Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-06-01
One-Cent Milk Plan Proves
Success in New York Schools
u S. Subsidy Program Extended
To Cover $4,000 Pupils

schools will be chosen first? New
schools where free lunches were
being served by the Department of
Public Welfare. The S. M. A.
accepted the presence of a free
lunch program in a school as an
indication that the school was in
low-income area. 1t was expanded
to schools which the Department of
Education considered in low-income
areas.
Difficult to Draw Line.
Nobody has ever defined low
income area" in precise terms The
law under which the one-cent pro-
gram is financed by the S. M. A
authorizes the Federal Government
to substitute the sale of milk at low
prices to persons of low income as
determined by the Secretary of
Agriculture Some of the pupils
at the New York low-income schools
are wealthy. The decision about
where to draw the line is difficult.
Administrator Cladakis checks the
findings of the Department of Edu-
cation as to whether new schools
they wish admitted to the program
are in what the administrator con-
siders low-income areas. Some of
the Department of Education re-
quests have been turned down
when Mr. Cladakis concluded that
certain schools could not qualify.
But the social advantages in the
milk's consumption by children
whose parents cannot afford milk
are almost of equal weight for Mr..
Cladakis with the economic value
for the farmer in wider milk dis
tribution He is interested in i'm
proving the national nutrition as
we'll as the national farmer income
Every child in every designated
school is eligible to buy milk for l
cent. While, under this procedure.
number of children are permitted
to participate in the program who
are probably not persons in low
income groups, this has been con-
sidered to be only an incidental
effect of the program. It has been
justified on the basis that the ex-
clusion of these weather. children
would necessitate the segregation of
all children into income groups or
classes, procedure which the Agri-
culture Department and the Depart
ment of Education consider socially
undesirable.
Free Milk Program Continued.
The Department of Public Welfare
buys the milk for the children in
those schools where the free-lunch
program is in effect. This system
preserves the continuity of the free
milk program which antedated the
1-cent program. Before the advent
of the 1-cent program, the Depart
ment of Public Welfare provided
the free milk through contracts it
let itself. Now it provides the free
milk by buying it through the sub
sidy program at the rate of cent a
half-pint.
The District has a school milk
program in which about 90 900 half
pintS are consumed weekly.
The teachers collect the pennies
from the children as the milk is dis
tributed to those who do not benefit
from the free milk, and the teach
ers, or the principals, pay the drivers
OF the milk wagons who deliver the
fluid. Delivery is in individual bot
ties, and the milk Is consumed
through straws provided by the
diaries.
The eligible child can buy the
milk or not as he chooses. On May
9 there were 538,652 boys and girls
in the 406 eligible schools of that
date, and more than 100000 of them
were buying milk daily. Inquiry by