The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1911-08-12

button OF farm products to con-
sumers is deliberately organized,
considerably involved and compli-
Gated and burdened with costly
features. In the North Atlantic
States the consumers price of beef
was 81 per cent. higher than the
wholesale price received by the
great slaughtering houses; SO per
cent. higher in the South Atlantic
States and 80 per cent. higher in
the Western States. The average
was 3S per cent. The percentage
of increase was usually lower in
ice larger cities than in the smaller
ones and higher for beef that is
cheap at wholesale than Of high
priced beef. 1t was a safe infer
ence that the poorer people paid
nearly twice the gross profit than
the more well-to-do people paid. +"
Mr.. Wilson says his investiga-
ton showed that poultry has al
most doubled in price between the
lariner and consumer in ten years,
as the farmer only receives S per
cent. of what the consumer pays.
Turkeys, which were unusually
high during Thanksgiving, stand
on a plane by themselves. Mr..
Wilson finds that the farmers got
o3 per cent. o. the final price of
turkeys. How about chickens !?
When priced by the pound, the
Wilson investigation shows that
the farmer got o8 per cent. of
what he paid for chickens, but re-
ceived only 81 per cent. of the cost
of chickens to the consumer when
these fowls were priced by the
head
The producers feggs got 90
per cent. of the consumers pay
ments. Dry beans when bought
by the bushel brought the farmer
Is per cent. of what the consumer
paid; cabbage brought 48 per cent.
to the farmer when it was sold
by the head, and % per cent, when
sold by the pound. The straw
berry grower got 48 per cent. of
the consumers price when they
were sold by the quart, and Is per
cent. in purchases by the crate.
Blackberrles show up we'll as the
farmer got 50 per cent. of what
the consumer paid. With water
melons it was quite different. The
farmers came out at the small end
OF the horn, by getting only % per
cent OF the final price. Who got
the rest Mr.. Wilson fails to state,
but creates the inference that the
retailer was the gouger and the
consumer the gougee.
MIR. Wilson gives many other
figures to show that the growers
o. cotton and tobacco and raisers
or wool did we'll in their dealings
with the middleman. The wool
ralsers, Mr.. Wilson reports, have
gotten over 81 per cent. of The
price OF wool bought by the manu,
lecturers. The cotton grower
received 90 per cent. of the pric6
OF raw cotton paid by cotton man
ulacturers. The hog raisers got
90 per cent. of the price paid foy
hogs by the packers, while the to
bacco raisers received 81 per cent
OF the price paid by manufacture
ers.
Secretary Wilson has feys
things to say about the price q
coffee and tea which will not bS
acceptable to the roasters and re
tailers. More than 81 per cents
OF all the coffee imported in 1910,
and these imports aggregated ovet
So9,CCo,cCo n value, came from
American countries. This coffee1
according to Mir. Wilson, had an
import value OF only seven ant-
onc-tenth cents a pound. Til,
ocean freight rates amounted til
about one-fourth Of cent pound
For nearly all this American COZ
ice the consumers paid pricel'
ranging from 20 to IS cents q
pound. In other words, the imI
port value, plus the ocean freight
rate charges, MIR. Wilson declares
represents but to 40 per cent
of the principal range OF price3
which he paid for coffe at retail. :
He refers to tea in the same
way. The import value of tea in
1910 was 10 cents a pound. As
Stunning that nearly all the tea con-
suned in this country was sold at
retail prices ranging from 50 to 70
| cents a pound. Mr.. Wilson saws