The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1914-03-13
OPERATION AMONG
FARMERS TO REDUCE
COST OF LIVING
CAPTAIN PECK URGES THEM TO
ORGANIZE AND CON.
SOLlDATE.
INCREASES PRODUCTION OF Land
States That Millions of Dollars Are
Sent Out of State Annually That
Ought to Remain in Tennessee.
Will Better Conditions.
(By Capt T. F. Peck, Commissioner
Of Agriculture.l

of Agriculture.)
When the question of the high cost
Of living is discussed we have many
reasons given, each as being the real
cause and those pointing it out claim
that if that particular cause was re-
moved a readjustment Of conditions
would Immediately take place and
prices woul dadjust themselves to a
normal level.
We cannot undertake to enumerate
all of the reasons offered for the pre-
vailing high prices to consumers and
low prices to the producers. But let
us see if we cannot find some helpful
suggestions for the producer and con-
sumer in Tennessee Let us elimi-
nate extraneous matters and get right
down to the milk in the cocoanut as
it affects Tennessee producers and
consumers.
l made the statement recently that
more than rs per cent of the food
products sold to the consumers in the
cities and larger towns in Tennessee
were imported by the dealers from
outside he state; that the dealers
reasons for doing so were that he
was in business for living, that his
customers demanded a certain quality
of goods, that he must keep the quail
ity and quantity his trade required il
he made a success of his business:
that he could not buy from local pro-
ducers either the quality or quanti-
ty at home and he was compelled to
60 outside the state to buy it. In
this way millions of dollars leave the
state for products that should be pro-
duced here and keep this vast sum of
money in local circulation. No one
can dispute the fact that we can pro-
duce as good as the best produced
anywhere. Our best farmers, dairy
men, fruit and vegetable growers
have proven that beyond question.
Our problem in Tennessee is to in
duce our producers to increase their
production and improve the quality of
their products to compare with the
best grown anywhere. To accom-
plish this we must have better meth
DDS of farm practice. We must i'm
prove our soil, our live stock, and
give more intelligent attention to our
orchards and small fruits. We must
: get a better knowledge of what our
consumers require and strive to meet
those requirements.
These problems can all be worked
out by community cooperation. The
farmer working alone cannot accom-
plish as much as a community work
ing together. To illustrate: In one
county on the Cumberland plateau
most every farmer produces potatoes
for their own use and many of them
have from 25 to 200 bushels for mar
ket. They had been trying to sell
their individual surplus, but they
found it difficult to interest dealers
in such small lots. But one man took
the matter in hand and learned how
many potatoes each man could select
and deliver on notice He easily Sc
cured a car load and came to Nash
vile and realized nearly double per
bushel what the farmers could have
sold them for in the usual way.
When our farmers become more
cohesive, with the community as the
unit, when we realize that business
acumen is as necessary in farming
as elsewhere, cur several communf
ties will successfully solve local prob
Observation-Disclosures six AZ. :. 2r.dh
lens and lend substantial co-opera-
ton in solving state and national
problems for the betterment of agri-
cultural conditions