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THE STORY OF THE GREAT MILK STRIKE
(Taken from the Prairie Farmer’s Reliable Directory of Farmers and Breeders, McHenry
and Boone Counties
published 1917, pages 6-10)
Farmers over the Chicago dairy district are enjoying the happiest Easter season they
have ever known. They will take up spring work with renewed hopes and with real joy in their hearts, for they have
won the milk price fight. Applied to Chicago’s daily milk supply the 22 cents a hundred increase means that the
12,000 dairymen in the district will each day get over $8,000 more for their milk than at the price offered by
the distributors-an average of 66 cents more per day for each farmer. When it became clear on the first of April
that the farmers meant business, the small companies began to fall into line one by one. They realized that there
was little else to do, for with their supply cut of their trade would soon go to the large companies, who could
hold out a few days longer. Mcbride Brothers & Knobbe, ice cream manufacturers, operating a plant at Walworth,
Wis., was one of the first concerns to pay the association price. The Congress plant at Woodstock, owned by Senator
Olsen, stood out until April 3, when after several unsuccessful attempts to get milk delivered with the aid of
the sheriff, it came over to the farmer's side. Following this action, Mr. Olson is reported to have said that
his sole reason for hesitating as long as he did was to see whether or not any of the large companies were going
to pay the $1.55 also. There were many other companies in the same boat, but once they got started most of them
were quick to climb into the farmer’s bandwagon. Signs of an early settlement of the strike appeared Thursday,
April 6, when the Ira J. Mix and Kee & Chapell companies, next largest dealers to the Borden and Bowman concerns,
announced that they would pay the farmer’s price. On the same day Health Commissioner John Dill Robertson invited
the officials of the Milk Producers’ Association to meet representatives of the milk companies in a arbitration
meeting at his office. The secretary’s office was busy arranging contracts between association members and buyers
who had met the farmer’s price, so word was sent that the association would not arbitrate in any way, but that
it would gladly send representatives for a conference, provided it could be held the day following. Commissioner
Robertson agreed to this plan and on Friday a conference took place between the Milk Producers’ Association, represented
by President R.B. Swift and George Brown, and representatives of the Borden, Bowman, Kee & Chapell, Wanzer
and Ira J. Mix companies. At the close of the conference, which lasted seven hours, it was announced that the Bowman
company had agreed to pay the association price. The Bowman decision left only the Borden company standing out,
and its representatives tentatively agreed to accept the farmers’ price, announcing that their action would have
to be ratified by the directors of the company in New York before the contracts could be signed. During the conference
an attempt was made to settle the price by long distance telephone office, but as this was unsuccessful the Borden
representatives in conference asked the association for a day or so of time to obtain the necessary instructions
from New York, Saturday was a quiet one at the Borden plants as the farmers had dealt with them so effectively
that many of them were closed, while would-be patrons had given up trying to deliver milk to others. The Bowman
and other plants operated on Saturday as if nothing had happened, and by Tuesday morning the Borden plants had
resumed normal operation. A very helpful ruling was that of the milk board, which permitted the sale of milk to
companies meeting the association price irrespective of whether their competitors did so or not. In the milk producers’
meeting at Chicago, March 27, there was considerable sentiment in favor of not signing up milk with one company
until all had agreed to the association demands, but fortunately this plan was not adopted. Lack of sufficient
competition for milk had been one of the chief faults of the Chicago milk market, and the effect of patronizing
the buyers who were early willing to pay $1.55 a hundred was to re-establish the much needed competition. The plan
used served to line up the small buyers early through fear of losing trade to the larger companies, while toward
the end of the fight the large dealers became conscious of a feeling that the little fellows might run away with
their customers while they stubbornly held on. In order to decide promptly on the many questions arising each hour
and to otherwise assist the members, the milk board was in daily session throughout the price fight. The members
of this board are President R.B.Swift, Secretary W.J. Kittle, C.H. Potter, J.J. Murphy and R.W. Sherburne. Each
day a bulletin, giving the gist of the situation and the most important new of the fight, was printed, and a copy
of it sent at night to the chairman of each local, who had it posted where all the producers at his point might
read it. "We’ll confer but not arbitrate," was the platform on which the milk board worked. On the first
of April, John W. Knobbe of McBride Brothers & Knobbe spent several hours at the association headquarters in
an attempt to get the association to sanction his purchase of milk from its members at $1.55 with a provision;
that provision being that the other companies also pay the price. The association would not agree, and that evening
Knobbe informed Secretary Kittle that he would pay the $1.55 with no "ifs" or "ands" about
the matter. The western manager of the Borden company also tried to get special privileges by offering to meet
the April price demanded by the association and leave the price for the other five months to arbitration. This
too, met with a flat refusal, after which the Borden company met the farmers demands in full. The dealer gets the
milk is the only provision that the association allowed. "If the milk board of which I am a member had sanctioned
any price one iota less than that set by the association," says Mr. Potter, "I would never go back to
Elgin. I would feel a great deal safer in the trenches of Europe than in the Fox River Valley." Though very
effective measures had been used to persuade the producers not to sign up before the first of April, the farmers
were even more successful in keeping away from the plants milk signed at less than the association price. Perhaps
a third of Chicago’s normal supply had been contracted before the strike actually began, yet practically the entire
supply was tied up within a few days. Only a comparatively small amount of milk found its way into Chicago during
the first week of April, most of this being milk that had been held by the dealers in anticipation of the strike,
or milk that was shipped in from outlying points. Some of this milk came from Iowa, New York, and from points in
Wisconsin outside of the Chicago dairy district. In addition to shutting off the home supply, the farmers were
successful also in stopping much of the milk shipped in from outside the district, and in preventing the transfer
of whole milk from condensing bottling plants. An example of this occurred at Belvidere, where the Borden company
operates a condensery. Several attempts were made to ship whole milk from this plant to the bottling plant at Marengo,
with the result that three carloads of this milk was seized by the farmers. A few days later on April 6, about
300 McHenry and Boone county farmers gathered at the Belvidere plant and prevented the delivery of a single pound
of milk. After this experience the Belvidere plant closed until the strike ended. Every milk shipping or buying
point in the district had its share of excitement during the strike, although cases of actual violence were very
few. Picketers were out at nearly every plant sometime during the strike. Sometimes they were obliged to use force
in order to keep obdurate farmers from delivering milk, though moral persuasion was generally sufficient. The earnestness
of the striking farmers had really to be seen to be appreciated, but a few instances of what took place at a few
points will perhaps serve to impress those outside of the district with the tenseness of the situation. At Dundee
about 20 loads of milk were dumped one morning and a general scrap between and farmers and deputies took place.
Some of the deputies were reported to have drawn revolvers but were forced into automobiles and driven away by
the farmers. At Palatine another deputy had his revolver taken away by a picket. Fifty auto loads of pickets guarded
the Borden plant at West Chicago, April 7, keeping all milk away from it except three cans, which were delivered
before the farmers began their day’s picketing. Usually one day’s picketing was enough to convince the managers
of a plant that they had better cease operations until after the strike, but if milk was afterwards reported to
be coming in, the farmers were out in force again. On the fifth of April several hundred farmers were on hand at
the Elgin plants of the Borden company and put a stop to the delivery of milk at that place. In McHenry county,
Ill., Myron J. Wright, who is keeping open the office of the county soil and crop improvement association during
the absence of a regular advisor, too, much the same part in the price war as did Mr. Craig. No county had more
milk to hold back or held it back more effectively than McHenry, and a good part of this was due to Mr. Wright’s
generalship in keeping the plants well supplied with pickets. Tuesday morning picketing began at the Borden plant
in Woodstock and prevented the delivery of milk throughout the day. At night, however, a small amount of milk was
received there; the plant being so anxious for it that the superintendent had several producers’ milk collected
at a farmhouse near town and delivered to the plant by a drayman, who was protected by three deputy sheriffs. Picketing
continued the next day, when not a pound was allowed to get to the plant. On this day, April 5, the Borden plant
at Ringwood was also closed. At Chemung a minor fight occurred between picketers and deputies. The nearest approach
to violence in McHenry county was at Hartland, where a Bowman plant operates. At this point the farmers began to
picket on the first of April and kept most of the milk away until the plant was closed on the fourth. This plant
was literally closed by the farmers, for about noon Tuesday they took possession of the plant, turning the workmen
out, and forced the superintendent to give up the key. Sheriff Wandrack of Woodstock and several deputies were
rushed to the factory and order was restored late in the afternoon. Following this disturbance Bowman officials
appeared before Judge Donnelly at Woodstock asking for an injunction against the farmers. Judge Donnelly granted
a writ forbidding violence and interfering with Bowman property, but informed the company that he could not stop
peaceful picketing by the farmers. Many producers over the district adopted various means of disposing of their
supply before the milk trade was restored to normal. Shipping cream was one of the most popular alternatives, and
the railroad station platforms were piled with cream cans throughout the fight. At Harvard several separators were
installed in a barn and used to separate milk that could not be handled at home. Subscriptions were also started
for a farmers’ co-operative creamery there. On the evening before the milk strike began a representative of the
Chicago Milk Driver’s Union addressed an enthusiastic meeting of farmers and townspeople in a Harvard church, urging
the farmers to stand out for a fair price for their milk. The farmers about Hebron were also loyal through the
thick and thin of the fight and little milk was delivered at that point. The Borden company at Hebron returned
contracts to a few farmers who had signed for less than the association price, after which the farmers stopped
picketing and no milk was delivered. Separators for handling the farmer’s milk were installed in a mill near Hebron
and action was also taken toward building a new creamery. After the companies began to sign up at the association
price the members then began to insist on all who signed becoming also members of the association. At several places
threats to dump the milk were made unless the membership was forthcoming. As a result a number of the companies
required their patrons to become members of the Milk Producers’ Association before signing the contract. It is
probable that nearly every producer in the Chicago district will become a member of the association before the
last echoes of the price fight have passed. Before the recent price campaign started some of the representatives
of the large milk buying companies were reported as saying that the milk producers were as wandering Jews-that
they were not even agreed between themselves and that they could not stick together. Perhaps, after the unprecedented
example of sticking together that these producers have just shown, the milk buyers will be glad to accord them
as much consideration as they do a hundred milk wagon drivers when they ask for an advance in wages. The victory
of the milk producers is without a parallel in agricultural history. Tangible results have already come in the
form of an increased price for milk. But what of the future? It is fair to expect that the milk companies will
at least give the producers more consideration in their dealings together than they have heretofore. The milk producers
will have more courage to stand together. Probably the heroic methods used in the recent fight will be unnecessary
in the future. We hope so. But if the farmers are again called to action for same cause they will rise as a victorious
army only recently disbanded. A nations army is never stronger than just following a victorious war. The milk producers
are now ready for a greater fight. It would be a wise policy for the large milk companies not to tempt them too
far. In their association the farmers’ ammunition is safe and the men know how to use it. They have found their
leaders, too, men like Swift and Kittle and the others who helped to bear the brunt of the fight. Outside of the
milk producing district the victory will also have a very encouraging effect. Agriculture has never had such an
example of farmers sticking together for a cause, or winning so great a victory so quickly. Its lesson will not
be lost. In many places farmers lack sufficient confidence in co-operation and organization. The success of the
milk producers will give farmers everywhere more confidence in organized effort. This one victory is worth more
than all the barrels of ink and hours of talk used to advance organization that were ever aimed at farmers’ heads.-F.M.C.