The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1911-08-12
SAYS FARMER
DOESN'T GET IT

can farmer, who the last year turn
ed out products valued at about
5000, 1000, 200, Secretary of Agri-
culture James Wilson, IN his an
nual report submitted to the Pres
ident comes to the rescue of the
farmer and defends him against
the accusation that he is response
Bile for the high cost of living.
There is no ground for COM
plant against the farmer" says
Secretary Wilson, tier an elabor-
ate discussion of the consumers
price and the proportion OF it go
ing to the farmer. Mr.. Wilson
thinks the discussion of high prices
in this country has been ike py-
ramid placed on its apex. The as
pect mainly considered, he thinks,
has bee nthat of the producer, and
when the farmer thinks of the
price the consumer pays for farm
products and compares them with
the price he himself receives, he
rubs his eyes and wonders where
he gets off.
The conclusion is inc itable,"
says Secretary Wilson, that the
consumer has no well-grounded
complaint against the farmer for
the prices he pays. The farmer
supplies the capital and takes the
risk OF losses; his crops are at the
mercy of drouth, flood, heat and
frost, to say nothing OF noxious
insects and blighting diseases.
He supplies hard, exacting, unre-
hitting labor. Then there is the
risk of over-production and disas-
trously low prices. From the be-
ginning to the end the farmer
must steer dextrously to escape
perils to his profit and capital. The
products at last START toward the
consumer. The railroads add a
percentage o; increase to the far
mers' prices.
After delivery by the railroad
the products are stored, measured
in retail quantities and the dealers
are rid of them as soon as possible.
The dealers have risks that are
practically small, except credit
sales, and such risks as grow out
of their trying to do an amount Of
business Which is small as COM
pared wit htheir number"
In short, Secretary Wilson puts
the blame for high prices on the
retailers, who will undoubtedly
raise a howl over his accusation.
In support of his charge that
the retailer gets the cream of the
present high prices, Secretary Will
son presents an elaborate series O!
statistical statements showing Just
how much he thinks the farmer
gets for his beef, milk, butter,
eggs, poultry and other produce.
MIR. Wilson harks back 10 the
investigation he made last June
into the increase OF prices in the
process of distribution. His OBJ
ject was to discover what fraction
@ fthe consumers price was re-
ceived by the farmer. The inves-
tigatlon covered 70 ties, divided
into geographical groups for the
purpose OF computing averages,
and these were combined into an
average for the United States.
Milk was one 0: the commodities
under investigation. Mr.. Wilson
says:
While it is t:ut that the dairy
man is getting considerably more
for his milk than before the pres
ent era OF high prices, it was dis
covered in this investigation that
throughout the United States he
received a scant so per cent, or
one half the price paid by the con-
sumner. The other halt goes to
the railroad company, to the
wholesale milk dealer iii there is
one i'll the chain of distribution)
and to the retailer who delivers at
the customers door"
Secretary Wilson asserts that
about 7 per cent Of the price which
the consumers pay for the milk
goes to the railroad; that the far
mer gets so per cent, and that the
other 43 per cent, goes mostly to
the retailer. In the North Central
States producers of milk get only
a per cent. OF the money paid by
consumers. In the South Cen
trail States the producer gets S
per cent, in the South Atlantic
States, 81 per cent, and in the
North Atlantic So per cent.
VA itl,nt,t a.-,,ln