The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-04
YOAKUM SPEAKS At
FARMERS MEETING
Railroad Official Gives Views
On Why Food Is High
TOO MANY MIDDLEMEN
Many People Before the Product
Is Received from the Producer
Who Is Mainly the Farmer.

Who Is Mainly the Farmer.
man of the executive board of the Frisco
system was the center of demonstra-
ton late this afternoon at the conclusion
of his address at the Farmers union con-
vention when he spoke on the subject o.
the high cost of living and conservation
As he concluded a score or more dele,
gates jumped to their feet and hurled
questions at him.
Mr.. Yoakum attempted to answer sew
era, of the interrogations but could not
make himself heard Order was finally
restored and the union officials apollo
gized to the railroad magnate.
Most OF the questions directed at him
seemed to relate to the failure of Che rail-
roads to grant reduced. rates to the dele
gates.
C. o. Drayton. president of the Amei'-
can Society of Equity, declared that the
high price of hogs was not the fault Of
the farmer. He said he blamed the So
called meat trust for the record high
prices.
w. E. Monroe. president of the Land
congress of Louisiana, spoke THE
Call of the South He attributed the
high cost of living to the fact that the
demand was greater than the supply. 1T
was not the barons of industry and gam
blers that are responsible for it, he said,
but the farmers and people themselves.
The people want too much to- eat.
The movement to take the convention TO
East St. Louis because the business men
are charged by the visitors with taking
up all but an hour of President Taft's
the convention officials, and no official
action will be taken, it was announced.
e. j. Watson's Address.
F.. ]. watson, commissioner of agricul-
ture, Columbia, 8. c., made the leading
address this morning. He talked on the
Farmer and His Relation to the Eco
Monies of the Nation
Declaring that every business in its last
analysis is dependent upon the man who
tills the soil, Commissioner Watson
sought to show that of all men the farmer
Is most neglected by the legislatures Of
states and by the federal government.
For decades, he said, the members of
Congress had given the matter scarcely
passing thought except at election time.
ut is either pernicious inactivity" he
said, 'or lack of self-assertiveness of the
man back In the woods to press his
rights
After detailing the present conditions
under which all farm products are mar
keted and declaring that always the far
mer Is at the mercy of the brokers and
the middle men and the big corporations,
Mr.. Watson predicted a revolution in
these conditions at no distant date. He
said the farmer Is waking up and added
that the middle man and Spectator are
to be eliminated in the handling of farm
products of all kinds.
Especially In the marketing of the cot
ton of the south should revolutionary
changes be made and must be inaugu-
rated. There Is no commodity in the
world that is sent to the markets Of the
world with the degree of ignorance sur
rounding 1t and with the amount of mid
die mems toll ripped from 1t as is cot
ton, he said, land the whole thing could
so easily be cured by a little legal inter-
ference in the substitution of honesty of
purpose for the present system
Mr.. Watson referred to the cotton spec
ulators as economic parasites who
bleed the farmer by iniauitous manipula-
ton of prices. He charged that the fed
eral government did much to aid the spec
u1ator and mill men, but naught is being
done to enlighten the producer.
"If the United States government had
given attention to the opening of new
markets that are available and ready"
said he, 1.-The worlds consumption today
would be nearer 30000,0o0 bales than 49,
0O0 COO"
Too Many Niddlemen.
Excessive profit-taking by middlemen
was the reason assigned for high prices Of
foodstuffs by b. F. Yoakum, chairman Of
the Frisco system, In his address before
the convention. He declared that the
heavy reductions in freight rates of the
past few years had been absorbed by
dealers, and not shared in by the farmers
or consumers. Better marketing methods
were advanced as a means by which
farmers would get better prices for the
food they raise and at the same time low
err figures would be given to those who
buy the stun for use in the kitchen This
railroad man described the demagogic pol
itician as a distributing and expensive
middle agent and urged that he be cut
out in the dealings which the railroads
and the farmers should have with each
other.
1.-The most important force for the well
fare of the nation will come when the
landownerS of America are organized, -
said Mr. Yoakum. This organization Is
Important not only for the benefits which
will come to the farmers, but on account
of money which will be saved by the con-
sumers 1t is not prices received by farm
ers which make living expenses high, but
the profits of the dealers handling the
foods between the farmers and consumer.
Comparison of Prices
1.-The Florida farmer receives 81 % for a
bushel of green beans, the railroad gets
80 cents for the s00-mile haul to New York
and the consumer pays IS. 40 for this same
bushel of beans. There is 81 per cent for
grower, per cent for the carrier and 81
per cent for the dealer. This is not a
fair division.
Thirty cents dozen was the average
price of eggs in New York Last year,
while the farmers of Arkansas and Mis-
souri, received Is cents. The freight was 2
cents dozen. The men who receive the
eggs at a freight station in New York
and deliver them TO the consumer take 10
cents dozen profit.
THE rice farmer of Texas, Louisiana
and Arkansas gets "a cents a pound for
the grain and the consumer in New York
NAYS 10 cents a pound for this rice. The
freight is n cent a pound If the rice
farmer we're paid 81 cents Il cent more
than he is now getting) and the dealer
took | cent profit (which is 25 per cent?,
the New York consumer would get 20
pounds of rice for 81 instead Of 10 pounds
as now.
Aiding the Farmer
"Eyery member of every community 10