Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-01-20
SHANK ASSAILS
THE MIDDLE man
INDIANAPOLIS MAYOR TELLS NEW
YORK FARMERS OF PUBLIC
MARKET EXPERIMENT..
FOOD STAPLES CUT
MiddIemen no Says Rule Market and
Have Made Dead Letter Of Law Of
Supply and Demand; PRODUCE !
ers and Consumers Lose. 49,

Albany, N. Y, Jan. 1s.-Samue
Lewis Shank, mayor of Indianapolis
who has gained fame by his PERSONAL!
| conducted cut-price sales OF potatoes
poultry, mince-meat and Walnuts, II
the public market at indianapolis as
war on the middle man." delivered al
address here today before the New
York Agricultural society. The onl!
| solution Of the high cost Living
| problem, he said, was to bring to-
gether the producer and the consumer
| He had satisfied himself and the peo
| pie Of indianapolis, that his munlclpa
purchase and sales agent idea, Whei
put into operation, was effective In re-
ducing artificially inflated prices u
foodstuffs.
Under modern commercial methods
and the development Of several grades
of middlemen," said Mr.. Shank, tat
law Of supply and demand, so far as the
consumer is concerned, has become
more or less a dead letter. the con-
sumner in large cities finds that large
crops Of fruits and vegetables mean III
tie or nothing to him. He used to cheer
up when he read of big apple crops
big peach crops, big potato or cab
bage crops for he knew these products
would be cheap. Now news OF this k1n1
is received with derision.
Let Fruits Rot on Ground.
What difference does 1t make II the
cranberry crop is large? Doesn't the
price always climb from SO to s12 a
barrel or 10 to Is cents a quart by the
time the Thanksgiving demand comes
Do overloaded peach trees in Georgia,
Florida or Michigan mean that the
workingnan is going to have cheap
jellies and jams all the next winter:
Not if the market handlers Of crops
know it.. Though the growers may &C
cept a low price for the peaches rath-
er than have them rot on the ground
the various middlemen see to 1t that
they get the advantage Of cheap pro-
duction and not the consumer. II the
law of supply and demand gets INTO
operation, you see it works almost ex-
ciusively to the benefit of the middle
men.
1.-THE growers in some states found
this out some time ago and nave taken
protective measures as far as they can.
by organizing associations, poollng
their crops and making the middlemen
paw them reasonable prices. II they
hope to continue in business as dis
tributors. But the consumers are only
now organizing to look after their own
interests in the food supply question
They have for years seen the d1strlbu-
tive forces putting their selling agents
in the large cities to see that the sup
plies of foodstuffs do not overtop the
demand and thus lower prices. 1t is
the business of these selling agents to
see that the fruits rot where they grow
rather than that they may crowd the
markets and threaten the dethrone-
ment Of high prices.
"According to reports that have in
them the evidences Of truth. If for ex-
ample, the selling agent in indianapolis
for the orange crop sees, after order
ing shipments to that city, that the
demand has fallen off at the prevailing
prices, leaving more stock on hand than
he had expected, he sees to 1t that tho
:ars on their way from Florida or Cali
forpia to Indianapolis arc not allowed
10 get there and glut the market but
are switched off to their markets
where there is no danger Of them caus-
ing a reduction Of the price.
1T is said that the grape, lemon,
strawberry, banana, pineapple, melon
and other fruits and vegetable crops.
anything in fact grown outside or the
state in which one lives, is marketed
n this way by the various distributing
agencies and add greatly to the cost OF
living We even have trouble in get
ing the products of our own states at
prices. because Of the tribute
irst demanded Of us consumers by the
~ Tells Of Own Efforts.
ITO my mind the greatest gift that
AN come to the American people is
ONE permanent plan whereby the con-
u1mer can be brought into closer touch
With the producer. When this is done
over prices Of food products will pre-
all In my own way l am trying to
,ring about this condition of affairs.
o not assert my plan is the best or that
will be successful everywhere but
ne thing l do know and that is that
over prices now prevail in my home
own. I presume practically all of you
re familiar with my efforts In indian
polls. In a nut shell plan Is to buy
rom the producer and sell direct to
he consumer.
For a long time the high cost of liv-
ne has been discussed by the rich and
DOR alike. Many theories have been
dyanced and many plans suggested
ut no practical steps taken. Along
bout the middle Of September last
he thought occurred to me that it was ,
ime to do something. On September
Q I found indianapolis commission
len were paying $1.o5 a bushel for
otatoes which, according to the mar
ct quotations. cost the consumer from
/. 60 to 81 a bushel. This despite the
ACT IIldI Tie CIOp dPPSoAC0 W NC oDSAS :
s large as usual.
Word reached me to the effect that
I Michigan the best grades Of potatoes
ould be bought at Is cents a bushel. l
emit q man into the field and two days
tier he wired me he could buy in car
Dad lots at 50 cents bushel f. o. b.
I instructed him to buy
nd two days later the first car ar
ived. OF course efforts were made to ;
iscredit the value Of the stock but the 1
onsumers were anxious to buy. III
laced the potatoes on sale in the city
,arket and within a short time the car
ad been sold at the rate of 75 cents a
ushel. Where delivery was required I
,arged IS cents. l conducted this sale
,yself and during the time it was III
roeress regular dealers dropped their ]
rice to $1.40 a bushel. |:
Favors City Purchasing Agent.
prices advanced as soon as my sup d
w had been exhausted, however. Up 6
:, the present l have disposed Of
yenty five car loads and have the sat
,faction of seeing prices reach point
ear their natural level. On November
B. 1911, potatoes were retailing at 81
bushel and this price or very near it