Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-18

Declaring that the people OF Geor-
have placed Atlanta second among
American cities in high cost of food
products. with excessive freight rates
as a contributing cause, Oscar T.
Camp, president of the Atlanta Retail
GroCers and Butchers Association.
predicted Thursday morning that the
cost of living in Atlanta undoubtedly
will increase steadily until Georgia
farmers awake to their opportunity
and raise sufficient foodstuff to sup
ply at least a portion of the need of
their State.
Mr.. Camp places the blame Impair
TALLY upon the shoulders of the farm
ers and the jewellers in the cities. To-
gether, he declared they have the
power to reduce the cost Of living IN
Atlanta and Georgia to point where
man can live here as cheaply as in
any other place in the United States.
The fact that they are working in al
most opposite directions he names as
the cause of the present high cost of
living.
Two Must Work Together.
Neither the city people nor the
farmers alone can relieve conditions"
Mr.. Camp said, but by working to,
gether they can do it. The farmer
should diversity his crops, giving at
tention to the raising OF other things
than cotton; he should raise wheat
and corn and oats, and cattle and
hogs for the market-and the city
people should force the Georgia farm
er to do these things by creating d
demand for Georgia and Atlanta made
products.
In short, an insistent demand from
the consumer that the dealer supply
him with things made and grown in
Georgia will lead to a demand by The
dealer that the farmer supply him
with these products. With the de-
mand created and a market assured,
the Georgia farmer will surely do his
part, and then the high cost of living
in the State viii be as nearly solved
as elsewhere in the country.
Freight Rates HInor Cause.
Excessive freight rates, which pre-
vent the Atlanta jobber and grocer
and butcher from bringing his goods
into this city as Cheaply as they can
be shipped into other points, might
also be listed as a cause of the high
cost Of living, but only as a minor
cause compared to the other.
Most Of the grOcers and butchers Of
Atlanta buy their goods from jObbers,
and If the freight rates are 10 per
cent higher in Atlanta than in other
points, then the jobbers must neces-
sarily, in order to make their legiti-
mate profit, make an additional
charge to the dealer.
The dealer, confronted with the n
creased cost of the product, must in
sclf-defense add that increased cost
to his prices. The ultimate consumer
pays the freight.
But by far the greater cause lies
in the people Of Georgia. II the farm
ers of Georgia would raise the prod
uCe. which they undoubtedly would
If the city people would create de-
mand and a market for Georgia mace
goods and products, the high freight
rates would not be so much in evil
dence.
Consumer Would Get Benefit.
The freight to Atlanta on produce
grown in Georgia and on products
manufactured in Georgia would he
practically nothing compared to the
freight on stuff from Eastern ami
Northern points. The consumer would
get the benefit of the reduced cost to
the dealer and the jobber.
zone staple prOduCt-butter-w
illustrate my meaning. Most of the
high-g creamery butter we ham
die in Atlanta comes from Illinois and
the West. 1t sells here at an aver
age price for the year of 35 cents a
pound. That same butter. if pro-
duced in Georgia, would come to us
with the freight charges eliminated,
and would sell at about % cents, and
probably less, a pound. So it can be
readily seen that if Georgia farmers
raised more cotton, and if there were
more diaries and creameries in the
State the cost of butter, at least,
would be less
so it is up to the people of Georgia
and Atlanta to relieve conditions that
have brought the high cost of living
to Atlanta. | can not see how the
cost of food products can be reduced
until Georgia grows enough to sat
isfy at least portion of her needs,
and the chances are the cost of things
will increase rather than decrease
until that time arrives"
j. p. Eve BIames Same Conditions.
J. p. Eve secretary of the GroCers
and Butchers Association, also laid
the high cost of living in Atlanta to
the fact that most of Georgia's food
must be purchased outside the State
He declares that high rents and local