The Red Cloud chief., 1886-09-03
THE QUESTION OF MARKET.
How Farmers Have Seen Pooled by the
fa!IAr.ona Ar.nmruI of D.tuI..

How Farmers Have i:-ca Pooled By th
fa!iAc4ous Argument of Dstiiierz-
Onceu upon 4 time CHANGED 10 stan,
in a mea: market . after six o'cloc.
Saturday night. Men from the ma
chine shops were there gctting supple
for Sunday dinners. 1 noticed wit
surprise how little some of then
bought. One in particular took onl,
a bit Of liver. rcmarHing a. he handle,
over the few cents asked for il: ..Tlii
Is all that j, left of my weeks wages
just then IN came Charley, the rotunt
saioOn-kccper whose saloon il OH In,
street leading from the machine shop.
t. the market He is a biz. pompou.
fellow. and walking up to the connie,
with a ''l-am-monarch- of-all-l-survey'
mir ordered the incest roast in the shop
pulled out a big roll of bank bill,
handed n 10 the clerk To pay for tn,
meat and vent out. | saw that jim,
the liver buyer. stood watching him
moodily. and tina: a peculiar look cam,
over his face Is his eye rested on IN,
bill Charley paid. then glanced from
tic nice. juicy roast which was To be-
Charicv's dinner 10 the insignificant,
bundle in his own hand.
his shop-mat"s and said: .Scc here:
don YOU know we're fools. That bill
Charley paid for that roast j. tn. very
| paid him for liquor no, half an
honr ago. It's gone - buy his family
a good Sunday dinner. while mine can
have nothing but liver. Next week |
am going TO keep away from his infer
nal saloon and sec if my folks can't have
ro:St beef for their Sunday dinner"
Lets all try it," they said. and wen,
ont discussing the question of Sunday
dinners vs.. whisky.
Curiosity led me- 20 the same market
Mt the same time the following Satur-
day. In came the same people: but I
noticed that every one Of those shop
men bought 4 roast Of beef. and great
was the chuckling among them when
Charley walked in with a long face,
saying: IL never did see such luck as
I've had this week; never had such a
poor week for trade i'm nv life: believe
l won'tindulge in a roast. but will take
some Of that hrcr."
All Of which set me- to thinking. We
were near neighbors To Peoria with its
mammoth di>tilleries. Ms work took
me much among the farmers: every
where among them my Temperance
appeals were met with: I'VE don't
drink. nor wish to; but if you Tenn
perancc folks shut up the dis;i!lcries
thcrcH he no market for our corn"
knew they were wrong. but could see
no way 10 prove it 10 them. ill the i'll
cidcnt in the meat market let i'm a flood
of light rpon the question. ! begun 10
investigate. The first step was. To
write tn III. Internal Revenue Commits
sioncr ut Peoria. to see how much
whisky WIS made ont Of a bushel of
corn. Waiting his answer l asked
Charley : son. who was a pupil of
mine and my good friend, how many
there were in 4 gallon of whisky.
well. he said, '':ha; depends on
how biz the drinks are: but near As | can
calculate they run about fifty To a gal |
The commissioner replied: Il
have the honor To say that a fair aver
age production of spirits from a bushel
Of corn for the period of one year is
from l6s 10 La quarts.
Then vent To figuring. Allowing
man TO take but four drinks Il
iay az i've cents each. a low average
ron will allow, he would spend each
lay twenty rents for his whisky. Ia
he course OF the year that mointS up
o over seventy dollars. or jus. about
Is much rs a whole beef would cost
i'm. bought 1T the market along as he
lecded il during the Year. Nv house
'eeping experience convinced me that
medium-sizcd family would consume
hat amount Of beef in a year--if they
ould get il.
The next thing t. figure on was the
mount Of corn used i'm making the
ihisky. Four drinks a day give l.46o
year: taking Jacks average of fifty
Kinks To 4 gallon this calls for twenty
inc and onr-half gallons of whisky.
IL quarts To make this amount will
according to the commits
oners figures. not gni,e seven bushels
{ corn. This. mind YOU. on the sup
osit,on that there j, no crooked
es> in the whisky. nor any adultera-
in the drinss: we give the distillcr
the benefit OF the doubt.
The next step was to discover how i!
'uch corn would have been consumed |
make the beef. This was harder to =
for farmer, do not keep rec {
IDS Is strictly rs the internal revenue
PES BY diligen; inquiring and COM Y
arisoa of results as given by manv h
rmers. | arrived n, the conclusion {
at fifty bushels of corn WAS a low es- II
mate for the amount eaten from the l
the calf commences 20 eat corn Q
iai ITS appearance as beef in the mar q
(: that is. than seven times IS =
uch corn goes to make . beef than is O
ed 10 make the whisky which sells q
r the same amount of money. Now n
vas 1eady for INV farmer friends for r
ey knew and / knew that the chances q
> mans family having plenty Of d
ef to eat are. in inverse ratio TO the n
antisy OF whisky be drinks So when Ii
er they confront me with the ques- D
N: where should We find market =
: corn il di>tiIleries are ciosed?' q
lnkeelikc | reply with another cues- q
a: (which pays yoa best to put one 81
shell Of corn into whisky 70 make 3 a
IN woPSe than q h1,fa sn3 hrn~ III -