Seattle's Milk Supply Caught in a Secret Trust

Is Seattle a milk trust? It certainly looks like it. The price of this necessity has suddenly received a wonderful boost skyward. The Ranch ascribes the cause very largely to the combination effected among the milk dealers of the city. This consolidation includes practically all of the leading milk dealers. As far as The Ranch has been able to ascertain, the company has not yet been incorporated, the compact being privately made among the dealers, it evidently being the intention of those interested in the company to keep its operations in the dark as much as possible.

In this connection we note the organization of the Washington Condensed Milk Company, which announces as its purpose the establishment of a condensed milk factory at Mt. Vernon, in Skagit county, and the farmers of that section, in making their contracts, were so led to believe. The work was done very smoothly, and the milk from one thousand cows secured for five years. It remains to be seen whether this company will put in a condensed milk plant or not. The Ranch believes that the milk will be used principally for city supply.

The enterprising Daily Star, which is usually such a bitter enemy of all trusts, comes out as a most ardent champion of the new milk company. It states that the people of the city will be greatly benefited because the milk will be Pasteurized, and will be delivered unadulterated and entirely free from the very dreadful disease germs and deadly preservatives which it says have been so prevalent in Seattle's milk supply. Perhaps so. But does the Star realize that if the independent milkmen are frozen out, and this trust secures control of the leading dairy districts tributary to this city, that it will then be able to dictate absolutely the price of milk and cream?

The farmers of Skagit county who are now contracting with the Washington Condensed Milk Co. for the product of their dairies for five years to come, may have reason to strongly regret their action. We understand that the price offered is somewhat the same as was made several years ago on a contract with farmers in the White River Valley, running for five years. This contract, it proved, was unprofitable to the dairymen, for the reason that the price was considerably lower than could have been obtained independently.

Mr. Michael Wilson, of Obrien, who was one of the farmers who made this contract, informs the editor of The Ranch that the price received was 85 cents per hundred pounds, while a year after the contract expired the average price secured for their milk was $1.25. It must not be understood by the farmers of Skagit county that we are opposed to any proposition that would result in a better and more profitable sale of their product, but the fact is that the continuous increase in the population of Puget Sound cities is constantly enlarging the demand for milk and its products, and as the dairy area adjoining these cities is limited, the value of the dairy products must naturally steadily enhance.