Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-20
Opinions and Views
from the Exchanges

| Rot and Rob.
From the Chicago Record Herald
The cost-of-living contributions to
the Record Herald keep adding to the
evidence that our food distributing
agencies are converted into barriers
to prevent the distribution of food.
| One man who raised peaches showed
| that the power of the mtddlemen
kept him from reaching the consumer
direct, and that when he found mar
ket through the middlemen he re-
ceived only fifty cents a bushel for
| fruit that was retailedS at $2.10 and
upward. Another man wrote:
Peach raisers in Western Michi-
gan in q good year have been Of
| fered only 81 wagonload for their
peaches, and many of them dumped
| their loads into the bitches and al
| lowed the rest of their crops to rot
| in their orchards rather than sell
it at price that would not pay for
| the picking"
OF course, such complaints are not
| peculiar to the time. They are really
very old, but because of the general
advance in prices they arouse greater
interest in the consumer than they
used to, and make him have a keener
sympathy for the producer. 1t is to
be noticed also that they are not
peculiar in Chicago and its neigh
borhood A story is told of delicious
Strawberries that were shipped from
Long Island to New York, only to be
dumped in the water SO that they
might not reach the market. An
apple grower near Cleveland, who had
crop Of fine apples, was informed
nit ), rOh iyao Nv 80 he
dictators of the market that he would
have to let the apples ror.
Our own reports have proved again
and again that fruits and vegetables
have been condemned to destruction
by a power that has all the attributes
of a criminal conspiracy. There is
an abundance of food, but the de-
cree Is issued that 1t shall not reach
the people, and the people deny them
selves accordingly.
High prices are thus sustained by
force and explained by a fine fabric
of lies. But the kind of business that
profits by them to the continuing in
jury of both producers and consumers
might be greatly discouraged under
the whip of the law and under the
operation of new systems of distri-
button.
At one time the orange growers
of California were the helpless slaves
of middlemen. The check for 75
cents to represent the gross income
on seasons output of an orchard,
even an actual charge to make up
a deficit, were not only striking, but
true illustrations of the way the bust
ness was going. Today a growers
association disposes of more than 70
per- cent. of the crop. It directs local
by telegraph, orders the
routing of cars, has it's agents keep
tab on the cars in transit to see that
the fruit Is being handled properly
and to make a case for damages
against the railroads If need be;
turns the cars from one market to |
another If conditions make this de- |
sirable, and, while its purpose Is to |
prevent loss to the producer, it is |
doing better by the consumer than |
men would who should reject |
the oranges to prevent them from |
reaching the consumer For it is q |
producers organization, and the great |
object of the producer is to sell his |
crop, not to pillow 1t under or let it |
rot, that a few. middlemen may get |
rich.