The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-17
INVESTIGATION IF
 COST OF LIVING Department of Agriculture Will Make Active Inquiry VITAL SPOT IS TOUCHED Secretary Wilson Believes That Too Many People Are Quitting the
 Farm and That There Are
 Too Many Retailers.
VITAL SPOT IS TOUCHED

Washington, January 16.-(Special 1.-The main scientific investigation of 1910 to be conducted by the department of agricul- ture will be into the problem of the recent increased cost of living.
 The inquiry touches vital spot in the present social fabric of the United States It will reveal the power of the governmental machinery to deal with A subject. which is partly political and partly economic; one which is pressing upon the people more and more. Con- pared to 1t other matters of legislation are insignificant, so far as popular in- terest Is concerned. Out of a compli- cated and fathomless labyrinth of facts and figures the department of agricul- ture will be called upon to reach some conclusions so simple and direct that he who runs may read. Secretary Wilson has for some years held strong convic- tions on the subject, and he intends to concentrate his last months in official harness to the solution of the problem
 q believe that the contract labor law should be amended so that farmers may send to European countries for men to till the soil," he said. "Such legislation would be a good thing for the nation as whole If it were tried, however, the farmer would at once meet the strong opposition from labor organizations, which hold tenaciously to the contract labor laws If these organizations knew what was good for them, however. I believe they would be more than glad to agree to farm labor being hired abroad. Food stuffs would be cheaper, because of the increased production that would result and none of the labor organizations would be injured in the least.
 Farmers Get No Profit.
 'sThe farmer certainly is not getting the exorbitant profit out of the beef he raises. The department of agriculture has agents in every state, every country, and in almost every community in the country. They have been given orders to report exhaustively on the cost of production and the returns of sales of milk, wheat, rye. beans, peas, and in fact, all farm products. As fast as we secure these figures we shall compare them with the prices the same products bring in tho cities and towns where they are con- stunned. We will then give the facts and figures to the public.
 T believe the public expects this de- partment to make the truth known, and we intend to bring it all out, irrespective of whom 1t hurts or whom it benefits. I am convinced that the I--nuzne, om- pelled to pay a great deai .--.Y4e than 1t should for nearly everything it con- sumes. and believe the figures will bear me out in this regard.
 ''If immigrants only knew where their best interests lay, they would turn to the farm instead of the factory, the shop and the mine. The farmers life is not, by any means, as dreary as it Is supposed to be by those who know nothing of it. The average farm laborer today is paid well. Nearly all the really hard work is done by machinery. So far as his social status fs concerned he is far better off than his brother who works in the factory or the mine. He has no temptation or opportunity to spend the money he makes, and 1t is only a matter of a few years before the industrious, sober-minded farm hand may become a farm owner himself.
 "We are attempting to educate the farmer in a scientific way today We are teaching him intensive farming. When tho time comes In the future when every farmer will obtain tne biggest crops possible out of the soil at hls command great step will be made and the cost of life's necessities will be kept within bounds, but unless the men handling the food that the people eat are con- tent with decent profits am afraid that the cost of living will never be what 1t should and what the consumer has right to demand.
 Too Many Retailers.
 "A surplus in the number of distribu- tors and purveyors of food Is another factor in the situation wa have to con tend with. There Is no doubt we have far too many retailers. The more pur- veyors the higher the prices will be, because all dealers long ago quit trying to get business by cutting prices. An expensive retail system has been developed. Services that customers desire for their accommodation are costly to them. They want special delivery of goods perhaps by special trip, and this requires at least one horse, man and wagon. They want the market man also to send man to their dwellings to take orders.
 Secretary Wilson has the courage to say that he believes it would be better were the number of producers increased and the number of distributors corre- spondingly decreased.
 Figures showing steady but compar- atively small increase in the cost of liv- ing have been published by the bureau of labor of the department of commerce and labor for years past The statistics were based on the wholesale price of The department of agricul- ture has. now taken up the question of retail prices, and has already shown evil dence to the effect that the retailer is the man who has been boosting the prices.
 Combines on Prices.
 Secretary Wilson is convinced that there are combinations among retailers that are fully as effective in raising prices as are those known to exist among man ufacturers and jobbers, who are respon- sible for the paradox of causing oranges 10 be as high in price In California as they are thousands of miles away. But this question hardly comes within the scope of his department and he is chiefly interested in showing why the cost of living has increased so rapidly in the last few years, and in locating the re7 sponsiblity.
 There has been an increase in the value of land upon which cattle may be raised. and an increase in the price of corn, due in part to a wider use Of that cereal The relative production or meat with population during the past 70 years is another factor in increasing the price of one-third of the distary list of the American.
 Tho wholesalers are not absolved from blame by the secretary. They have pro- noted many schemes which are in spirit, ;f not in letter, a violation of the Sher- man antitrust law. The free deaP' game is one which broke up the department store's practice of cutting the price just