The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-04-09
TO FIND Who GETS
FARMERS PROFITS
Independent Organization Be
gins Three Days Inquiry
in Chicago.
PRESENT SYSTEM UNJUST
Products Go to Waste, Cost OF
Living Advances and Con-
sumers Pay Bill.

Chicago, April S-Chicago house
wives to-day paid . cents "A pound or
from to IL cents head. for fresh
cabbage one South Water Street com
mission merchant paid $3.50 To 81 a
crate; down in the Rio Grande Coun-
y, on the Gulf coast Of Texas. cab
bage was rottipg on the farms The
search for an answer to that problem
prompted farmers, truck Graw~rs and
'ASTicultdfal experts from thirty States
ana Canada TO start a three daya' in
curry here to-day Cabbage is only
one Of the products that is causing a
shaking of heads. AS Edward r. Kone
Commissioner OF Agriculture Of Texas.
said somebody else is getting the
money for nearly ccrything that farm :
ers grow. The meeting was called to
ind out who gets the farmers profits.
Oihcially, the assembly Is known as
tEe Nattoaal Conference on NarEetIu,-
and Farm Credits. II is the first OF
It's kind. IT is independent or organ
izatlons. and came into being because
heads OF farm oranges. farm experts
and growers who had Invested millions
I'm land In the aggregate saw their pro-
ducts going to waste while the cost
OF living went up and the consumers
paid the bill
The railroads aren't getting the
money" said Kone. AT least, we think
not. The farmer isn't. The consum- :
er isn't getting the farm goods cheap
ly. He's hoilering about the high cost
OF living. Where does the money go'
If TO the middleman, we're after him.
Farmers Are ReatIve.
Peter Radford. president OF the Texas
Farmers Union, said that farmers have
long been FESTIVE under present mar
keting conditions.
I'VE are going after trouble in
an organized way" said Radford. we
9, ,Sn ttsf,t ~
cents a bushel for potatoes which sell
for "a cents to 81 Il bushel here That
seems too big profit"
Other States besides Texas are in
revolt. Warren Durham Foster. mem
Der OF the Massachusetts Homestead
Commission, told why New England is
supporting the conferences
Potatoes we raise on truck farms i'm
1 Cummington, Mass, are rotting in the
fields" said Mr.. Foster. I'm Worth :
ington. town practically contiguous
TO Cummington. they sell for sl.5O
q bushel. There seems TO be need for
cooperation between East and West -
Harry y. Wheeler. president of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States. welcomed the conference on be-
| half OF Chicago. Colonel Frank Il.
Holland, permanent chairman. opened
the session
Sidney f. Mezes. president of the
University Of Texas. was unable to nj :
tend, and his address was read for him.
In it the educator said so per cent OF
the PEOPLE of Texas live on farms and
that the State leads the Union in agri-
cultural production.
Injustice of system.
while some progress has been made
in teaching the farmer how to grow
more crops" the paper reads, little has
yet been done to aid him in getting fair
prices for his produce. To illustrate
the gross injustice Of our present mar
keting system, | may point out the fact
that at Laredo. Texas, in. our onion
growing district. one day n short time
ago onions were sold for cents n
pound; the next morning Laredo onions
were sold in the open market at Aus
tin Texas. at 10 cents pound. In
this transaction, AS YOU will see. tho
commission man. the public carrier and
the retail dealer divided 650 per cent
of the rrice paid to the grower.
Again tomatoes We're sold one day
Mt 2-3 cents each In Palestine, Texas.
and the next morning were sold at AUS
tin at s cents each.
"In each of the insta noes cited, tho
producer received only thirteen per
cent of the final selling pricc, while
eighty-seven per cent was divided
among the railroada and the sellers.