The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1912-09-10

y What the colonel promises is this
I'VE will cut out the small merchant
= We will have the farmer peddling hi
d stuff to the consumer, and buying tina
y which he consumes from the mail or
e der houses by means of the parcel:
post on a zone principles. We will xii
/, the small town."
, When the colonel advocated the "par-
D cells post on a zone principle" his
friend Jonathan Bourne, who manu-
features highly protected cotton goods
to sell to the big mail order houses
had in congress a parcels post bill
which has become law This bill.
evidently was approved by the colonel,
for it was on 1.-The zone principle" it
alone of those In congress was on the
zone principles" it was then about to
be a law; and neither then, nor since.
has the colonel uttered a word against
it,
This Bourne bill on "the zone prin-
ciple" excludes all agricultural prod
ucts. They can neither be admitted to
the mails nor to the postal wagons.
The Bourne bill gives the express
companies what is in effect for COM
petitiye purposes a rebate" for it
pays the railroads 1872 cents per ton
mile for parcels post matter, which
the same roads carry for the express
companies at just about half, or 7
cents
The Bourne bill limits parcels post
all IL pounds, just Ito of the limit
of any other country having a general
parcels post and high limit is an
important matter to the farmer if his
products are to be handled.
The Bourne bill will save the mall
order companies millions. But it won't
help the farmer one cent. Yet the col
the farmer.
This is what Roosevelt, according to
the Chronicle, said;
Nov, the best way to deal with the
high cost of living is to get the prod
ucts of the farmer right from the
hands of the farmer into the hands of |
the consumer so that the prices paid |
by one of us to the farmer-housewife |
or head of the house, either one-that |
the prices shall go direct into the
pocket of the farmer and not first of |
all stop In two or three intermediate
pockets.
.Ir athnr-.seee7r three or Iour.'.'H
And by that arrangement the farm
er will be able to get more for what
ne raises, and the consumer pay less
If 12-year-old schoolboy can't see
the fallacy of that in logic; if he
doesn't know the fallacy OF that in
fact his education had better be start |
ed all over again
The Italian or Chinese gardeners can
market their products direct to the
consumer, but what Palouse farmer
who has more than a ten-acre farm
,ould do so?
Who is going to peddle his wheat, or
lis oats, his potatoes or even his hay
rm an S0-acre farm direct to the
onsumer?
When the colonel says that "by that
the farmer will be able
} get more for what he raises" he
els what every resident of the north
est knows is false
The people who get the best prices
II their produce, for their vegetables 4
I'd fruit in this northwest country, IL
e the farmers who have the facil-
les for marketing it. The peach
overs of Lewiston, the cherry grow II
s of the Dalles, the strawberry rails
s of Kennewick and Hood River the
"a, the pear raisers of Medford and
bland, the vegetable growers of
ALA Walla and Milton. Latah coun-
farmers don't get such good prices
lsmuch as they lack these facilities.
Those people get better prices for
ir product because they do not sell
ect; because they do not peddle
ir product in an overstocked coun-
, because they market through a -
and for no reason else.
J same is true of the grain-raisers,
the smaller ones, who
'ket through the Farmers Union,
ch acts as a middleman.
olonel Roovelt's theory, his pro-
e, is just like his theory of the re-
of judicial decisions. 1t was pro-
need simply to array class against
s, and get votes. The farmer who
mt think and accepts it will vote
T. r.; the mail order millionaire
e only big business man so far who
escaped contributing to Teddy's
paign funds expected to come
ugh" on that promise
s, it's like the "recall of decis-
nator Borah in conversation with
mel Roosevelt IN New York last
6 told him: Colonel there is one
re about your recall of decis-
that ] like better than the recall
ldges. The colonel was de
ID" What is that senator?" he