HOW A GREAT GETS ITS MILK.
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ABOUT 44,000 eight-gallon cans of milk were delivered daily to the city of Chicago during 1924 by railway, which carried 68 per cent, of the supply, and by 141 motor lorries, which transported the remaining 32 per cent. Thirty years ago the bulk of the supply was brought into the city in wagons and distributed by the individual producers. The city had then less than one half its present population. By 1898 a large part of the city's supply was being delivered by railway, the report showing a daily rail delivery of 16,100 eightgallon cans. Another change in the method of transportation began about 1904, when the electric railway began to take over a portion of the business from the steam lines. The amount hauled by the electric lines increased from year to year until the time came when the competition of the motor lorry began to make itself felt and, finally, the use of the lorry compelled the discontinuance of electric-line shipments in 1924.
It is not difficult, of course, to account for the change from horse Wagon to motor lorry delivery. The building up of a circle of suburban towns, golf courses and subdivisions about the city has simply crowded the dairy farms back until it is no longer possible to make deliveries by horse wagon, on account of the excessive time required for the haul.
As to the other business that has been developed by the lorry, a part of it comes from areas within a 50-mile radius of the city which, formerly, were too far distant, both from the city and from the' railway shipping points, to be reached by horsewagon haul. The balance has been taken from the steam and electric railways, mainly within the 50-mile zone, as a result of certain advantages possessed by the lorry, among which the following are the most important :—(1) The lorries pass the producer's gate, thereby furnishing a• service which cannot be duplicated by the railways.
(2) The driver acts as the producer's agent from the farm to the city dealer and performs a marketing, as well as a transportation, service.
(3) Shipment by lorry instead of by railway reduces the number of handlings from six or more to only two.
(4) Lorry drivers lose fewer cans than the rail carriers. (5) An estimated saving of 5 cents per cwt. is effected on all milk conveyed into the city by the elimination of the haul from the railway milk platform to the milk dealer.
As nearly all the business formerly handled by the electric lines originated within the shorthaul zone, the advantages possessed by the lorry have enabled it to make such inroads as finally to force the discontinuance of the electric service. The steam lines also have lost a considerable part of their short-haul business, but, by developing new territory beyond the normal lorry radius, they have kept the volume of their shipments up to the 1910 level. The evidence of this change in the character of the railway business is the considerable increase of milk mileage reported by railways operating in territories where motor vehicle competition is especially keen.
Chicago's milk supply is produced by 350,000 cows owned on 25,0070 dairy farms located in North-eastern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin and North-western Indiana. During periods of extreme shortage in those areas some milk is shipped from' Eastern Iowa and South-western Michigan. About 25 per cent. of the milk produced is shipped directly, either by road or railway, from the producer to the city milk dealer. The larger balance is received from the producers at country milk plants, most of which are operated and owned by the dealers, and which are classified according to their character and purpose as :— CITY MILK I PLATFORM
are smaller and less expensive stations, where cream is purchased and pasteurized.
The milk collected at these country plants and that which is shipped by railway must first be hauled to the plant or railway
shipping point. This is called country hauling and is often accomplished individually, or by groups of farmers who agree to carry the milk in turn or to em ploy a driver to haul it. Then there is the man who makes a business of country hauling. He usually operates in territories of heaviest production and covers a regularly laid-out route, employing for the purpose lorries during mos-toot the year. but substituting horses in times of heavy snowfall. Practically all milk that is shipped
by rail is handled first on a country hauT, whether it passes through a country plant on its way to the city or not : that which is shipped by lorry moves directly to the city except when it is received at a country plant. The eight or ten-gallon can is the capacity in general use in this area.
The milk which is shipped directly to the city and that which is handled through country plants subsequently finds its way to the Chicago market by one of the following
methods :—(1) By lorry. (a) Direct from the farm in eight-gallon dins; (b) from receiving stations in glass-lined tank lorries ; (c) in bottles from certified milk farms, and
(d) in eight or ten-gallon cans from receiving
stations. (2) By rail. (a) Direct in eight or ten-gallon cans; (b) from receiving stations in glass-lined tank cars ; (c) in bottles, from country bottling statibns, and (d) in eight or tett:gallon cans from receiving stations.
The several methods of transportation, the number of handling,-s and the character of the containers used for each method are shown in the accompanying 'diagram.
Bulk transportation is attracting more attention in Chicago than
any other new feature of milk transportation. This method has developed along two lines—the tank lorry and the tank car. Each is adapted to certain methods of marketing and each has a distinct sphere of operation. 2
The glass-lined tank lorry is admirably suited for the hauling of milk from country stations to City plants, especially when neither is located .directly on a railway and when the distance is not beyond the economic range of lorry haulage, Its service la limited to the picking up of a load of milk at a receiving station, although it is possible, as in the case of the tank car, to secure the load from more than one station. It cannot be successfully used to collect small quantities of milk along the road, principally because the pooling in one tank of the milk of various producers prevents proper sampling and the checking of sour milk. Another reason is that the frequent opening of the tank would lead to contamination.
The capacities of the tanks range from 800 to 2,000 gallons, the most practical size being 1,250 gallons. Some of the larger tanks, when loaded to capacity, exceed the maximum highway weight limits in some States, and it has been found expedient for this reason to mount them on semitrailers. This distributes the load over six wheels and meets all regulatory restrictions.
In the majority of cases tank lorries are owned by the City distributors, although a few motor haulage companies use them on a contract basis. It is not practicable to ascertain the cost of operating the lorries which are owned by the dairies. The rates charged by the hauling contractors are slightly higher than comparable rail rates for tank-car service. From Lowell, Ind., for example, the present tank-lorry rate is 23 cents per cwt. for the distance of 42 miles, as compared with a tank-car rate of 21 cents per cwt. for a distance of 40 to 45 miles. It is apparent, therefore, that a dairy operating its own lorries should be able easily to equal the rail rate.
Twenty glass-lined milk tankers are now operating over the highways in the Chicago area, and a number of these were put Into service during 1.924. There seems to be a growing tendency to convert country bottling plants within 40 or 50 miles of
the city into receiving stations, and to transport the milk in bulk to city dairies and bottling plants. The principal reasons for this change are the high rail rates on bottled milk and the completion of many new highways within hauling radius of the city. Within the past two years no fewer than a dozen country bottling stations have been converted into bulk receiving stations for these reasons. Those well located within hauling range on good highways are using tank lorries, while the more distant stations are operating tank cars. The Chicago tank lorries operate within a radius offrom 20 to 60 miles, the average length of route being 34.2 miles.
As previously stated, the tank lorry and the tank car have each their distinct field of service, the railway tank car serving best in the long-haul areas, especially from plants lying immediately upon the railway, and the lorry in the shorthaul zones from plants located on good highways. Where facilities are available,,and circumstances are such that either form of equipment could, be used, the lorry has an advantage over the railway tank car because of the smaller investment required for tank-lorry service. For a given quantity of milk celivered, less tank capacity is required for lorry service than for rail ser . vice. This is due to the fact that the lorries can complete the round trip between the country receiving station and the city dairy in a day, while the cars normally require more than one day.
The tank lorries move out intO the country during the early morning hours and are filled at the collecting station, often by gravity, and usually in from 12 to 15 minutes. They leave the station for the city at between 10.30 and 11 in the morning, after all milk from the surrounding country has been brought in and cooled, deliver their loads in the early afternoon, and are then cleaned and made ready for the return to the country early the following morning.
The use of railway tank-cars, on the other hand, requires that there shall be at least one extra car, generally two and sometimes three, for each car unloaded daily at the city plant. Within a radius of 40 miles, two cars often suffice for a single installation. For greater distance, however, there is generally a car loading at the country station and another in transit for each car unloaded at the city end of the haul.
To illustrate the comparative investment required for the two types of equipment, let us assume that a city dealer receives 6.000 gallons of milk daily, which can be shipped either by rail or lorry over hard-surfaced roads. If the milk is hauled in tank-lorries, three lorries and two trailers will be required to carry the five 1.250gallon tanks and the cost of the outfit will be $24,256. To transport the same quantity by rail will probably require three tank-cars of 6,000 gallons each and the cost will be $45.000. If two tank-cars can be made to serve the cost will still exceed that of the tank-lorry outfit by 25 per cent.
The tank-lorry is more flexible for handling the variable output of country stations than the tankear. During the late summer and autumn, when milk production decreases, the dealer operating tank-lorries and trailers can suspend the operation of a lorfy or trailer during slack periods. In the case of tank-car delivery, the rates which apply to these shipments are for a minimum carload of 40,000 lb. It is a serious matter in times of shortage to operate -partly filled -cars at the full rate, and it is, therefore, imperative to operate tank-cars in connection with stations having a 40,000-lb. minimum volume.
In the various sections of the Chicago milk shed there are many different systems of computing rates for hauling milk. Certain operators charge by the gallon, others by the hundredweight, whilst the most common method is a stated rate per eight-gallon can. Still another method used by hauling contractors handling bulk shipments in tank-lorries is to charge a stipulated amount for all milk up to 2,000 gallons. One dealer has a contract with a haulage company operating two tank-lorries to haul his milk at the rate of 30 cents per cwt. for a 50-mile haul. The railway rate for this country plant is 33 cents per cwt.. or 3 cents more than the lorry rate, and, in addition, the city dealer saves the cost of cans and the cost of carting the milk from the railway milk platform to the city plant. The haulage company owns the lorries and glass-lined tanks and assumes all road responsibility.
Naturally, good roads are necessary to successful milk haulage by motor vehicles. The unfortunate operator who tries to maintain his service over highways which are virtually impassable for a part of the year finds that his daily operating costs far exceed the average normal expenses and eventually he realizes that his profits are seriously affected. An instance of the value of good roads might he quoted. A large Chicago dairy, which had a receiving station on a rail line which was no longer operated, believed for a time it would have to abandon its plant. As the section in which the plant was located is a highly productive dairy district, the company made every effort to find another means of transportation. About this time the Rand road was completed, furnishing 46 miles of hard-surfaced road to the city. An installation of two tank-lorries and two trailers is now operated daily between this station and the Chicago plant, with the result that the highway has saved the closing down a the plant and the community retains a profitable place whereat to market its milk.