New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-01-05
CORN TO EG YPT.

CORN TO EGYPT
Ii il q common complaint that the products
of the soil sell so cheaply in this country that
our formers can make nothing. Yet it ID az
serted on the other hand, that the prices of
many vegetables are so high in our markets
that those vegetables can be and are imported
at q profit from countries whose lands are
many times, dearer than ours. Here is what
The Cincinnati Enquirer makes tho basis of an
anti-Tariff demonstration:
zone would naturally suppose that the importation OF
any vegetable from Europe to the United States would
be ike carrying Goals to Newcastle. There is hero an
almost boundess extent Of fertile land with compare
lively q small population. In Europe. on the contrary,
things exactly the reverse. But 1t mas been uScoV
cred that over population and worout land can com
pete In garden vegetables with the virgin soil or tho
United States The Heao- York Bulletin says Brussels
Sprouts which in great demand in that city, are I'M
ported by steamer for 81 l2l bushel The homeraised
sprout costs s. so for little moro than tbifd OF
bushel. Caulaowers brought from England ana
sold for and 10 cents head, While the 90
nestle article in New York il worth from 20 To
10 cents a head. Globe ArtichOkcs are delivered
from Europe at l6 cents pound tho home article Ia 65
cents in the NewYork market. Onions from spain are
sent TO and delivered at So so bushel which
"a Al less than Is charged for the American onion me
bulletin remarks that NEARLY every vegetable except
and Celery now imported Ior loss imam nan
the rates charged In markets. while Butter from Ire
land and Bacon from England, are much cheaper than
the same articles here and our restauraeurs are obliged
to import them In order to conduct their business profit
ably Game IL also imported in large quantities for the
same reason. Many Of the large caterers are extensively
engaged in tho business Of importing these articles and
the fact that it constantly increasing in extent and i'm
portance Is sufficient proof that 1t Is prohtable.'"
Comments By The Tribune.
=. Of ho ooI n
mole-hill of fact. 1t is indeed possible that
"onions from SPAIN have been sold here for
S3I per bushel; but our growers do not re-
ceive half that price, averaging their sales for
the last ten or twenty years. Cabbages and
Caulihowers were mainly a failure with us in
1870, owing to protracted drouth and insect
ravages of course, they sell high but twenty
"to seventy cents per head" for Caulflowers
strikes us as rather wild. AS to brussels
Sprouts A" and Globe ArtichOkes," they are not
in common use among us, and it may be that
a few have been proftably imported, in de-
fault OF adequate production by our gardeners.
But the assertion that "nearly every vegeta-
"ble except Lettuce and Celery are now i'm
ported for less than half the rates charged
"in our markets." is absurd; while we surely
export far more Butter and Bacon than we
import. Do we import cur Green Peas, Gar
den Beans, Potatoes, TurniDs, Carrots, Pars-
neps, Tomatoes, Elephants, &C., &c.7 The
Bulletin speaks recllessly.
We venture the assertion that any one who
will contract and give security to pay Tor
100000 bushels of good Onions next Fall at
S1i per bushel will not wait long for Gus
toner, and that Ono Thousand Tuns of good
Cabbage can thus be obtained for less than
two cents per pound. So Brussels Sprouts
and "Globe Artichokesn Though we know
little of either would be grown here on con-
tract very far below the prices above assigned
them.
But the growth of Vegetables in this vicin-
ity is impeded by the aggressive viciousness
of our system Of distribution. The middle
men devour tthe producers and famish the
consumers. Tho average cost Of taking
barrel of Apples or TurniDs from tho grower
thirty to fifty miles away and distributing the
contents to ten or twenty families in this City
is thrice what the farmer receives for prOduc-
ing them. We must reform this rapaciOus
anarchy and now is the time to set about it.
Who will lead that others would confidently
follow 7