Mr. SMITH of Virginia. As to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, could you state for the information of the committee and myself about what distance that would be from Washington? Mr. KING. I think it is about 80 miles. I may be just a little off on that. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. And most of those shippers-did you or not say are independent, or do most of them belong to the association? Mr. KING. I think all of those across the water are independent. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Independent shippers? Mr. KING. Yes, sir. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Are they now shipping their milk onto the Washington market under the present law without any obstacles in their way? Mr. KING. Correct. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Do you know of any way under which the cooperative provisions of the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Association could hinder them from shipping their milk onto the Washington market? Mr. KING. There is none that I know of. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Mr. King, have you had an opportunity to read this bill of Mr. Schulte's which we are now considering? Mr. KING. I have roughly run over it. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Have you any comments to make about it? Mr. KING. Well, the old law says, "cream for cream purposes." I think this bill says "milk and cream," both come on the market. To the best of my knowledge, we producers, both independent and cooperative producers, have had a large surplus. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Will you supply us with copies of the bill, Mr. Chairman ? Mr. KING. That has been for a number of years. Mr. SCHULTE. Yes. You say you have not read the bill? Mr. KING. I roughly ran over it; yes, sir. Mr. SCHULTE. Does it open up the gates to both milk and cream? Mr. KING. Well, I just did not study it fully. You know. You wrote the bill. Mr. SCHULTE. That is right, and it does not open it up to milk, does it? That is rather embarrassing, now, to ask you that. Mr. KING. No indeedy, not at all. You ask me anything you want. Mr. SCHULTE. It just opens it up to cream. Mr. KING. For what purpose? Mr. SCHULTE. The same purpose that you supply probably some of the adjacent States, namely, Maryland and Virginia, and I think some of this other production ought to have a free flow of trade, free flow of commerce. Mr. KING. The market has a full supply of the highest grade of milk in the United States. Why would they want a more supply, and why would they want to bring milk and cream in here from uninspected herds, which would only cause TB? Mr. SCHULTE. And Bang's disease? Mr. KING. Yes; and Bang's disease. Mr. SCHULTE. And would it not meet with the public-health regulations? Mr. KING. Also cause the disease of mastitis. Mr. SCHULTE. That is right, but we are protected against that. Mr. KING. That is one of the most contagious diseases, and is causing lots of sickness. Mr. SCHULTE. Are you a doctor? Mr. KING. I am a doctor with a cow. Mr. SCHULTE. I want all of that information, because I am a layman, and I do not know. Mr. KING. I could not explain to you in the language of a doctor, but I will explain it to you in the language of a farmer. Mr. SCHULTE. Is there much difference between a farmer and a doctor? Mr. KING. Yes; a doctor makes his money easy. Mr. SCHULTE. How about the lawyers? Mr. KING. If you get hooked up with them and get in a tight place, they are all right if you have got the money. Mr. SCHULTE. What this bill does, Mr. King, is allow cream to be shipped into the District of Columbia to be used for fluid consumption the same as we are allowed to ship any other products in any other State of the United States, and we do not want a wall around the 48 States of the United States and the District of Columbia, you would not want that. Mr. KING. I cannot see there is a wall now, Mr. Schulte. Where is the wall? Mr. SCHULTE. We claim, or it is my thought, that the wall is built around the District of Columbia, because they are drawing a red herring across the trail in putting across that health regulation thing, and hiding behind health, when the United States Public Health Service says that they have a code that is as fair and as rigid as any other code in the world, and they even intimated that we were going just a little bit far afield from the standpoint of safety of milk and purity and the quality of the milk than we should go. I am for safety. I am for protecting these folks just as much as you are. Mr. KING. So am I. Mr. SCHULTE. Of course, you have an investment and you have to protect it. It means everything to you, the same as the poor souls who have been denied milk meaning everything to them. I am trying to protect you and trying to protect the consumer, and 14 cents for milk in the District of Columbia is out of line. Mr. KING. NO. A man here says we are below the average. Mr. SCHULTE. Chicago has milk for 11 cents, and Boston has it for 11 cents. Mr. KING. No. This man said we were below the average. Mr. KING. He said 14.6 cents was the average price in the United States, and we were below that. Mr. SCHULTE. Did you hear that? Mr. KING. Didn't you hear it? Mr. SCHULTE. I will be mighty happy to look back. Mr. KING. You look back and you will find it. Mr. SCHULTE. I am talking about a city of 600,000 people receiving their milk for 14 cents. Mr. KING. You said you were interested in the farmer. Mr. SCHULTE. Yes; and I do not want your price cut 1 cent. Mr. KING. You go back to that city and see if the farmer is getting a living out of it. I will say he is not. Mr. SCHULTE. You bet he is not. I am protecting you and the consumer also. I do not want you injured. Let us understand that. Mr. KING. Yes. Mr. SCHULTE. But by the same token the consumer wants protection. Mr. KING. That is right. Mr. SCHULTE. But we want to change this milk situation and do away with this $44,420 which you are paying to the milkshed, and that money comes ultimately from the consumer. You have got people in the District-plenty-who are getting $1,000 a year, getting $1,200 a year, and they have got to pay 14 cents a quart for milk when they cannot pay 14 cents a quart for milk; and you will admit those children are entitled to milk. Under the Virginia laws they have passed a statute where even the mayor of Occoquan protests that he cannot pay the 14 cents required of him. Do you mean to tell me that that is fair and equitable milk for his children? You have a heart. Mr. KING. You are right; and that same man, I assure you, has spending money for pleasure far exceeding his milk bill. Mr. SCHULTE. A man getting $1,200 a year? Mr. KING. Wait a minute. I have lived beside them, too, just as well as the mayor of Occoquan. Mr. SCHULTE. Yes. Mr. KING. A man gets $100 a month, and his 14 cents-a-quart milk bill will never put him in a bad financial condition. Mr. SCHULTE. No? Mr. KING. I will tell you what does that. It is his pleasuresmoving pictures and such things as that. I have not been to a moving picture for 20 years. Mr. SCHULTE. Do you mean to tell me you did not see Gunga Din? Mr. KING. No; I don't know what you are talking about. I would rather go up to my barn and see my cows doing well. That is my pleasure. Mr. SCHULTE. I am still for you. But you are accusing this fellow of $1,200 a year. Mr. KING. No; he is getting along pretty good. I have known a fellow on $40 a month to get along and save money, and I have known others getting $10,000 a year and not save one penny. Mr. SCHULTE. Did you ever know of a fellow getting stiff on anything when he had to buy milk on $40 a month? Mr. KING. Yes. They gave milk away. Here is the way I feel about this milk bill: You asked me about it, and I want to tell you. Mr. SCHULTE. Yes. Mr. KING. If you can show me where that bill will help the producers on this market and benefit the producers of your State, then I will be willing to sit down and talk to you. How is it going to help your State? Mr. SCHULTE. What is this bill going to do to the consumers? Mr. SCHULTE. You tell the committee that. Mr. KING. You have been fussing about monopolies. They will have this market sewed up in less than 6 weeks. Mr. SCHULTE. In what way? Mr. KING. They will control the whole market, because it gives them milk at free hand. Mr. SCHULTE. What will the consumers be able to buy milk at? Mr. KING. If it gets in the hands of two distributors Mr. SCHULTE (interposing). The monopoly, as you say. Mr. KING. They will pay the prices. Mr. SCHULTE. How much will they pay? Mr. KING. I don't know; I never asked them. Mr. SCHULTE. Will the price be the same? Mr. KING. It will be the same. Mr. SCHULTE. Fourteen cents? Mr. KING. Sure. Do not kick about what the consumer is paying. I have friends down here that never say nothing to me about the price of the milk. Mr. SCHULTE. Did you ever hear of the Columbia Citizens' Association and some other citizens' associations in the District of Columbia? Mr. KING. I have heard of them. Mr. SCHULTE. We are getting letters from those associations protesting the price of milk, and there are 600,000 people in the District of Columbia who are very much interested in this bill. Mr. KING. There is a surplus right here now. Mr. SCHULTE. And at 14 cents a quart. Mr. KING. There is a full supply and a surplus. Can they buy it here for 11 cents a quart? Mr. SCHULTE. I do not know. Mr. KING. Yes; at the High Stores. Mr. SCHULTE. What is it worth delivered to them? Mr. KING. Fourteen cents. You cannot get anything unless you pay for it. They get sugar or bread delivered on the back porch. Mr. SCHULTE. They do when they call for it. Mr. KING. They pay for it. It does not make any difference what the price of wheat is. That does not affect the price of flour. And you take other things are the same. Why don't you do something about those? I know, of course, that you are from the State of Indiana. Mr. SCHULTE. The greatest State in the Union. Mr. KING. But I do not want you to come down here and hurt us. Mr. SCHULTE. You are from a great State, too. But I am not going to allow you to hurt the rest of the country. Mr. KING. You give me some more questions about this bill. Mr. SCHULTE. I do not know any to ask you. I want you to tell me what is wrong with this bill. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Are you through, Mr. Schulte? Mr. SCHULTE. Yes. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Mr. Schulte wants to help you farmers by passing this bill. You say you have read the bill. You will note that the bill does away with the local inspection of milk, and reduces it all to the same level to whatever the State inspections may be. Do you think there is anything in that bill that will help you as a farmer or producer of milk? Have you found anything in that bill that will help you as a farmer or a producer of milk? Mr. KING. I find in that bill, in my opinion, if it was to be put into effect tomorrow, that the consumers of Washington would be getting a very low grade of milk. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Would the bill help you any as a farmer? Mr. KING. No, sir; not as I see. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. On this question of the price of milk paid in Washington, were you present when Dr. Frank, of the Health Service, testified? Mr. KING. I was. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Do you recall his statement as to the average retail price of milk on the eastern seaboard? Mr. KING. 14.6 cents. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. And did he not state that the average price in this area was 14.6 cents a quart as against a price of 14 cents a quart in the District of Columbia? Mr. KING. He did. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Nobody disputed that evidence, did they? Mr. KING. There was nothing said about it at all. I was surprised that somebody did not say something about it. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Now, Dr. Frank testified in behalf of what is known as the United States Uniform Health Ordnance for Milk, did he not? Mr. KING. What was that question? Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Dr. Frank was talking about the uniform milk ordnance, was he not? Mr. KING. That is right. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. The Public Health Service? Mr. KING. That is right. Mr. SMITH Of Virginia. Is there anything you have found so far in the Schulte bill which would require the adoption of the bill Dr. Frank advocated, and that Mr. Schulte referred to a minute ago? Mr. KING. Nothing at all. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. So that the consumer in Washington as to health qualities of the milk would be entirely at the mercy and dependent upon inspection in 48 different States; is not that right? Mr. KING. That is the way I understand it. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. And under that bill do you find anything that would give the people of Washington or the local government of Washington any control whatever over the purity of their milk supply? Mr. KING. None whatsoever. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. None whatsoever? Mr. KING. With the exception of this, I do believe, as I said awhile ago, if they let down the bars, not the price, the people pay, but the quality of it will fall and fall fast. I know that from experience. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. Mr. Schulte asked you how his bill would aid monopoly. The large distributors of milk in the United States are the National Dairies, which has a branch here; Borden's; and Carnation, are they not? Mr. KING. That is right. Mr. SMITH of Virginia. They are the so-called monopolistic milk distributors? |