The Holbrook news., 1911-04-07

Hawkins had many times silenced his wife in debate by affecting supe- rior wisdom. But he felt the moose of her logic tightening around his ideas this time. Here were the fig ures; he could not dispute them, for he himself had often said that figures cannot lie. He ran his fingers through his hair again and again, glancing all ternately, in the meantime, at his wife and then at the figures.
 "I'll be hanged," he said, laying the paper down and drawing a long breath. Those dealers have been telling me all along, when ] com plained about high prices, that the only way out is a reduction in freight rates. I thought it was true. It ap- peared reasonable, at any rate. But the proof of the pudding is in the eat ing. The Oklahoma coal rates were greatly reduced, and the dealers not only grabbed every cent of the bene- fit, but some of them had the nerve to increase the price. I guess, after all, the real cause of high prices is not freight rates, but high profits of the dealers. I'm going right over to show this to Smith, and if he is trying to work the same game as the Okla homa coal sharks, I'll at least let him know that I'm not looking through wool any longer"
 "But stop a minute" interposed his good wife. While you were reading about coal prices in Oklahoma I was reading the market reports. You know we have large number of hogs and cattle out on the farm. I see by the market reports that they are worth about twice as much now as they were a few years ago. Don't you think this may have something to do with the high cost of living? And there is but ter, and eggs, and-well, everything we produce on the farm is selling for much iaore."
 Yes; and, by the way, I am just beginning to see through it. We are getting about twice what we used to for our products, and the dealer is getting profits in proportion, and be- tween us both we are reaching pretty deeply into the pockets of the con sumer. As producers, however, don't think we are getting relatively too much when we sell hog in bulk at $8.50 hundred, and see him sold back by the pound by the dealer at $25 per hundred. Our profits look mighty small, compared with the dealers profits
 "Then this high cost of living pug gle or problem, call it what you like, is really one of profits, and not rail- road rates, after all, is it not?"
 "I'T be switched if it don't look that way"
 Well, it occurs to me, Squire Flaw kins, that your excuse for not building. a new home and getting me out of this old dungeon is a pretty lame one, more especially since high prices for farm products have in the last few years brought us enough profits to pay for a fine new home and yet leave a surplus equal to a fair profit on everything we have produced and sold. Now, instead of going over to Jake Smiths to whittle up drygoods boxes and talk on railroad rates, a subject neither one of you appears to know anything about, just go over to the lumber yard and place your order for material for a new house, and tell them you want the best, and plenty of it. With hogs worth s25, and steers $50, these pine floors feel pretty rough on my feet. And while you are about it, drop into the garage and invest in an auto. Horses, even though they are thoroughbreds, no longer comport with the sense of dignity of an agri- cultural plutOcrat."