Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-09-04
Aetmnnt Gatmtt
PRODUCERS AND NoN-PRo-
DUCERS.


Were there no merchants or no tradcsmen
in st. Johnsbury, where would they find II
market Tor their prOductsP Reduce Your
fifty merchants to ten or to one, and you
likewise reduce tho opportunities of ready
sale and fair prices Caizcn.
Here is wisdom. There are a certain
number OF farmers whose produce comes to
st. Johnsbury. They produce certain
amount Of farm products, and they buy
certain amount Of such goods as the mer-
chants import. Suppose that ten merchants
sell them all their goods and buy all their
produce and ship it to market, for the
amount consumed here is quite an insignif-
cant item. Then in come forty more men
who see these ten merchants doing good
business aud think they can do part Of it,
and share the profits. There is no moro butter
or cheese or beef produced, but there are Eve
times as many men to be fed from the hand
ling of it. The price of these articles eau
not be raised in market, for Boston is not
dependent upon st. Johnsbury for them, so
the commission which before was largo
enough to compensate ten men for their time
in handling must be increased enough to sup
port fifty, and the increase of commission
must come out OF the price paid to the farm
ers The Citizen man quotes the proverb
that competition is the life Of trade" The
kind of competition we have IN ST. Johns.
bury may be the life of trade, but it is death
to the farmer The surplus forty merchants
produce which they and their families and
clerks will consume, but that does not in
crease the price, for they have to get it out Of
their trade, which is no larger for fifty mer-
chants men than for ten.
We do not claim that st. Johnsbury mer-
chants are getting rich too fast, but that
there being so many of them they are obIig-
cd to put up the price Of what they sell in
order to all get living. Trade is overdone
and the cost Of rent, fuel, clerk hire, and
similar expenses, as well as the interest on
capital, is several times larger than it should
be, and all this has to come out of the farm
err The Citizen says we are wrong in our
theory that the reason prices are so high
here is that there are too many dealers.
What, then, is the reason? We only advanc-
ed that as reason for high prices, and it
looks to us to be the reason still, but if the
merchants organ can give us a better, We
should like to hear it. The fact exists, as has
been demonstrated by prices we have quoted
of goods as sold here and elsewhere and
the wholesale markets published in this and
other papers give the reader who is familiar
with St. Johnsbury prices chance to make
a comparison which shall approximately
show how much we pay our merchants for
doing business.
The Citizens alluSion to the scale works
is the richest part of its philosophy"
Manufactures are the life Of tae country,
and manufacturers are producers. Man.
ufacturers have combinations, fix their own
prices, and are prosperous, and they beneti-
cially Increase the home market, because
they are producers. They give an equiva.
lent in production for what they consume
But the merchant produces nothing
There is given amount of business to be
done, and proper number Of middlemen t
do that business is a necessity but beyond
that, being non.producer he is burden
The scale works, and the other manufactur
ing industries Of St. Johnsbury, are what
have given us our prosperity and increascC
the price of farms, and We would welcome
more such Institutions. Give us useful, pro
ductive labor, instead Of quite so many mer
to stand behind the counter and wait upor
customers part of the time, while they wal
for customers the rest of the time
We want middlemen there is work for O
good many in this village But we dom
want too many, and there is a prospect, W,
are happy to say, that the farmers will com
bine, as the manufacturers have, and as al
have a right to do, and take measures Il
protect themselves from the exorbitant de
mands of those who buy their products an,
sell them their goods. The Citizen admit
that there may be too many of them, bu
says that will result only in their own inju
ry. We hope so. Heretofore they hav
combined and averted that injury by putting
prices so high that not only has nearly al
outside trade stayed outside, but much ha
gone from this to neighbOring villages. |
they are compelled through the efforts @
that class who have never combined before
to come down to reasonable prices, we shal
not only see the home trade stay here, bu
much from outside will come in, and tn
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