The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-08-13

on my way TO Mullins last Sat
urday my attention was called to an
article by b. F. Yoakum of the
Frisco railroad lines in the Saturday
Evening Post on THE Farmer and
the cost Of living" Hearing some of
Mr.. Yoakum's speech and by them
judging him to be very foresighted
and practical man, Immediately
read this article, and used parts of
it in my talk to the Mullins brethren.
1t Is so full of practical thought and
comparisons of the relative cost of
the nations food supply that 1 copy
it entirely from the Post, and COM
mend 1t to a careful reading on the
part of every man who would like to
see our conditions improved
1t very forcibly illustrates and en-
forces the ideas I have advocated In
season and out of season that we
need more enconomic system of the
distribution of the food products of
this country. And 1 do not know of
any way to accomplish this result
except the cooperation of the grow
ers. and arrangements to deal direct
ly with the consumers through our
own agencies. We are very slow to
learn, and shy Of anything not tried
under our own eyes. notwithstanding
all the accounts l have from time to
time published in these columns of
the Sr""Nes of r~oduce exchanges;
even with this strong article of Mr..
Hoalum, showing the tribute pro-
ducers and consumers pay to the
middlemen our people are "from
Missouri and have to be shown. Eel
low farmers and members of the
union, 1t is up to us to demonstrate
that we can cooperate. To quote
from the article 'It is not the amount
Of potatoes, cabbage, onions, grain,
dairy products or other food stuffs q
community of farmers produce that
fattens their bank accounts, it is the
price for which they can sell them,
and the waste they cut out between
the farm and the table. 1t is not
the prices that farmers are getting
that makes living so expensive. it is
the expense Of getting them to the
railroads and the profits of dealers,
wholesalers and retailers"
The same applies to cotton And
we will never get our just dues out
of the cotton crop as long as it costs
$500 per bale. aside from freight, to
bridge the gap between producer and
consumer.
These figures were given last year
by Mr.. Hightower of Mississippi, at
our State Farmers Union meeting,
and are substantially correct. 1t
matters not if some of our city
friends claim to make only 10 cents
per bale on the cotton they handle
for us.
Another artice from the Saturday
Evening Post is so very suggestive
that I give it space and ask care
full reading: Fighting Gear and
Motor Cars"
The figures in these two articles
are so big that we cannot compre-
hend them, and because we think our
individual contribution Is so small
1t Is not worth while to consider it.
Someone has said that life is made
up Of trifles. but life is not a trife."
Just so, the fraction of cent here
and the nickle there; the per cent.
commission of seller. and the per
cent profits Of dealer sum up the
difference between bare existence
and reasonable prosperity-surh
as the twelve-months toll en-
titles the producers Of all this
entities the producers of all this
wealth to have. And while we are
giving our Congressman hail Co
lumbia about their votes on the lum-
ber tariff or the oleomargerine bill
let's ask them If they voted 1900
million dollars to war outfits in
the last five years.