The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-09-19
Practical Results and Benefits of Oranges.

We cony the annexed interesting extracts or
this subject from. the st. Johnsbury (Vt.) Week.
Farmers sre familiar with the fact that the
largest productions of the earth sometime.
spring from the smallest germs.
Three thousand years ago few tiny SEEDS
blown by the breeze, or borne by the stream
lodged in the soil of the Sierras. They sWeneo
and sprouted, and little spears, no Larger tnan
snronts. which an insect might have destroyed
grew till their taper points upheld the trma'
nent. Having survived the storms of thirty
centuries, the gisnt pines of California stand
TO-DAY. the wonGer and admiration of all whose
astonished ewes wander from the mountainous
base of their trunks to their tops among the
clouds. What respect would you have 1os the
opinion, the judgment or the taste OF hlm VINO
would turn from these old primevai monarchs
of the forest, az beneath his notice because
they sprang from an insignificant Seed
The grand old oak is none the less majestic
because its infant form was enclosed within an
acorn's cup.
The friends of the order ask, land every one
not controlled by ignorance OF prejudice, Will
grant the reasonable request that 1t shall De
received and tried upon its merits, regardless OF
Its origin or its authors.
The founders of the Patrons of Husbandry
claim little credit for having originated the or
der. If they had not done it, other and per-
hans. abler hands would, doubtless, soon have
initiated some such movement.
America would not have remained long un-
discovered if Columbus had never been born.
The steam engine would soon have begun 10 40
the heavy hauling and to turn the machinery
of the world, if Watts and Stephenson n naa
never thought OF experimental. Ihe pruning
press would soon have led the way OUT OF tne
darkness and debasement of the middle ages,
if Faust and Gutenberg, had been apprentlce3d1
to some other trade. The reformation would
soon have followed the discovery of the art OF
printing, if Martin Luther had remained faith
ful to the doctrines and practices of the church.
Reform, discovery and invention are ever
prompt to respond to the calls of necessity.
Thus, we arc willing to admit, was 1t with
this order. The necessity existed and cried
aloud for relief The time had come for that
cry to be answered II was in accordance with
the plans and purposes of Divine Justice and
Equity that the great agricultural interests OF
this country should rouse from their lethargy,
break their thrall, unitedly to assert and peace
fully to conquer their independence. The orig
inators of this order were but the humble in
struments employed to find the road and point
the way. -.
They are now willing to admit that they
then had an inadequate conception of the mag
nitude and grandeur OF their woTk. iney
buiIded wiser than they knew. New forms
and features, and new elements of strength
and usefulness are continually developing
themselves. Capacities and possibilities which
were not dreamed of, or which were only con-
templated as ultimate and remote posslolllties,
have already become practical and valuable
features of the organization.
One of the most prominent of these ideas
was to enable the farmer, who is the great
consumer of agricultural tools, implements
and machinery, commercial fertilizers, &C.,, To
purchase the same direct from the manuiac-
turer or importer, thereby saving the various
commissions and profits of the agents, Jobbers,
wholesale and retail dealers, and middle-men.
The present system OF commercial exchange,
through the intervention of an lntermlnable
line of dealers and Notwithstanding be-
tween the producer and consumer-has, with
the development of the country, gradually
grown into a gigantic evil, under which each
are equally wronged the one receiving Tar less
and the other paying much more than just
price for the article exchanged.
For example, the manufacturer OF an agrl-
cultural implement which he can sell at good
nroft at ten dollars establishes the retail price
therefor at twenty-five or thirty. The immense
margin of 25O or 800 per cent. is necessarily
imposed to cover the expense OF agents ices
and expenses, commissions to wholesalers ana
profits to retailers. All of this has to be pald
by the farmer who is the consumer or ultimate
purchaser. He pays S25 or $50 Tor an article GI
which the manufacturers thereof would glaoly
sell to him for $40; the balance going to enrich
a class of spectators and middle-men whose
services might be dispensed with, and whose
profits might be saved, by bringing the manu-
facturer and the consumer into direct commu-
nic&tion.
The importer of commercial fertilizers and
the thousands of other articles of which the
farmer is the great consumer, adds his own
profits to the original cost, transportation ana
duties, and passes them along to the consumer
through the sane extended line of middle men,
each Of whom adds heavy per cent. to swell
the ultimate price to be paid by the consumer.
In recently published article upon COM
mercial statistics it is quoted as fact that the
city of New York sends out $4,000 commercial
agents or drummers, at a cost of So per day
for wages and travelling expenses. Ihls WILL
amount to the enormous sum of S240,O0O per
day. or 81. 200, 900 per month-which of course
is added to the price of the goods sold by them,
and is, of course, eventually paid by the con-
sumers of the same of whom the farmers con-
stitute four-hfths
This is only simple illustration of the
manifold ways in which the producer and the
consumer of everything that becomes subject
of trade is taxed by the present system of eX-
change, the one receiving less and the other
paying more than he would by more direct
and less circuitous system.
The evil of which we complain finds a
stronger illustration when we come to consider
the way in which the farmer sells the surplus
of what he produces. Spectators, dealers and
transportation companies so combine as to leave
in the hands of the farmer or planter barely
the price paid by the distant consumer is equal
ly under their control.
This evil is undoubtedly to some extent in
evitable. While the mediation of agents of
exchanre cannot be wholly dispensed with, it