Daily Kennebec journal., 1884-05-30
Dafp Aenneter Journal
Disposing Of Our Products.


A writer under the signature of &C.
E. ST. in the last issue of the Home Farm.
writing on the subject Of '.Disposing of
our Products" J" contributes the follow
ing valuable article:
The question has been raised lately by
several, whether farmers can by any
means 80 regulate the prices of their prod
nets, as not to be obliged to sell them at
less than actual cost of production.
Is there any good reason why we
should be the only class who produce or
manufacture articles for sale, that must
have the prices of those articles estab-
lished by the purchasers, rather than reg
ulate them ourselves? Are we less capa-
bic Of fixing the prices of cur surplus
products than the spectators into whose
hands they so soon fall! L. there any
good reason why the farmer cannot as
well name the price of his wool which be
sells To the manufacturer, as the manu-
facturer name the price of the articles
which he produces from such wool! Un-
til such queries can be satisfactorily an
! swered in the affirmative claim il to be
an open question.
4 Il a
governed by cost of raw material, labor
interest, taxes. ETC., and profits sufficient
to insure paving business. When from
over-productioD or. stagnatiOn of busi-
ness prices decline unsatisfactory, goods
are Withheld or production is curtailed un-
! til good prices return, every manufac-
turer knows the exact cost of what he
produces, and takes every precaution to
guard against selling at losing rates. In
fact no one can sell at loss long without
becoming bankrupt.
Every farmer is a manufacturer, he
has his capital; his farm is his 'plant; -
his farm implements and stock are his
machinery; the plant food is his soil, the
applied fertilizers, and purchased foods
are his raw material which he converts
or manufactures into saleable products.
Does he know the cost of these products!
Does he know the value of the raw ma
teriaI sufficient to produce bushel of pO-
tatoes or a ton of hay? There is no rea-
son why every farmer should not know
the exact cost Of every article he pro-
duces. Chemical ANALYSIS has shown
what ingredients and what amount en-
ters into the composition of farm prod
ucts. Those ingredients have an actu-
al market value-that value, labor of
production, cost of seed, interest on value
of land on which the article was pro-
duced, etc, make up the cost of the ar
ticle. Take for instance the article hay
the value of its component parts is at
least 1926 per ton; cost of procuring
2l.j0. The average value per acre of
Maine farms is $l563: the value of
grass lands is at least S25 per ton. AL
lowing l Il acres to produce ton of hay,
the interest on the land is Sl.S7; the pro-
portion of seed used in the production of
one ton of hay is at least 40 per cent, so
we have the cost of one ton of hay in
S13.02 And yet how many thousand
tons of hav have been sold this season for
$40 or less per ton.
What manufacturer could long sell his
wares for 20 per cent. OF cost, as MANY
farmers are doing with their hay crop?
BY similar calculation | find it costs
about thirty five cents per bushel TO raise
potatoes, and yet at most places in Maine
they have been sold for thirty cents or
less this winter. Very probably l00, ,000,-
600 bushels of potatoes have been sold
this season for ten cents per bushel less
than cost of production, and several mil
lion tons of hay at 81 per ton less than
actual cost. Is it any wonder that go.
ii. L." and many others declare that
farming don't pay? "Well," some will
say, "what are you going to do about it?
There are so many of us that we never
can agree upon anv regular price for our
products" But when we say that, we
admit that we cannot manage our own
affairs, but are willing to let others say
what we shall receive for our products,
regardless of cost, and we are the only
class that submits to such dictations. If
Franklin was alive he would say of us as
he did of the mob, "a monster with heads
enough but no brains" The fact that
we are subject to so much dictation is the
main reason that we are considered by
many as class that are capable of do
ing nothing but farming, and they think
ANYBODY can be farmer who is fit for
nothing else.
Those engaged in all other trades and
callings combine for their mutual bene-
fit and protection. BY combination and
cooperation. they are successful in this
business. and accumulate property faster
than farmers, and with less labor. We
can do the same. 1t remains only for us
to will to do it, and it can be done. 1t
only needs organization and cooperation,
and success is as surely to result to farm
ers as any other class that furnish the
people with the necessaries of life. An
organization for this purpose should
have the confidence of its members, and
be national in character. Such an organ
ization is the grange. 1t is an organiza-
ton of farmers, for farmers in the inter-
est of agriculture. If farmers as rule
were members of the grange, observed
its principles. and lived up to their obli-
cations. and obeyed the edicts emanating
from the National Grange. there is no
doubt but manv millions of direct and in
direct benefits would be receivedb by them
every year.
Take the article of potatoes: 10000
o0o bushels are sufficient for the needs of
the country per year. Last year there
were 1876 .0O0, 900 bushels, or surplus of
Is, ,o00, 900 bushels; when this occurs
large amounts of them are disposed of
at loss. Now how can this be avoided?
At the last session of the National
Grange il was known near enough the
amount of potatoes in the country, and
it was evident that but 75 per cent. of
them would be needed. Now if it had
been decided that farmers Should each