The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-02-23

Marketing
1.-The New Division of
Markets.
RA E~al>;a A>~L.
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

The agricultural appropriation bill
as it passed the house of representa-
tives this year., contains a provision
appropriating $4,000 for the establish
ment of a division of market in the
department of agriculture. This little
item may prove to be the forerunner
of a great national effort to reduce the
cost of living in the United States. 1t
is often asserted that the high cost of
living springs, in large measure, from
the tolls levied by the middlemen,
through whose hands pass the COM
modities from the farm and the fac
tory where they are produced, on their
way to the With reference
to the products Of the farm it is found
wherever ar investigation is made
that If the producer gets the price the
consumer pays he is well satisfied.
Secretary Wilson estimates hat the
products of the farm are worth s6,0OO,-
900, 900 to the farmer. The
he thinks, pays about $13, 600, 600, 900 for
them. In other words, distribution
represents ST. 900, 600, 900 and production
s66, 600, 000, 900. The man who furnishes
the land buys the fertilizer, plants,
tends and harvests the crop gets Sc for
his work and for his capital invested,
where the man who markets it gets 81.
There are those who feel hat the
price the farmer gets is enough. What
they would like to see is a consumers
price that would add only a reason
able percentage to the farmers price.
There are others who think that if the
middleman could be eliminated and the
intermediary of exchange, whereby the
consumer gives him money and the
farmer his products, could be w CO.
operative organizations, one to buy and
one to sell-one representing the con-
sumner n the other the producer
the cost of living might be materially
reduced.
A picture of what reductions might
be made is to be gathered from a
statement with reference to market
conditions in New York. Farmers sold
$17, 0O0. 900 worth of eggs in that city
last year. When they reached the con-
sumner he paid $2S, 900, 900 for them.
The farmers received 81, 1926, 900 for the
cabbage they sold in Gotham: the con-
sumers bought it for s9,125, 900. The
price of milk was magnified until the
1923. 100000 the farmers got for it
amounted to $40, OOO, 900 when the con-
sumers paid for it. Potatoes which
Melted the farmers So. OOO.0 900 cost the
consumer $50, 900. 900. and nio jump
ed from less than 81, 900, 900 to more
than $4,000, 900 while going from pro-
ducer to consumer.
The estimate of the actual saving to
the producers and consumers of the
United States by the institution of a
proper system of marketing and the
elimination of unnecessary charges by
middlemen, is estimated at 50. 200, 0O0,-
600 a yea Assuming that this would
be divided equally between the pro-
Queer and consumer, the farmers Of
the country would average 5000 a year
each in added profits, while the con-
sumner would get. not as much per
capita and savings, but as much in the
aggregate. 1t is the purpose of con-
gress. in providing for a division Of
markets in the department of agricul-
ture, to make this saving. or at least
as much of it as possible, an accom-
plished fact.
The work of the division will be In
a measure along new lines. While In
part there will be Incorporated into
its activities some of the duties that
have been performed by other divi-
sions of the department of agriculture,
it's Investigations into systems of
marketing will be nationwide, and
even the systems of foreign countries
will be studied carefully with a view
to bringing their lessons to America
and applying them here. The infor-
nation and data collected will be dis
tributed to farmers. farmers %organiza-
tons and societies of consumers,
through bulletins. kilograms and per-
sonal information. Investigations as
to the demands for farm products in
various trade centers will be made,