Evening star., 1936-08-05
FEDERAL OFFICIALS
TO DECIDE PRICE
OF DISTRICT MILK
Wallace and A. A. A. to Pass
on Merits of Request for
1.Cent Increase.
ROBERTS AND RUTLAND
OPPOSED TO INCREASE
Peoples Counsel Cites Rainfall in
Area to Refute Drought
Loss Claim.

Whether Washingtonians will have
to pay l cent a quart more for milk
rested today with Secretary of Agri-
culture Wallace and the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration.
The price of milk will go up II the
views of the Maryland and Virginia
Milk Producers Association prevail.
1t will stay the same if Wallace and
A. A. A. dairy experts are Of the same
mind as William A. Roberts. peoples
counsel of the District; Dr. George C.
Rutland, District health officer, and
spokesmen for eight of the principal
Washington dairies.
Current indications are that the
anti-increase group will be victorious.
The producers associations, repre-
senting about 1,l00 of the 1,400 dairy
farmers whose milk flows into the
District, contends its members are in
a bad way because of the drought;
that they should be paid more by the
distributors. If the farmers are to
get more from the dairies which buy
from them, the dairies will ask more
from the consumer, unless they are
willing to reduce their retail margins.
See No Need for Boost.
Roberts, DR.. Rutland and spokes-
men for eight big dairies say there IS
plenty of milk coming from surround-
ing farms and no need for a price
boost. Roberts rejects the excuse Of
the producers about drought He says
there's been more than the usual rain
fall in the regions where Washing.
tons milk originates. The Agriculture
Departments Crop Reporting Board
nnds that pastures are green, but
short" in Maryland, and very short"
In nearby Virginia.
The organized producers ask that
they be paid at least s355 per hum
dredweight for class / milk, the kind
that Is delivered on your doorstep in
the morning. They are now getting
a basic price of $308 The requested
increase would give them cents a
gallon more and would cost the WASH
lngton consumer cent more a quart,
A. A. A. officials said that Just be-
cause the Maryland-Virginia associa-
ton requested the increase doesn't
mean they will get it. 1t doesn't mean,
either, they said, that the retail price
OF milk is going up or that the WASH
lngton market is going TO be put under
FeoeraI control by marketing agree
ment requested by the association.
The price increace and agreement
proposals were not the A. A. AS idea
In the first place, officials declared, The
supreme Court left standing enough
OF the agricultural adjustment act to
empower Secretary Wallace TO issue
an order establishing a marketing
agreement-after certain conditions
have been fulfilled. When a grouu
representing a majority of farmers
supplying milk to a certain territory
asks for an agreement of the sort pro-
posed, the A. A. A. has to get one up
for it.
The Maryland Virginia association
told the A. A. A. it wanted such an
agreement. In accordance with its
request, one was drafted. The A. A. A,
proposed that the basic minimum
prize to producers should remain the
same.
A hearing was held on the proposed
agreement. 1t closed July Is, after
six days of testimony. The organized
producers asked that the A. A. A,
draft OF the agreement be amended
to guarantee them a higher price.
Their pastures had been burned brown
by drought, they said, and they had
been forced to buy feed. The Western
drought has caused dry feed prices
to Skyrocket,' the increase for some
types being as much as so per cent,
Therefore, said the producers asso-
ciation, they were hit from two di-
rections.
Cites Drought Conditions.
P. l.. Miller, principal economist of
the A. A. A. dairy section, said
drought conditions undoubtedly had
grown worse since the Government, In
its original draft of the proposed
amendment. suggested that the price
to producers remain the same. In
consequence, the claims of association
members, regarding the effects Of feed
shortage has had on their pocket
books, will be pondered carefully by
the officials, who are to advise Secre-
tary Wallace whether or not he should
establish a marketing agreement.
As promised at the recent hearing,
the A. A. A. will distribute a ques-
tionnaire to all milk distributors in
Washington in an effort to find out
just how much each pays the pro-
ducer for the various classes of milk
he buys to bottle or make into ice
cream. To be valid the questionnaire
must be answered by all handlers In