Emil Lederer: Discussion Intervention on Private Milk Purchasing (1921)

This brief intervention in official commission proceedings examines whether an established private milk-purchasing organization could sustain urban supply without state compulsion. Lederer proceeds from a local example to a conditional institutional proposal, then asks whether its practical premise holds. His contribution concerns the organization of provisioning: how relations between a city and its rural suppliers might secure milk deliveries, and what additional regulation would be needed.

Lederer cites Mannheim as a city known to him to possess a developed supply system. He asks whether comparable arrangements are customary in other large municipalities. The important combination is private economic organization, an assured milk supply, and the absence of coercive measures. His question treats existing local connections between town and countryside as a possible basis for reliable provisioning.

Es würde sich also die Konsequenz ergeben, daß, wenn dieses System weiter funktionieren kann auch nach dem Kriege, der Schritt, der noch weiter zu machen wäre, lediglich darin bestehen würde, das Monopol des Milchhandels in der Stadt zu schaffen.

English translation: The consequence would therefore be that, if this system can continue to function after the war as well, the only further step to be taken would be to establish a monopoly of the milk trade in the city.

The proposed monopoly is conditional on the continued viability of the purchasing system. Lederer distinguishes the organization linking rural supply to urban demand from the monopoly to be established within the city. He does not specify who would hold that monopoly or how it would operate.

Es fragt sich, ob diese Einkaufsorganisation so ist, daß sie ohne weiteres auch ohne staatliche Zwangsmittel weiter funktionieren kann.

English translation: The question is whether this purchasing organization is constituted in such a way that it can readily continue to function even without coercive measures by the state.

The closing question preserves the intervention’s exploratory character. Its central conceptual move is to separate organized, reliable provision from compulsory state procurement. Whether the Mannheim model could endure after the war remains a question for investigation, not a demonstrated conclusion.