The Harrison times., 1911-07-29
SOLVING A GREAT PROBLEM
Farmer Does not Receive All the Bene-
fit Of High Prlceo Paid for
Agricultural Products.

bumeI. i-l4S ID uON a. Gil q AoSNs "HA4N
it is true that a few agricultural
products have been excessively high
in value-as beef. pork, eggs (for six
months Of the year. butter and fruit
the farmer has me- received too
much for these when IS large labor
cost and other higher ,)sts OF con-
ducting his business are Understood,
writes George T. Powell in the Coun-
try Gentleman.
It is after food products le We the
farm that the cost is put upon the
consumer. The distribution Of prod
ucts is too expensive. The farmer
receives from 212 TO 31a cents a quart
for milk. The consumer pays 8 to 10
cents a quart. The farmer receives
80 cents a bushel for potatoes, the
consumer pays S1.25 bushel for them.
He receives $3.50 a barrel fer his
apples, while the consumer pays at
the rate of SO a barrel. II costs the
consumer on an average OF go per
cent. over what the farmer receives,
and this is what the middleman gets
for receiving and distributing farm
products. The most effective remedy
for this uneconomic condition, most
unsatisfactory to both the producer
and the consumer. lies in cooperation
on the part of both, First, there needs
TO be clo2er cooperation between the
farmers and railroads. The interest
Of the farmer and the public carrier
is mutual; one is dependent upon the
other, and equally. A farming terri
tory without a railroad to move its
products, however rich the soil may
be. would have very little value and
likewise a railroad without a good
farming territory to supply traffic
would not be worth building.
The future solution Of greater agri'
cultural prosperity, with lessened cost
to those living in cities, win be in a
union of interests between farmers
and railroad corporations whereby a
system Of more economical distribu.
tion of farm products may be estab'
lished. Storage facilities should be
established along shipping points on
railroads close TO the farms, where
perishable products could be taken
care of quickly and before depreciation
would begin. Distributing depots
should be established in every city in
different parts where the products may
be sent TO the consumer direct, and
where consumers may easily come and
get their supplies. Consumers may
help themselves by organizing co.
operative buying associations, where
their needed supplies may be obtained
at less cost. The idea Of the individ.
ual farmer trying to supply the in.
diyidual city consumer with a daily
hamper is imDracticable, as those who
have tried it here have met with dead
failures. Il requires a big organiza.
tion TO handle a big business, and the
railroad which has the organization
in hand as a carrier need only to eX.
tend its work to reach the consumer
with other products it carries
On this plan farmers will have TO
get together in cooperation. They
win have to put up their products in
a more uniform manner; they will
have to do more and better grading
and packing; they will have TO put up
many smaller packages It will be
as practicable to distribute quickly
carloads Of potatoes, apples, peaches,
butter or hay as of milk The products
must be put in the right shape for the
system, when the railroads could dis
tribute as quickly as commission men.
The fruit growers Of California for
years have been working upon this
plan. and they are making more money
on their oranges, that are selling for
less than apples, than the apple grow
ers OF the east who are following slip
shod methods in everything they do,
The orange growers cooperate and
have to live up to the most rigid
rules. They will ship the present sea.
son over $4,000 carloads Of oranges,
and so well is the fruit graded and
packed that a carload of coo pack.
ages will be sold in less than ten
minutes when 1t is put up for sale
at public auction in our eastern mar.
kets. II every farmer in New York
state could spend but an hour on the
Erie pier in New York City and see
the rapidity and ease with which en-
tire trainloads Of California fruit are
sold every day It would be revela'
ton to him. Samples from the cars
are arranged on this pier which buy
ers may examine, and when they go
10 the auction room these are sold,
frequently not more than two seconds
being required for the selling Of a
mark Uniform grading and packing
are absolutely necessary In this sys.
TEN of rapid selling, and this is pos
sible only through established stand
ards, to which everyone must come
in his work, and this requires co.
operative work.
Mulch for Celery.