Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-18
CAMP TELLS
HOW To GUT
FOOD COST
GroCers and Butchers President
Declares State Must Produce
Own Table Necessities.

Declaring that the people Of Geu~-
gia are to blame for conditions that
have placed Atlanta second among
American cities in high cost Of food
products. with excessive freight rates
as a contributing cause, oscar +.
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 20 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 dweIlers in the cities. To-
gether, he declared, they have the
power to reduce the cost of living in
Atlanta and Georgia to a 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 n
Georgia will lead to demand by he
dealer that the farmer supply HIM
with these products. With the de
mand created and a market assured,
the Georgia farmer will surely do ms
part. and then the high cost Of living
in the State viii be as nearly solved
as elsewhere in the country.
Freight Rates nrrnor Cause.
Excessive freight rates, which pre-
vent the Atlanta iobber 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 cause Of the high
cost of living. but only as minor
cause compared to the other.
Most Of the grocers and butchers II
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 10 make their legiti
mate profit, make an additional
charge To the dealer.
The dealer confronted with the 20
creased cost of the product. must in
self-defense add that increa sed cost
to mis- prices. The ultimate consumer
pays the freight.
bul ny ldi AA' SI'd''i "a use ''''
in the people Of Georgia. If 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 maze
goods and products, the high freight
rates would not be so much in evi-
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 10 he
freight on stuff from Eastern AMI
Northern points The consumer would
get the benefit Of the reduced cost TO
the dealer and the iobbeG
one staple product butter win
illustrate my meaning Most of the
high grade creamery butter We nan
die in Atlanta comes from Illinois and
the West. IT sells here at an aver
age price for the year Of IS cents
pound That same butter. if pro-
duced in Georgia would come to MS
with the freight charges eliminated.
and would sell al about 3 cents. and
probably less, pound So il can be
readily seen that # Georgia farmers