New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-09
FROM FAR AND NEAR TO
WAR UPON HIGH PRICES
Agricultural Experts. Repre-
senting Thirty States and
Canada. Meet at Chicago.

Chicago. Aprn S-rIousewives here paid
. cents a pound. or from to Y cents
head for fresh cabbage to-day. South
Water street commission merchants paii
from 81 - To g. crate. IN Texas cab
bage WIS rotting on the farms.
To learn the reason for such conditions
farmers. truck growers and agricultural
experts from thirty states and rom cam
ada started three DAYS inquiry here to-
day As Edward Il. kone. commissioner
Of Agriculture Of Texas. said. somebody
else f. getting the money for nearly
everything :he farmers grow. The meet
ing was called TO find out who gets the
farmers profits. not only on cabbage, but
on other products.
Officially the assembly f. known az the
National Conference on Marketing ana
Farm Credits II is the first Of its KIND,
and came into being because men who
had invested millions I'm the aggregate
saw their farm products going to waste
while the cost Of living went mp and the
consumers paid the b'ii.
Where does the money eo?" asked Mt
Kone ITO the mlddlcman. we're after
him"
Peter Radiord. president Of the Texas
Farmers Union. said farmers had long
been restve.
we are going after ,hc trouble in an
orcanizcd way" said Radford. I'VE want
20 know why We get only 80 cents on
bushol for potatoes which sell for 10
cents TO 81 a bushcl here"
Warren Durham Foster. member of the
Massachusetts Homestead Commission.
told why New England was supporting
the conference.
"Potatoes We raise in Cumminston
Mass. are rotting i'm the fields said Mr.
Foster In Worthington town prac-
tically contiguous to Cummington they
sell for 81 - a bushcl There seems To be
need for cooperation between East and
West"
Sidney r. Mezes. president OF the Uni
versity of Texas. was unable TO attend,
aud his address was read for him. In IT
the educator said 50 per cent Of the people
of Texas lived ON farms and that the
state led the Union in agricultural pro-
ductlon.
while some progress has been mace
in teaching the farmer how to grow more
crops" the paper read. little has yet
been done to aid him in getting fair prices
for his produce. Al Laredo, short time
ago. onions sold for two cents pound
the next morning Laredo onions were
sold in the open market AT Austin, Tex.
at ~ cents Il pound. The commission
man. the public carrier and the retail
dealer divided go per cent of the price
paid to the grower.
THE glsring injustice Of such system
is made more apparent by a comparison
with the results of corporation in mar
keting farm products i'm Denmark In
that country the cooperation society
handles. sorts. according to size. and
packs eggs for 3i2 per cent; the shipping
and selling cost per cent, leaving the
farmer a2l2 per cent Of the final price
paid by the consumer.
"The need OF cooperation in securing
cheap money for the farmers in the
Southwest is as great as the need OF OBJ
tanning larger returns for his produce.
In many places i'm Texas and Oklahoma
the farmer Is yet Obliged to pay interest
Of from 10 to p per cent"
-Four men. with improved machinery
and the help of science, now produce as
much food as formerly was produced by
fourteen men. Where are the ten?" asked
Henry II. J. Waters. president of the
Kansas Agricultural College. i'm an adj
dress on Educational Aids TO Organize
ton"
one of the chief difficulties with the
Mr. WatsrS said
that the ten men forced out of the field
of production had not found employment
that was profitable To society, no matter
how profitable 1t might be to themselves.