The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-02-03
The Cost of Living
connlcng Views OF Newspaper Correspondent Producer
Middle Men and Publicst on the Subject

William E. Curtis, writing in tn,
4 Chicago Record Herald says: ether,
seems to be disposition on the par
OF the secretary of agriculture, The
congressional committees and othel
ofnclals who are inquiring into. the
reasons for the increased cost of liv
ing to overlook the fundamental
cause We are continually rejoicing
over the improved condition of the
farmer. who is actually responsible
for the wealth and prosperity of the
country We rejoice because he has
been able to pay off his mortgages
and pile up big bank accounts, buy
automobiles and enjoy other comforts
and luxuries to which he was not ac
customed until twelve or fifteen years
ago. Yet We complain of the increas.
ed cost of the food which he supplies
us and wonder why prices Of meat and
/ bread and potatoes have advanced
1 There seems to be studied attempt
to keep the farmer out of it, and a de
termination on the part of the inves.
tigators not to find him guilty of any
of the responsibility for the troubles
and trials the consumer is suffering.
The farmer got $50 100000 more
for his corn in 1909 than he did in
1908; he got s12o,o0000O more for his
wheat; he got s10ao0O,00O more for his
potatoes, and a corresponding in
crease in the proceeds of every crop,
vegetables and grain he sold. and the
highest authority in the world on such
subjects shows that the value of his
animals was nearly s200,000,00O great
er in 1909 than it was during the pre-
vlous year And yet congress has ap-
pointed committee to discover why
| 1t costs more to feed a family than it
did few years ago.
Coming back at this and similar
arguments John Horrocks, a farmer
of Bureau county, Illinois. saws:
I will state few conditions as
they are here. One of my neighbors
did not crib a bushel of corn last fall
because it was impossible to get help.
He has been feeding his 1908 crop
the last six weeks, with 5000 bushels
OF corn in the field, one-half of it I'M
der a foot of snow and ice. Last
spring he lost carload of Young pigs
for the want of some one to took af.
Ter them. 1t was a case of lose the
pigs Or lose crop, as he could not
get help in the field. Only two farm
ers as far as know in my neighbor-
hood have got their corn husked.
Some have 200 acres of corn In the |
field. There is as near as I can find
out, between 100000 and 500, 900
pushels OF corn in the fields i'll I
THIS county, with good prospects of /
half OF 1t rotting, and there was no I
snow here until about Dec. L.
Now, in regard to the meat they
are making so much fuss about. Two
years ago last September hogs were
selling in Chicago for s7.15 per hun.
dredweight on foot Then the gov.
eminent got after the packers and
made them clean up their packing
houses, and hogs went down to s4.25
Per hundredweight in Chicago two
Years ago about this time. In the
following April hogs went UP to about
$3.50 per hundredweight on foot Lo.
cal hog buyers here paid as low as
50 SO during the low period. Farmers
We're getting rich then after feeding
sixty cent corn. For every dollar that
clean up cost the packers they took
800 from the farmers, and now
there Is 20 be another crusade against
the packers, and the farmers will
have TO pay the fiddler.
And how about the people who are
bowling about the high cost of livinge
There are thousands of farm hands (,
wanted in Illinois alone. Are any OF ,
these howlers willing to 90 out on the
saFTns and work for the highest
wages ever paid on farm and helm
make living cheaper? Not much,
They would starve first, and some of
them ought to.
And why is it that anyone EN-.
ployed By the county Or the state or
tas general government is allowed to
kiii eight hours' time and be paid for
q days work, while others have TO
1oll Ten or twelve hours a day? What
VII tend to disgust and drive Young
man from the farm more than to see
an everyday common laborer starting
70 work an hour after he has been at
work ard quitting an hour before the
farmer does. with Saturday afternoon
a holiday and all other holidays with
pay2 If the farmers worked only
eight hours those people that are
striking against meat would find NO
meat To strike against
Then comes the middle-man. tho
fellow who buys the farm products i
and distributes them among the 10.
eal dealers. He has found vent for .
lis plant through George Ehrat Of
Chicago, who has had long experi.
'nce in handling dairy products. He
iays;
1T Is very remarkable fact that !
1T this time, when everybody from
he President down to the working
nan Is crying about the high price of
God and congress is getting ready to ;
make. an inuoe ito re- tI,a 1