The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1910-07-14

! absolutely necessary. We might find
temporary relief by letting down our
tariff barriers to the wheat of Canada
and the cattle of Argentina. but such
relief would be only temporary. The
| inflow of cheaper meat and bread
| would but accelerate the growth of
| the cities. When the limit of the pro-
duction of Canada and South America
| was reached we would face another
crisis of high prices. this time much
| more serious than we are undergoing
at present. The only way the price
| level can be permanently adjusted and
| lasting prosperity assured is by in
creasing the proportion of country
dwellers.
| At present there are too many drones
in the hives of industry. The unearn-
ed increment. the rapid rise in real
estate values for which community
growth is responsible, has placed hun
dreds of thousands of people where
| they can live from the proceeds of
rents-live without working. They are
granted perpetual tax upon the in
| dustry of Others-On the necessity Of
people to live. Legislation that will
| put heavy tax on this unearned in
| crement will in large measure right
| this wrong and force the property
| owners into productive labor. The
decentralizing Of the cities will force
down the abnormally high rents and
| help to thin the ranks of the people
| whom excessive rents have allowed to
| remain in idleness.
Aside from the people who do not
work. there is vast army of nonpro-
ducers who are supported by the men
who work at productive labor. Our
system of getting goods from producer
| to consumer is needleSSly expensive
| and cumbersome. There are too many
| middlemen on the way. who through
| custom have come to think they have
| a divine right to an easily earned share
/ of the consumers dollar
| Much of this awkward system of dis
| tribution has been made necessary by
the concentration of the manufacture
! ing industries in large cities and by
| the location of these cities without ref
! erence to the markets for their manu-
featured goods or the source of their
| food supply. 1t has been estimated
that if Philadelphia were located close
to its food supply the cost of living in
that CITY, would be reduced 20 per cent.
The time has come for radical re-
adjustment of the system of distribu-
ton. The consumer and the producer
| must be brought closer together and a
| large share of the energy wasted in
| duplication and rehandling of products
turned into productive labor. AS an
example. there are nearly 100000 COM
mercial travellers in this country.
| These men are well fed and well paid.
The cost of selling goods through them
| is enormous. The consumer pays this
| cost in increased prices. The plan of
selling all sorts of goods in small guam
| titles by personal solicitors is a rem
| nant of the old days of cutthroat com
petition. 1t has little. if any, place in
modern business. Today business has
been put on a scientific basis. Consol-
| idation is the keyword Of efficiency.
| Consolidation has reached it's highest
development in manufacture. Trans
portation is not far behind it. 1t is
time that competition - the kind of
| competition that fosters ineficiency,
| duplication and excessive COSTS elm
mated from the unproductive indus
| tries.
In the very nature Of the case there
must always be a class of unprOduc-
| 40 uvrncrs. 1t is Tor the best good
| of the nation to limit this class as
much as possible.
| The future prosperity of America.
| then, depends upon the decentraliza-
| ton of the cities. Large cities are eco
nomically wasteful. and they will have
to 60 The manufacturing cities Of the
| future will be located with reference
to food supply as well as with refer
ence to the market for their products.
In recent years the farmers of the
hog raising districts of Iowa are COM
ing more and more to ship their hogs
| to local packing houses for slaughter.
| thus eliminating the long freight haul
| to Chicago. A plan is under way to
establish a terminal elevator at Cedar
Rapids. where the bulk of the Iowa
/ grain can be cleaned and graded and
shipped direct to the consumer. In
| this way the toll of Chicago. with its
heavy terminal charges and its army
Of middlemen will hn ai'rN''. ---s-'-