The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-17

wife and babies. Everybody seems to be trying to clear himself of responsi- bility and load 1t onto someone else
 The American people will become weary of this sort of subterfuge some day and will demand action.
 Now, I am no socialist but business conditions in this country are sadly in need of some sort of readjustment I have no remedy to offer but there is A remedy somewhere and those who are responsible for the condition know the remedy.
 The burden of advice handed out by public and industrial officials seems to be that more people should go to the farms and produce more foodstuffs. know men with families in Birmingham who have abandoned their farms and moved to town to make living for their families. Their fruits and potatoes routed in the fields because they could find no profitable market for them. Everything they had to buy to make a crop was marked up at such high figures that they were almost ruinous and when they car ried their produce to town they could not get enough for it to pay expenses.
 When the average farmer ships his stuff to the market he gets from 30 to 50 per cent return for 1t. The larger percentage is reported broken" or Spoiled" He is not able to go to mar ket with his stuff or send an agent. He is absolutely at the mercy of the com mission merchant in the distant city.
 The country merchant will not pay him the highest market price for his produce for the same reason that he, too, must depend on the honesty of the commission merchant in the city for hon. est returns.
 So there you are The average farmer without capital and reliable commission merchant connection in town commits business suicide when he takes the ad- vice of the railroad president or the de- partment official who may not know the difference between a rooster egg and a squash.
 The farmer with one or two years experience of this kind decides that d pay envelope once or twice a month that comes regular is better than the farm and he comes to town. There is not much difference In owing a grocery bill at the corner grocery than a blanket mortgage on the farm that grows larger every year.
 Now, honestly, is there any difference?
 Agents of the United States depart ment of agriculture in Alabama make some interesting reports of produce prices to their chiefs. I do not know on what bases these prices are figured, whether on the price received on the farm or in the wholesale districts. but they are in- consistent, any way you put them. For instance, corn is quoted at S5 cents per pushed by the farm experts. Corn on Morris avenue in Birmingham Saturday night was quoted at S cents per bushel. Again, oats are quoted by the farm ex- perts at 6S cents They are selling on Morris avenue at 64 cents, four cents cheaper than on the farm if the expert 8 figures are intended as farm prices.
 The farm experts report the price or eggs at 25 cents per dozen. This Is evi- dently a farm price and that, too. on some farm with special advantages for marketing. We all know that the price quoted is not the Birmingham price. Eggs were quoted on Morris avenue Sat urday at 3S cents. The consumer who cannot pay his bill gets u em for-noth- ing.
 The average farmer in Alabama really gets about IS cents for his eggs and has to take that in merchandise from the country merchant. He gets from 10 to F cents in real value.
 The intimation above that there are some dishonest commission merchants in the large cities should not be taken to heart by those who are honest and treat their customers fairly. There are hon est commission men and plenty of them, but the farmer back in the woods and even the country merchant does not know which is which till he is shown. I am merely giving condition that works against the success of the man who de- pends on the farm to make living for himself and family.