The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1911-01-26
THE OTHER SIDE.
Merchant Replies TO Article Of Farmer
in Fulton County News Of
January Fifth.


an lnpassioned discussion of pub
llcquestions Is calculated to bring
together those interests that Oft.
en- seem so widely diverse. The
article Farmer" a few weeks
ago, III which he discussed the
relations existing between the
manufacturer and the consumer,
has brought out a counter article
from the standpoint of the mer.
chant.-EDIToR
Mr.. EDIToR:-I am native Of
Fulton County, and at present
engaged in the mercantile bust.
ness IN a thriving Pennsylvania
town outside the borders of Ful.
ton. When any one speaks in
a sighting way OF my native
county, 1t makes my Irish blood
hot.
In your paper of the 9Th of
January, l read an article written
by a person calling himself a
plain farmer. Now, | wish TO
state that this same farmer has
been mlslnformed on one point,
at least, the price of rice.
have recently been through
one of our rice growing states,
and know that rice cannot be
bought for S0cents for 60 pounds.
The price Of rough rice, to-day,
is 81. 20 for $50 lbs, or. . 1.5 cents
pound. For commercial pur-
poses, this rough rice Is separat-
ed into SIX grades, namely, screen
lngs, ordinary, fair, good, prime,
and choice. The price of screen.
lngs, to day, is 2! to q C. per
pound, and Is sold for chick feed.
To the price of rice there Is not
one cent added from the time 1t
leaves the grower, until the re-
taller has it IN his store. This,
of course, does not include freight
The average broker gets cents
per sack for selling the rice to
the jobber, and the average rice
grower Is a man of means, who
puts his product on the market
at the bess advantage possible to
himself.
Plain Farmer next turns his
attention to the drummer, refer.
ring TO the drummer's enormous
expenses, and that the people who
buy the goods from the retailer
are the people who in the end
settle the drummer's bills. Now,
there is a sense IN which this is
true. But it would be utterly
impracucable for the merchant
to get along without the jobber.
1t goes without argument that
the merchant is a useful citizen
in a community. No one would
like to buy home and settle in a
county where stores were pro-
hiblted by law. Now, Mr.. Farm.
er, let us reason together. If
you were to go INTO the store
business, would you not, before
selling pound of rice or sugar,
count just what it had cost you
land down IN your store before
deciding what to sell it for? Then,
you would not want to sell it at
exactly what 1t cost you, or you
would not have any pay for hand.
ling 1t. If there were no drum
mers, you would have to pay car
fare and hotel bills to make a trip
TO the city every few weeks to
buy goods, and would not the
cost Of those trips have to be add
ed to the cost Of the goods? and
that in turn paid by the custom
err Suppose there were no job
bers or wholesalers, then the
merchant would have to make a
trip to the rice grower for his
rice. The rice grower, of course,
would have no sugar. The mer-
chant must make a trip to the
sugar producer, who, in turn, has
no coffee. Now, the merchant
sails away to South America for
coffee, and so on. If all these ex.
penses were added to the few
bags of coffee he would sell IN a
year, or the rice or sugar, the
price a pound would be many
times what it is. The truth is
the mlddle-man as he is some.
times sneeringly called, is indis-