Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1913-05-29


wanted piece of cheese they went in
to the cellar and cut it out of big
cheese which they had made in the
kitchen. There were apples and pota-
toes in the bins; the pantry was filed
with home made preserves and pickles;
there was a hog killing every year,
with sausage making, smoking and
curing; they spun and wove, made
clothes and shoes, if they bought cloth
at all, they bought it by the piece,
leather too. they procured in a whole
hide; they did their own work, and
were. from all accounts, pretty happy
about If.
you see they lived rather frugally,
perhaps. but pretty well. No one was
very rich. nor was anyone particular
ly poor. OF course. they had their ups
and downs in life, but on the whole
things went their way.
"Just contrast their lot with ours.
The cheese, shoes, pickles. and bread
are made in factories now. Instead of
baying our cellars and preserve closets
comfortably filled for winter, we de-
pend on a grocer or delicatessen
stere-keeper. OF course we have more
things than they had, but are we any
happier, or any better off? Sometimes
/ very much doubt it, because we are
always facing that eternal problem of
the cost of living. y
The Judge pulled thought ully at his
cigar for moment or two, then turn
ing the conversation somewhat, he
asked:
Suppose that next year our farmers
produced twice as much as they pro-
duced this year, what do you think
would happen?"
Since it was not exactly clear what
the Judge-was driving at. no one liked
to guess at the answer. So after wait
ing little the Judge answered his own
question in terms of a, personal adven-
ture,
Last fall sal! he. Il went down
! to North Carolina or shooting expe-
dition. There | found bumper apple
crop. In fact. some of the farmers
told me that it was the best yield they
had ever known. Well. sir. those ap-
pies Law on he ground unpieked, bush
els ard bushels of them.
| ''Of course that set me to thinking
Here were we up in the North paying
FIVE cents apiece for just this kind of
an apple; here were the apples in North
Carolina lying under the trees rottipg,
or being eaten by hogs. Once my cu-
| riosity was aroused / made up my mind
| to find out what the trouble really was,
so every farmer that met asked
about The apple crop. With almost no
exceptions they said about the same
thing
:. 'Whv do you let your apples lie out
under the trees ard rot?- askt them.
Why don 't=you pick them up and ship
them North u.
g We'll, sir. was the reply. we
C .n,tget any men to pick them-labor
is very scarce here. and we have just
harvested our other crops and let our
apples alone. There is another thing,
though. Even if the men were able
and willing to pick the apples, wages
are SO high that we could not afford to
pay for the picking; and even if we
could afford TO pay fer picking, we
could not afford the big prices which
areedemanded for barrels and boxes; so
our apples would still BE- on our hands.
hey we're the Jud 70 went on,
without labor, without credit, with
out any Shipping facilities. Their fruit
was rottlng, ard our people were clam
oring for good apples.
The next day ! saw something else
that fitted in maryelously with the talk
of my farmer friends. One station be-
You'd the apple country, there was q
boy selling apples on the station plat
form for five cents each If pas.
sengerhad had time to get out of the
train and walk a mile, he could have
picked up bushel Of apples for the
taking; yet that boy knew that the pas
sengers would not get out of the train.
Furthermore, he knew that they were
in the habit of paying five cents apiece
for apples. so he got his price. In
fact" the Judge smiled indulgently. I
bought two from him myself
Let US go one step farther" con
cluded the Judge. Let US suppose
that these farmers had been able to put
their apples in New York or Chicago.
The consumer. would still have been
charged the old price-the price which
he was willing to pay The boy on the
North Carolina station platform had
learned the same lesson that has been
learned by the freight traffic manager
and the St. Louis grocer. He had
learned to charge all that the traffic
would bear So You sea how the mat
ter stands Just think over my origi-
nalsquestion again, Suppose that the
agricultural crops were doubled next
year, would the ultimate consumer get
the benefit? Not for moment, unless
he busted himself in the reorganization
of the intricate process of getting com
modities from the producers door to
his.
SCOTT NEARING.
rIorgan's Grove.
The directors of Morgan,s Grove fair