Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1911-02-23
VITAL PROBLEMS
Vast Shrinkage In Farm Prof.
Its From Prices Con-
SumerS Pay.

There Is no more vitality important
problem before the public today than
that Of a proper adjustment of the
cost OF raising farm produce, shipping
1t to the market and placing 1t in the
the consumers possession. On these
three items Of expense to the con-
sumner for he pays them alb depends
the present high cost Of living very
largely. 1t is not a shortage in supply,
but 1t is the expense of getting the
products of the farm over the railroads
and through the mddemen's hands to
the man who buys and consumes them
There is no more profitable theme for
grange discussion than this. and the
grange must help 10 solve the problem
This it can do by awakening the farm
ers TO an intelligent conception Of the
subject and TO the positive necessity of
their selling their produce to the lar
gest extent possible direct to the con
sumner and thus eliminating, so far as
may be, the middlemen's profits.
The recent meeting of the New York
State Agricultural society at Albany
had this subject before II for an
entire session. and several prominent
grange officials discussed various
phases Of the question. Railroad men
were present, and the middlemen were
also heard.
The Farmers and tho Railroads.
Briefs for the railroads were held by
industrial agents of the Delaware and
Hudson and the Erie roads, one of
whom declared that IF the State
Agricultural Society Of New York is
seeking the real culprit and enemy Of
the farmer IL must look to the great
number and variety Of middlemen
who reap such great profits" There
was disposition on the part Of the
railroad men to blame the middlemen
for all the wrongs existing between
producer and consumer. They dis
claimed any injustice TO the farmer
and believed that. as rule, the freight
rates on farm produce had been fair
TO the farmer and further said that If
railroads carried the products free 1t
would not alter the selling price to the
consumer 1t Is the middlemen who
are crying stop thief" to the farmer.
said they.
Some rather interesting facts were
given about railroad rates by S. J.
Lowell of Fredonia, lecturer OF the
state grange, and they didn't agree
very well with some of the statements
made by the railroad gentlemen. Mr..
Lowell remarked that he was grape
grower and shipper from the famous
Chautauqua grape belt; that In 1909
the grape crop from that section
brought $20s5,467, out Of which must
be deducted for freight the sum Of
100000, or % per cent Of the gross
receipts. The minimum freight rate
TO Pittsburg was Is cents per 100
pounds, to Chicago 80 cents and 10
Seattle S1.S7l5. Thus it cost in freight
and refrigeration $500 per car load
Of twelve tons TO Pittsburg, $S7 TO
Chicago and $3.50 to Seattle. The
schedule time of transportation be
tween Chautauqua county and Chicago
was seventy-two hours. but the actual
average time was ninety-siX hours, the
longest being les hours The fastest
time made per hour was seven miles
the slowest three miles, and the aver
age was five and oue-third miles per
hour Mr. Lowell believed that it
would be hard to convince Chautauqua
grape growers that an advance in
freight rates was juStitiable
Assemblyman Boshart made the fur
thcr statement that from data recently
obtained it appears that in 1910 the
railroads carried into New York H.,
100000 forty quart cans Of liquid milk
and 100000 cans Of cream and con
densed milk and that the daily aver
age was $4,000 cans OF fluid milk. He
also found that the average price per
can for freight was PC cents (over five
Of the railroads.. on which basis 1t
was easy to compute that the freight
earnings were $1,000 per day. Mr..
Boshart did not believe that milk is
now being sold at profit in this
state, all things considered. The rail
roads and middlemen are getting the
difference between what the farmer
receives-perhaps 4 cents-and the 9
cents for which 1t retails
Farmers and Consumers Prices.
Discussing the same general question,
George X. Holmes of the bureau Of
statistics, department Of agriculture,
Washington, said that he had reached
the conclusion that many farm prod
ucts are sold by farmers at prices
which are not far from one-half of the
prices paid by consumers. He said:
have made Investigations embracing
fruits, potatoes and poultry and dairy
products. and in the general average for
oil OF these commodities the conclusion is
that the farmer receives only 90 per cent
Of what the consumer pays-53 per cent
Of the retailers price. After the products
are delivered by the farmer at the ship
ping station they are taken by the rail-
road and carried TO their destination. To
ascertain what the railroads charge for
this service In the case Of the large
Rroups OF commodities that / have men