The farmer and mechanic., 1911-01-10

The long distance telephone is being
used so much by business men, newspaFei
editors reporters and correspondents, -
has almost ceased to excite remark. But 10
this CORES pondent. whenever CONVERSE
tjon is had with some one hundred
miles or thousand miles distant, use uiio
not banished something of an awed or
outer feeling Not exactly the same feel
ing you have when 'hantS' are around
or when 'ghost' looms out of the DARK
ness, but something on that orders Deter
writer will have to analize and descrioc-
But long distance, less than local
telephone service, has tremeH HdOusly mui-
tiplied the value OF one man, for al &C.
cupatiOns
There is frr, in Greensboro that uses
long distance with New York a half-hour
each day, talking with it's branch Ne"
York establishment. This service costs,
$500 month and is contracted for by
the year at $3.50. The proprietor says
the service enables two big businesses to
be carried on in New York and Green's
horo by this hours talk at cne o'clock
each day. wheI, telegra phing, letter writing,
etc, would be impossible.
eve could afford it, he said, III the
charges were $4,000"
The usual rate here to New York is a
three minute minimum, at $315.
Il the firm, above mentioned, were to
on this Scneuult Tor a ma uOuT ud1ly +,
the bill would be $11 $3.50 each year.
man here this morning said he had
Just completed a $4,000 lumber deal over
long distance to Boston. at a cost Of $1i.
Five years ago he sad, II would have
lost three days at least travelling to Bos-
ton and back, paid out at least fifty dol
lars expense. and not have made as good
a trade either, for the mind acts quickly,
at S1.35 q minute
wall 70 do ho
moved here from a country home in an
eastern county, is keeping pair of horses.
He has to buy corn, as well as hay, be-
sides worrying over a shiftless, unreliable
roguish and extravagant darky. He does
not know it, but he will soon be driven to
driving auto, or compromise on using
his legs and street cars for locomotion. It
was amusing to hear him "bleSSing out"
the alleged retail merchants trust this
morning. "Why,'' he said, Il got letter
Monday offering me sixty cents q bushel
for 500 bushels of corn I had to sell at
the farm. I went around one day asking
what they were paying here for corn. and
every merchant said sixty five cents SO
I wrote back to the farm to nail the corn
up until prices got better" That night
the boy told me l would have to buy
more corn for the horses. and feed for the
cow. SO I went around again pricing corn
these merchants had to sell. Every soil,
a hushel. except one. and he charged a
dollar, and cow feed is high I'm going
to sell the cow in sef-defense. I've written
back to the farm to ship me fifty bushels
railroad freight I'll sell the horses. And
so it goes. This farmer that once was.
sees both sides now. He is both a pro-
ducer and consumer He sees how by
combination the middlemen. distributors
and retailers. have destroyed competition,
and are soaking it to the farm producer
on the one hand and the laboring city
consumer on the other. In the same way
the consolidated manufacturers. with aid
of the same distributors and organized re-
tailers. soak the farmer and city consumer
for what he has to buy.
By means of this combination OF local
distributors to hold up prices and not com
pete with each other. farmers and all oil
users have bad not cent Of benefit Of the
reduction OF prices by the Standard Oil
Company from II cents to cents gallon
on oil. the consumer paying the retailer
his one hundred Per cent after the bigger
trust had got fabulouSly rich whoIesaling
at Z cents. with a monopoly.
The complaining producer consumer was
letting out along this line until he began
to get to feeling his oats. which. blythe
way he said. were bringing the farmer 40
cents now and they were charging so and
S5 cents for them in towns. He said he
believed he would order his 800 bushels
of corn shipped here and offer it for sale
at rs cents just for snite
"That would amount to nothing"
laughed his companion. Who sold fertili
zers and knew the rores. "all they'd do
buy you out at q cents for the whole lot.
and keep on selling at ninety cents"
lf farmers would only organize and es-
tahlish cooperative produce distributing
agency In every town and city take or
ders from consumers for butter eggs.
chlckens, corn, hay, meat, pork and such
IKE 1arm products: by the use OF the tee-
phone through this agency, the farmer
ana tue consumer could both be bene.
htted. and the expense Of the Co -operativa
agency would be nominal This agent
should be raid good salary, and his
nut'es should be about like those Of cen
tral at the telephone exchanges or tha
nlsnatrher of trains. And he ought to ha
equally as reliable. prompt and straicbt
as are these very important employees
Old saws. is an expression synonymoro
with many more words explanatory of
,ne t TACT that quotation hoary with aye
mas enough OF wisdom packed in sinoIe
sentence to have survived generations of
ose and usefulness until it has heco,na
nearly OF the dignity of proverb So ..oJd