The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-04-19

nos
+bA daily newspapers n it furnised
nonyincing proof that the farmer is
xot ~resnonsible for the high cost of
uvjne. The story was, substantially,
+bat 4 farmer sold two dressed hogs
f., a local butcher and at the same
time contracted to buy from him the
hams and shoulders contained in the
Two carcasses. When the deal was
closed the farmer found that he
owed the butcher $2.S5. In other
words, it had cost him two dressed
norhers plus s2.85 in cash to secure
four ham and four shoulders. No
flaw could be found in the butchers
calculations. He had bought the pigs
AZ the wholesale market price. ard he
had sold the hams and shoulders to
tha farmer at the prevailing retail
Yates. and the armer being an ulti-
mate consumer as we'll as a producer,
found himself compelled to pay tri-
butte 10 the high cost OF living.
In some parts OF the country those
farmers who had regular customers
for tncir products were able to secure
0fty cents a dozen for eggs during a
~ weeks in mid-winter, though by
far the larger number Of producers
wrre doubtless glad to secure forty
cents a dozen. II, however, a farmer
with the cash from the sale of fifty
r4~pts-a-dozen eS\S in his pocket had
concluded 10 be a triie extravaganza
Ind - order a breakfast at a leading
,itv hotel, he would have found the
same eggs charged up to him at the
rate Of from $3.50 to $40 per dozen,
and ne would probably have heard
pp0ple all around him complaining
thai the eXtortion Of the me had
made the cost Of living almost pro
hibitiye. Recently a house-keeper III
a small PerIsylvania town selecting
in j local grocery q head of cabbage
about the size of q respectable Bald
win apple, inquired the price II al
most tainted When she learned that
it would cost her fifteen cents to ON
into possession of it. Now it is prob
able that the farmer or trucker VINO
planted aud grew that cabbage re-
raivpd Tor it not over two cents at the
outside, but its value grew with start
}ine rapidity after it left the posses
sion OF the only person who had eN-
pended time and labor upon 1t, ana
by the time it had passed through the
hands OF one or two Intermediates
The modest tWO-cent cabbage head
rad become q fifteen cent aristocrat.
fitted to adorn the table only of a
standard oil OF Il steel trust maSnate-
tHe COMMISSIONS ana committees
that are seeking to ascertain the
.auses Of the prevailing high prices
for everything that enters into the
maintenance of the household, may
possibly overlook such cases as we
}att cited, and therefore we have
N-omed il advisable to call attention
IT, them and to the fact that some
where on the road the pro-
dUcer and the ultimate consumer the
hoGI Of the high cost of living is en-
C"untered, and that the farmer IS not
responsible for the price tags which
Stlrtie the householder as he walks
the produce markets. Attention has
recently been called to another gen
orally overlooked side of this
economic problem, and that is the cost
"I nigh living. Extravaganza newt
ahf> goes hand in hand with prosperi-
~ and with increased incomes comes
tn" natural desire to spend more. In
decd. it is q we'll established rule OF
human conduct that the average mar
not only increases his living expenses
IN excess of the increase in his in
come. but that too often he antlcl-
F"ies that increase by beginning to
spend 1t before he gets it.
SO prevalent has become extraVa-
Sance, both in private and official lie,
mai most people now take 1t fol
granted, though few were prepared
ior the recent declaration Of United
States Senator Aldrich, the dictator o.
the tpDer branch of Congress-, tina
lhere are annually wasted $500 900
900 III the administration of the Fed
"faI government Mr.. AldriCh is {
hard-headed business man who is no
gwen to chasing rainbOws, and there
TORE when he says that ordinary bust
ness methods applied to the admins
ration of our national affairs woulf
save the people the enormous sum Q
more than q quarter of q billion dol
Iafs annually, he knows what he j
'dtkInS about. We have not seer
a more severe arraignmen
~ the methods of managing our ma
'Iohdl affairs than is contained II
senator Aldrich's charge, and yet IL
me lace Of the Presidents plea 70
rol"1ny, the general appropriation
1911 IS pruned of ONLY a few million