Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-02-12
Let Us Have Peace.

Let Us Have Peace.
The grammar smssher Of the Ludlow
Gazette labors under the belief that the Sow.
ereigns Of Industry can "go II alone" better
than to work in harmony and unison with
the kindred order Of Patrons and seems to
be straining every nerve to stir up feeling
Of opposition between the two societies. We
believe this is all wrong, and that it will
not be to any considerable extent successful.
The interests of the several classes Of labor
ing men are not antagouistic. Neither even
are their interests antagonistic with the true
interests Of capital. 1t is only the existing
wrong that the laborers prebauded together to
counterfeit and remove. The Sovereign does
not expect to get his -four cheaper by fore.
ing the Western farmer. who barely makes
living now, to sell his wheat cheaper, but
by reducing the expense of exchange.
When bushel of wheat is sold by the
Western farmer for 40 cents, and brought
to Vermont and sold for sl.75 or 81, both
producer and consumer begin to look around
for remedy for the evil. The grange in
the West takes this wheat and makes it into
-four, and then secures the most favorable
rates of freight East. They are then able
to offer the flour to the Eastern merchant
cheaper than before, and at the same time
get more for it at home, because Of the re.
duction both in freight and in the number of
hands through which 1t must pass. So far
so good. Then the Eastern merchant has
got this -four at cheap rate, and can sell it
at high figure, making good profit out of
the grange movement. But just here the
council steps in and saves the profit which
the Eastern merchant would make, by buy.
ing direct from the mills.
The FARMER never claimed that supply
and demand did not affect prices. But we
do claim that beyond the variations Of price
dependent upon supply and demand there
are other influences. When all the produc-
ers of Pennsylvania coal combine and agree
upon scale Of prices for year to come,
though perhaps the demand may be smaller
than they expected, yet they have made the
supply to suit their wishes, and the price is
just what they said it should be. When the
-four merchants in town or city agree upon
the price they will ask for -four, if that price
is too high, the laborer who wants barrel
Of flour is compelled to pay this price,
though if he wanted car load, and had the
means to get it, he might get it for three or
four dollars barrel less. This is an instance
ofthe way supply and demand regulate trade,
but the supply is manufactured by the deal.
ers to suit their special interests, and in di.
rect opposition to the interests OF the poor
man. 1t is not against the original laws of
supply and demand, but against these op.
pressive and fictitious rules of supply and
demand, that the Patrons and the Sovereigns
are battling. They do not strike at any
right of the merchant. The merchant has
an undenied right to ask whatever price he
sees fit for his goods, but the Patron and the
Sovereign simply claim and exercise their
equally undeniable right to purchase where
they can be best suited. The Sovereign
consumes more OF the Changers products
than he does of the merchant" Indeed !;
we'll, as the Sovereigns, generally speaking
are not cannibals, We presume they do not
consume much of "the merchant" But il
Bro. Hackett means the merchant S products,
we would ask, What does the merchant pro-
duce? Nothing. He takes the farmers
produce and hands it over to the manuiac-
turer, taking toll himself, and he takes the
manufacturers wares and hands them over
to the farmer. taking toll himself. He does
not add particle OF value to the goods he
handles, but adds to their cost. Now the
merchant and the additional cost arc neces-
sary, and nobody wishes or hopes to abolish
them, but when the farmer and the manu-
facturer think there are too many Of these
go-betweens who handle products and take
toll. they seek redress by taking steps to re.
duce the number of hands through which
the produce passes and the amount of toll
these hands require for their services. The
original price received by the farmer for his
wheat and corn, or by the manufacturer for
his plows and hoes, remains the same or is
increased, while the price paid by each for
the products Of the other Is lcssened. The
two orders to he the most effective must
work in unison, hand in hand. The found
ers of the Sovereigns saw this, and said that
perhaps in year or two the two should be
merged in one great band Of laborers-pro.
ducers,-organized not to oppose capital and
wealth but to bring harmony between them
and the primary authors of all wealth, the
laborer. Let us have peace.
Communications unaccompanied by the
name Of the writer are worth 81 cents per
pound. We sell good many pounds, and
have few on hand now.
General News.