The Daily Missoulian., 1913-02-09

are considered so stable that the saw
ings banks and the conservative
| bankers and brokers recommend them
to widows and children as invest
ments. This. too, in spite Of the fact
| that the banana is 50 much more
perishable than the apple that there
| is hardly any comparison They are,
in fact almost as perishabe as straw
| berries. They will chill at a temper
ature of 80; in fact, 80 is considered
| dangerous. They will cook at a tenn
perature of 65 to 20. SO that the
| problem of transporting bananas from
Central and South America, in steam
ers, trans-shipping them under all
sorts of weather conditions at
seaboard, and forwarding them across
the continent to Pacific coast cities.
even to Alaska, as well as to England
and the continent of Europe, is an
exceedingly difficult and complicated
one. Yet all these things have been
worked out successfully and the COM
pany has through it's own inteli-
gent effort, made the banana an ar
ticle of household consumption in ev-
| cry idHlItt, ttWH anu Guy not Oily
in this country, but in Europe, where.
prior to the organization of the COM
pany American bananas were un-
known. During the early days OF
their Introduction in Europe the COM
| pany had also to overcome the deter
mined opposition of the dealers
! who denounced them as vegetables
rather than fruit So the point to be
/ made is that the perishable nature Of
! the fruit business does not indicate
| that, under proper organization, 1t is
! a business of too great hazard for the
| banks to figure on as closely as they
would on any other article of mer-
chandise.
Cooperation with the Railroads.
| Let us so organize the physical side
| of the industry (and it can easily be
| donc) that the transportation risks Of
| the railroads are reduced to almost
a pig iron basis, thereby saving them
tens of thousands of dollars annually
| in loss and damage claims. Let us
cooperate with them, and they with
us, in the supply of adequate storage
facilities at shipping point, whereby
we not only serve ourselves but also
relieve them Of the almost impossible
task of supplying sufficient refriger~
ator equipment to move our whole
crop in six weeks. Then can we go
to them for recognition in the way of
reduction in rates proportionate to
the reduction in their risk and ex-
pense, and with confidence in their
reasonablcness.
Co. operation with the MiddIemen.
Before denonncng them as para
sites and demanding their elimination,
let us first study them and examine
into their relations to ourselves and
to the consumers and see whether
they are not men, like ourselves
neither better nor worse than we, and
whether they are not performing a
useful service, and doing it better
than we could ourselves, and there
fore entitled to their place in the eco
nomc scheme of our organization. IT,
after we have made a thorough study
of the subject, it appears that there
are superfluous middemen, then the
superfluous has no justification for
existence, and should be eliminated
If we find that abuses exist among
the mddlemen, let us by cooperation
and education, eliminate the abuses
! What is Il middleman? The United
States department of agriculture
(Report No. 9S) describes him thus:
In addition to finding purchasers
for commodities on the market. Sc
curing goods for persons intending tc
buy attending to transportation ant
storage, and making and transmit
ting collections of money, the func-
tons of a mddleman may include
also the collection of small lots tc
make a carload, shipload. or Other
large unit desired by a certain buyer
or class of buyers: and likewise the
middleman may serve to distribute s
large consignment among many pur-
/ chasers A carload Of berries is toe
much for an average retail merchant
, to handle; it is generally necessary
to secure n number of such buyers ir
order to dispose of a car of such pro.
l duce. On the other hand, the trade ir
fruit, as in many other farm products
! is conducted over such a vast eXten
t of territory and in such large quaint
t ties that it has become necessary 70
: most of the individual consignment
$ to be of considerable size. Freigh
| rates and conditions of freight servic
V make it almost necessary that ship
i ments of most farm products be mad
t in carlots. Hence the double servic
# of collecting small consignments int
# carloads and of distributing carload
= among many buyers, has become
t, necessary part of the present system
:, of distribution"