Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1910-12-16
FARMERS DON'T GET THE EX-
TRAS ON FOOD.

In concluding discussion Of the high
cost of living. Secretary of Agriculture
Wilson in his annual report, declares en-
phatically that 1.-The consumer has no we'll
grounded complaint against the farmer for
the prices that he pays"
By inference, the Secretary, who is well
known for his readiness to defend the
farmer, places the responsibility for the
high prices of foodstuffs upon the middle
men, the distributors, and the retailers. He
shows by quotation of prices that the
farmer receives, on an average, about half
of the price which the consumer pays for
his products.
The consumer must work out his own
salvation. the Secretary declares. As a
remedy cooperative buying, direct from
the producer. is suggested.
In seventy-eight cities in the. United
States, in which the Department of Agri-
culture carried on investigations, the farmer
received a scant one-half of the price per
quart Of milk paid by the consumer to the
retailer. The railroads share is 7 per
cent, the remaining 43 per cent going to
the distributors.
In regard to milk. the Secretary says
further, that the duplication of routes Of
retailers, by which one milk wagon serves
few customers in wide area, while
other wagons are passing along the same
se ofa
Little more than half of the consumers
price is received by the farmer for poultry ;
for eggs, the farmer gets SO per cent. of the
consumers price; for cabbage 4S per cent,
when it is sold by the head. and IS per
cent by the pound. The apple grower gets
Sc per cent. of the last price when the
purchase is by the bushel, and 66 per
cent. by the barrel; the strawberry grower
receives 40 per cent of the consumer
price in purchases by the quart, and rs
per cent by the crate. For his onions, the
farmer gets 28 per cent of the consumer S
price for his oranges, 20 per cent. /; for
melons so per cent; for string beans, 80
per cent, and for watermelons. "a per
cent.
THE farmer supplies the capital for
production, says Secretary Wilson, 'and
takes the risk of loss his crops are at the
mercy of droughts and floods, heat and
cold to say nothing of noxious insects
and blighting diseases. He supplies hard,
unremitting labor. degree and range
of information and intelligence are de-
manded hardly equaled in any other occu-
patton Then there is the risk of over
production and disastrously low prices.
when the products are started on their
way to the consumer, the railroad adds a
percentage Of increase to the farmers
prices that is not large. After delivery
the products are stored for time, mea-
sured into various retail quantities, and
the dealers are rid Of them as soon as
possible. The dealers have risks that are
comparatively small, except credit sales,
and grow out of their trying to do an
amount of business which is small COM
pared to their number
why do not consumers buy directly
from the farmers p the Secretary asks.
He cites the example of the English in
cooperative buying. Aside from buying as
sociations maintained by farmers, he says,
hardly any exist in this country. 1t is APP
parent, that the consumer has much to do
to work out his own salvation in regard to
the high prices he pays.