The Washington times., 1938-02-15
BILL TO PROHIBIT.
FIXING OF RETAIL
M|LKPRICESLOST
Virginia Assembly Group
Votes Down Measure
BY GEORGE M. GREEN


RICHMOND, Va, Feb. 15.-Ef-
forts of the Northern Virginia dele
CATION in the general assembly to
save milk consumers of the State
thousands Of dollars annually
failed yesterday when a bill which
would wrest from the State milk
commission the power to regulate
retail milk prices was killed in
committee.
Despite the fact that more than
q hundred interested persons ap-
peared at the public hearing to
advocate passage of the bill Of
fered by Delegate william D. Med
ley, of Arlington county. which
would abolish the commissions S
powers to regulate retail prices,
the committee voted almost unanl-
mously to pass the bill by indefi-
nitely. This kills the bills chances
Of passage at this session.
TERMS OF BILL
Terms of the bill would have
prohibited the State milk commits
sion from fixing retail prices and
would have left with them the
power to regulate prices between
the producer and distributor.
Enacted in 1884 and put into ef-
feet in Northern Virginia little
more than a year ago, the result
of the commissions powers boosted
milk prices in the Arlington-Alex-
andria area from 10 and IL cents
q quart to a minimum of IA cents |
O quart.
Opponents of the Medley bill
greatly outnumbered the advo-
Gates at the three-hour hearing
and the bill was passed by'' by
the House Agriculture Committee
shortly after the hearing ended.
, Chiefly supporting Mr.. Medley
we're Delegates Francis Pickens
Miller of Fairfax county, Maurice
Rosenberg of Alexandria, and Del
mater Davis Of Norfolk.
The substance of the arguments
they presented vas that the pres
ent powers of the milk commits
: sion which permit them to regu-
late retail prices tend to kill
competition, establish monopoly,
increase the prices paid by the
consumers, and in the end work
against the interest of the pro-
! ducer."
O OPPONENTS VIEWS
Opponents of bill declared pas
sage Of the measure would be
worse than the outright repeal of
the entire milk act and that the
result of such a change would
wreck the stabilized milk industry
and lead to "cutthroat price wars"
which would ruin distributors and
producers alike. /
Declaring competition should be
allowed to fix retail prices Of milk,
DR.. Medley opened the hearing
with denunciation Of price fix
ing in general. He asserted the
producer would benefit more in
the long run if the distributors
were allowed to compete with
each other in the retail prices.
Following Mr.. Medley's argu-
ment, Delegate Miller, of Fairfax,
declared that information given
by the Department Of Agriculture
revealed that retail price fixing
never benefited the producer in
the end.
HIT BY DAIRYMEN |
Several civic organizations from
Arlington county were represented
among those appearing in favor
of the bill, while dairymen from
all sections of the State appeared
in opposition to it. One member
OF the milk producers cooperative
declared the producers would face
financial ruin" II the Medley bill
was adopteds "
In closing his rebuttal argu-
ment, Delegate Rosenberg. of Alex
andria, declared that milk was a
necessity, but that it couldn't bel
separated from other commodities
for regimentation. He asked the
committee to give the advocates
of the measure IAN opportunity to
argue the merits of the bill on the