Milk, Milk Everywhere

The Agriculture Department, which must buy dairy products under the price-support program, reported last week that it now had on hand:

P:278,018,000 Ibs. of butter (none a year ago).

P: 268,612,000 Ibs. of cheese (none a year ago).

P:418,697,000 Ibs. of dried nonfat milk (up from 31,451,000).

There is every sign that the stockpiles will keep on growing. Government economists predict that 1954 milk production will again hit 118 billion Ibs., 3 billion more than estimated consumption.

In a speech to dairymen last week, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture John H. Davis drew the obvious moral: dairymen will either have to cut production or expand their markets. To increase milk drinking, Davis hinted that prices should be lowered. Another way to cut surpluses is to encourage such new methods of marketing as concentrated and frozen milk. Said he: "If something becomes outmoded by a new development, let's not prolong the agony of making the shift."

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