THE CASE FOR CHEAP MILK . [To the Editor of THE
SPECTATOR.] SIR,—" The Case for Cheap Milk " in your issue for January 15th, and the resultant letter you published last week, are of great interest to me, who am a milk-producer.
Though a member of the N.F.U. I sympathise with your strictures upon the outcry with which it greeted the Milk Reorganisation Cominission's report. I am afraid it is going about to alienate public sympathy with farmers, which has been growing steadily in recent years.
Your article, however, seems to me to show indifference to, and ignorance of, the state of the farming industry. What most struck me in your article was the omission of any reference to the costs of milk production ; whilst your airy allusion to an industry restored " to prosperity " is, to put it mildly, exasperating to one engaged in it ; the only possible sign of " prosperity " to which you could point is the increased production of milk ; but, Sir, half a stale loaf is better than no bread ; and the collapse of the beef market together with the comparative regularity of a monthly cheque are the chief reasons why farmers so pathetically scramble for those miserably inadequate cheques.
As for your correspondent in last week's Spectator, when he gives detailed statistics from a wide field one might seriously consider his assertion that an appreciable amount of milk in this country is produced for 61.41. a gallon—presumably all the year round.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
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