.
They point out it would take only
short while to put farms and barns in
condition to obtain the minimum rating
and that, once approved, milk could be
shipped into this market ever after,
causing even further grief to theS sal
ready distressed farmers who now are
confronted with a so-called surplus of
milk on the market.
Receiving Station Asked.
The proprietors of Walker Hill Dairy
are understood at one time to have
been promised by association officials
a price equal to that paid by the three
bi dairy companies, but that later this
promise was revoked
AAS LCA0 lCNuCob VI Iilc Qdlly WIS lOl
receiving station, possibly in the
vicinity of Charlottesville, Va.
The association is said to have turned
a deaf ear to the plea, inaSmuch as it
heretofore has maintained the position
none of the independents could support
a receiving station.
The receiving plants of the National
Dairy affiliates are made necessary, ac
cording to the association, due to the
fact that they are the only dairies
equipped to buy and process class 8
milk (Which is that portion of the
total production that goes into manu-
factured products).
Directors of the association have held
at least three meetings in the past week
trying to work out a plan which would
satisfy both sides.
Meantime. 9. W. Townsley. former
advertising solicitor and manager of a
dairy farm in Fairfax County. has been
touring the milk country in an effort to
line up sufficient producers to satisfy
+ba needs of the Walker Hill Dairy