The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-10-22
A CREAMERY LESSON.
Effects of Industrial Depression in
Cities Brought Home n
a Practical Way.
STORY OF A KANSAS FARMER.
Decrease in the Consumption of Food
by Laborers Affects the Sale
of Farm Products

A stock feeder of Kansas, recently in
Kansas City. tells Il story that is worth
repeating for the excellent lesson which
it teaches. In ii certain town was
creamery. 1t gathered the cream from
the farms within a radius of ten miles
and manufactured about 400 pounds of
butter per day. Beyond the limits OF
this circle from which cream was gath
cred there were a number of farmers
who desired to sell cream, but were not
able to do so because the wagons from
the creamery did not reach their farms.
One day a delegation of these farmers
called at the office of the creamery to
consult the manager with reference to
the enlargement of its business SO as to
include them and their neighbOrs. They
explained to the manager that by send
ING his teams a few miles farther IN
ali directions he would double the guam
,ity of cream gathered, double the amount
of butter produced and consequently
double the profits of the creamery. The
farmers were disappointed when they
saw by the, look on the managers face
that their proposition was not favOra bly,
received. There had been a great deal
of gossip among the farmer patrons OF
the creamery that the price paid for
cream was too low and that the profits
of the concern were larger than they
ought to be, and now these farmers
could not understand why business
which was making exorbtant profits
should not be willing to enlarge itself, to
double it's output and consequently to
double it's profits.
The manager explained that to enlarge
the circle of their farmer patrons would
require an additional number of men
and teams to gather the cream, would
require additional machinery and an en-
larged plant with more buttermakers
and other operatives. all of which
meant an additional investment OF
money in which he did not feel justified
at this time.
He explained that the price of butter
was low. that thousands of labOring men
in the cities being out of employment
were not eating butter. but were buying
OleOmargarine and other cheap lmlta-
lions of butter. and because of all these
discoura cling circumstances he was unable
to consider proposition to enlarge the
business of the creamery. The manager
went on to explain that creamery In
Kansas. Nebraska or Iowa depended
upon the big cities for its customers.
In small towns many of the people keep
cows of their own. but In the big cities
such as Denver Kansas City. Omaha.
st. Louis. St Paul. Minneapolis and
Chicago. where thousands of laboring
men are gathered. the farmers find
their best customers not only for dairy
products but all the other food products
of the farm The families of these Ia
boring men are eXtrayagant eaters and
extravagant buyers of farm products
when they have the money TO buy with.
When the labOring men in these cities
are employed they consume vast quaint
ties of butter. eggs, -four. meal beef and
noultry The thousands of creameries
in Kansas. Iowa and Nebraska had
more orders for their product than they
could supply before the Democratic
panic stopped the. industries IN the cities
and threw the laborlng men out of work.
Tn the last two years the demand for
food products have been less and less.
showing that the families of the la boring
men in the cities are growing more and
more economical in their consumption of
food In long conversation with the
manager of the creamery. these farmers
gathered the idea as they had never
understood it before. that the food-pro-
ducing farm is dependent upon the food
consuming city for its market and that
the price of food and the demand for it
depends upon the employment at good
wages of the laboring people of the
cities. This much the farmers had al
ready understood in a general way, but
they had never stopped TO realize the far
more important truth. that the manage
ment of these great laboring employing
industries devolves entirely upon the
trained business minds of the heads of
these industries whom the Popocratic or
ators now denounce as plutOcratS, and
enemies of the common people. 1t is
very fine SPORT for eloquent office-seek-
ing politicians to denounce the men who
manage the labor industries. to call them
..plutocrats.' .'goldbugs." robbers" "op-
pressors" and other offensive names but
after all these eloquent speeches have
been delivered and after all this mis-
chievous talk has had its effect