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"No Danger of a Milk Famine in New York"
Although the Orange County shipments are 100,000 quarts short, a corresponding increase from the Croton Valley will enable the thrifty milkman to pull through.
This Harper’s Weekly cartoon by William Allen Rogers depicts a
strike by dairy farmers (background) in Orange County, New York, as an
opportunity for a corrupt New York City milkman (foreground) to
adulterate his milk supply with water (from the Croton aqueduct) and
chalk (for coloring).
In the late-nineteenth century, the increasing specialization of
American agriculture occurred in the Northeast when numerous farms
switched from raising a variety of crops and livestock to concentrating
on providing perishable goods—dairy products, fruits, and vegetables—for
the region’s expanding cities. New York City was the nation’s
largest market for milk, and two-thirds of its milk supply was furnished
by Orange County, located in the Hudson River Valley just northwest of
the city.
By the early 1880s, many Orange County farmers had limited their
enterprises to the production of milk, which they sold to creameries
which processed milk and cream and made butter and cheese. The Orange
County farmers bought cattle feed, calves, foodstuffs, and other
supplies from outside the area, and were in debt from mortgages and low
returns on their investments. A glut on the market meant that dairy
farmers received only about 1½-2½¢ per quart of milk, far below the
relative value of other agricultural goods. The creameries, which ran on
low overhead, sold butter derived from the milk’s cream to New York
hotels for 20-30¢ per quart, and paid the farmers at the market rate of
the remaining skimmed milk.
In early 1883, the angry dairy farmers of Orange County went on
strike, which newspapers labeled as the "Milk War." Groups of
the dairy farmers gathered at railroad stations and at other
transportation junctures to halt the shipment of milk to New York City
from those who had not joined the strike. In some cases, the strikers
offered to buy the milk, but more often, they simply emptied the content
of the milk cans onto the ground. The strikers became known as
"bears" after they initially tried to blame two traveling
circus bears for the first spilling of milk. Local police were called
out to protect the railroad tracks after striking farmers threatened to
destroy them, and armed guards were posted on the milk transports.
William A. Rogers, artist of the featured cartoon, also contributed
several sketches of the Milk War for the April 7, 1883, issue of Harper’s
Weekly. One shows "A Spilling Committee" of two strikers
who have blockaded a bridge with a log and barrels, while another
reveals the intentional spilling of the milk at a railroad station, as
striking farmers struggle with railroad porters. The newspaper was not
sympathetic to the strikers, whom the journal believed should be opening
their own creameries and producing their own supplies. Emphasizing those
points are a Rogers picture of a resourceful farm woman and her son
using their milk to whip cream and churn butter, and one of a
"Discouraged" dairy farmer looking forlorn as his cattle feed
on (undoubtedly) purchased hay.
In late March, 1883, a temporary settlement was reached between
committees of the striking dairy farmers and the milk retailers, the
latter representing about 800 of their fellow businessmen. They agreed
to set the price of milk at 2½-4¢ a quart, depending on the season.
Disputes between milk producers and dealers would resurface at times
over the years, the most notable of which were the milk strikes of the
early 1930s during the Great Depression.
Robert C. Kennedy
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