Evening star., 1934-09-06
Purchase Guarantees Farm
er, Protects Consumer,
Helps Distributor.
COMPANY OFFERS
B0TTLING AT COST
Assistant Corporation Counsel Seal
at Work on Details of His
Plan, Following Farley.

The District government had en-
barked today on plan to eliminate
surplus milk on the Washington mar
ket and at the same time provide this
vital food to relief families at less
than the present cost.
Assistant Corporation Counsel FL
wood H. Seal, who proposed the plan
yesterday, was busy today on details
under which the District would buy
all the milk which does not go into
use for fluid consumption, guaran-
teeing the farmer the cost Of pro-
duction, a goal for which he has been
striving vainly for years.
Seals first move was to determine
how much the dairy companies would
charge to pasteurize and bottle the
milk, which is expected to be dis
tributed to relief families at between
7 and cents q quart. Presumably, O
contract will be let to the distributor
submitting the lowest estimate. Fair
fax Farms Dairy, the first distributor
to come forward under the plan, re-
ported it would do the work at cost.
Consumer Protected.
Under the plan, the consumer will
be protected, because the proposed re-
tail price increase scheduled for
October / will not be necessary. The
producer will not have to raise the
farm price; the Government will give
him the extra money and yet benefit
through the reduction in the price Of
milk for relief purposes.
The dairy companies also will
benefit-they won't have any more
troublesome surplus to handle. on
cials of Chestnut Farms Chevy Chase
Dairy, which processes virtually all
Of the surplus milk on this market,
testified before the Senate District
Subcommittee which investigated the
milk situation here q year ago, that
their firm handles the excess simply
to relieve the producer of this burden.
They said they didn't want it and
that "any one who did want 1t, could
have it,
Thus, at one stroke, Seals plan is
Of help to undernourished relief fami-
lies, consumers asa whole, the dairy
farmer and the dairy companies.
Hailed by Allen.
Commissioner Allen, who sat In the
conference with Commissioners Hazen
and Sultan and DR.. Frederic G. Howe,
consumers counsel of the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration, hailed the
plan as the most admirable suggestion
he had yet heard of to take care of
those on relief roles DR.. Howe was
enthusiastic because the scheme pro-
tects the consumer and at the same
time helps the dairy farmer, one of the
most troublesome thorns in the side
Of the Farm Administration.
The problem of surplus on this mar
ket has been a source of worry for
long time, both to the farmers and
the independent distributors, and 1t
has been made no easier by the So
called trust dairy, which uses the
surplus for manufacturing purposes.
The independents for years have been
crying that the big fellow" has used
the surplus to beat down prices, and,
in fact, they claim there is no surplus
on the Washington market, that It
is a myth conceived by the trust"
dairy to fight the farmer on the one
hand and rob the consumer on the
other.
End Of Surplus Seen.
For that reason the independents
were rejoicing today. They claimed
confidently that Seals plan would
not be in operation 80 days before the
entire surplus, running about 225, 900
gallons a month, would be wiped out
and every distributor forced to buy
milk at single price.
Seal said today the Commissioners
have $2,000,000 with which to back
the milk purchase plan, that Is, $2,-
000, 900 to spend any way they care to,
with no strings attached.
Based on production costs, esti-
mated during the Senate milk in
vestigation at between % and "a
cents, it would cost the District prob
ably less than 6 cents quart to buy
the milk from the farmers, and 1t
was roughly estimated bottling costs
would range from 2 to cents quart.
Thus the relief milk would not cost
over cents, or 2 cents per quart
cheaper than is now being paid.
The conference yesterday between
the Commissioners and Howe was
called by Allen after the consumers
counsel had asked Allen to appoint a
representative of the District govern
ment to sit in on hearings on the pro-
posed milk marketing license for this
area, expected to be about Septem-
Der 10.
Designation of Seal.
AS a result of yesterdays meeting.
Seal was designated by Allen to rep
resent the District. Mrs. John Boyle,
jr., chairman of the Consumers Coun-
Gil of Washington, probably will rep
resent the consumers of the city and
a hot fight Is expected when these
two, together with attorneys for the
various dairy companies and the
Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers
Association get together.