Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-01-23
SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

A great deal of nonsense is published
about the claw of supply and demand" by
people and papers that know but little of
the subject. They declare in the face of the
panest facts, that prices regulate themselves
by law which no man, or body Of men, can
affect, one way or another, and argue, from
these false premises, that it is useless for
farmers to unite in the hope Of buying cheap.
er, or of selling to better advantage. There
is not Spectator in the country that does
not know better than this. The price of
nearly all commodities are being continually
modified by the acts Of men directed to that
end, and not an article that We buy or sell is
exempt from luctuation in price from this
cause.
But even il it were not so, it would still
be no argument against the cooperation of
farmers, since by such cooperation the supply
of leading staples could be very much mod
fled, and so prices be affected And not on
ly can the farmers, by united action, regu-
late the supply Of agricultural products, they
can also increase or diminish, to an extent
sufficient to largely affect prices, the de-
mand for the products of manufacturing and
commercial labor. Farmers, being able to
live almost within themselves, if necessary,
can at any time, by combined action in re-
fusing to buy articles Of merchandise which
spectators have pushed up to an unfair
price, break their "corners," aud restore pri.
ces to the proper level.
But it was not TO discuss question of
political economy that we began this article
We had more practical aud immediate end
in view We have been told that the sys-
TEN of cooperative purchases instituted by
the oranges would fail in consequence of the
refusal of merchants and manufacturers to
deal with them We have also been told
that the present average prices of the COM
merca commodities and manufactured
goods bought by farmers were not too
high, and that it would be impossible, in the
long run, to depress prices beyond the pres
ent standard.
We have not been alarmed by these de-
clarations because we knew them not to be
founded on fact, And experience has
proved it to be SO. The merchants and
manufacturers Of the West are already not
only willing, but eager, to deal with co0pera-
tive societies, and they have also found
out that such societies are the best, and in the
long run the most profitable customers they
have ever had. The revolution in trade
there, is Immense, and even rail-
road managers are already addressing pri
vate circulars to the state oranges, offering
"better terms of freight than any other route
dare offer"
In point of fact the farmers oranges, by
breaking of from the credit system and re-
solving hereafter to buy and sell only for
cash, dealing as directly with producers and
with as few intermediate agents as possible,
have struck the axe deeply into the roots of
an old, costly and wasteful system of exchan-
ges, injurious alike to buyer and seller.
They have blazed the way to better meth
Oh, the results Of which, in point Of saving to
the nation, will, when summed up, astonish
US all.
The following advertisement Of an extern
sive commercial establishment in Chicago,
which we cut from an agricultural exchange,
reveals the new principles of trade that
the oranges have developed in practical ope-
ration, and shows not only hol0, but i0hy
cooperation can save US so much money
why we have paid exorbitant prices, and
why we need do so no more
CHANGERS,
Farmers and Mechanics
Throughout the Northwest supplied with all kinds Of
merchandise at Wholesale Prices! Dry Goods, No
tlons, Boots Shoes, Hats, Caps and Clothing.
We send any quantity Of goods you may wish to or
der. Reasons why send goods to grangers at
wholesale prices We don't pay forty thousand dol
lars year rent
We don't employ high priced statesmen to sell our
goods
We don't sell goods to country retailers on four
months time
We buy all our goods for cash.
Our goods bought direct from manufacturers.
We make display and keep no men to show
goods.
By purchasing Of you from 40 to 100 per cent
which are the profits Of mddlemen.
We are always prepared TO make purchases of all
kinds Of merchandise which we do not keep for our
customers charging them only five per cent the
net cost. We do this as an accommodation.
All goods will be sent by express COLLECT deT-
ery) subject to examination In this way you can sec
Just what you pay for
Send stamp for printed catalogue Of prices.
Write your and make your figures plain.
MONTGOMERY, WARD CO.,
IO4 & LOG Michigan St., Box sl7, Chicago, Ill.
Here is the whole thing in a nutshell.
And the principle Of it applies itself in a
hundred directions, and developes new ways
of saving, and new means of prof in every
one Of them. This principle is, not to add
to the cost of commodities by any unneces-
sary labor, capital or risk used or incurred
in transmitting them from the producers to
the consumers.
Suppose you were going to draw load Of
hay or grain to market, with horses or oxen,
over long distance. You would have no
larger team put to the load than was neces.
sary to draw it easily, since the team must
be fed on the journey from the load, and it
would be possible to put on team large
enough to consume half or more of it on the
way to market If by reason of bad roads,
or want of good judgment, you put on doub-
lie the team otherwise necessary, you must
either get very much larger price per ton
or bushel for what of the hay Or grain you
reach market with. or suffer loss