Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1914-10-09
RAILROADS :: :. !. !: !:
=. ::;lRELP The FARMER
Common Carriers Will Cooperate in
Marketing Farm Produces-Mid-
die Men Charge Higher Rates =.
for Handling Farm Than
Factory Products.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union

Inc ledQlnS TdllrOdQ SySlellS u hue,
nation will establish market bureaus
to assist the farmers along their lines
in marketing their products. Nam
roads have acceded to the request OF
the Farmers Union and announced
their Willingness to enter into active
cooperation with the farmers in mar
keting their products.
The express companies have sur
veyed the field and the Federal Gov
eminent. through the parcel post,
has demonstrated the possibilities of
the common carrier as useful agency
in marketing farm commodities.
I consider the action of these giant
business concerns in determining to
cooperate with the farmers in mar
keting their crops, to be the greatest
product of human thought on the
Western hemisphere during the past
year, and it demonstrates that the
educational work of the Farmers I'm
ion has brought the nation to a clearer
understanding OF the real problem
of the farmer.
To give information on marketing
is far more valuable than to give ad.
vice on production. There is mu'
tual interest between the railroads
and the farmer which cannot exist
between any other lines of industry.
The railroads are the teamsters OF
agriculture, and they are employed
only-when there is something to haul.
Good prices will do more to increase
.onnage than any other factor, anC
railroads want tonnage.
Agriculture has many inherent DIS
advantages which require combined
effort to overcome in mai keting
There are millions of producing units
working independently and selling
without knowledge of market condi
tons. The harvest is once a year,
while consumption is pretty evenly
distributed throughout the entire year.
and most of the farmers, through
custom and necessity, dump their en-
tire crop on the market as soon as 1t
is gathered. The problem of organi
zing and systematizing the markets is
one in which the farmers invite as
sistance of all lines of industry friend
ly to their interests.
Farmers Bear the Burden.
The business of the manufacturer
lends itself more readily to organiza.
ton and the facilities for studying
the markets are more easily available.
The result is that the merchants are
compelled to handle most staple
manufactured articles at very little
profit, and as consequence the mer.
chant must look to products which
he buys direct from the farm fol- his
profits.
The reports of the Federal Depart
uent of Agriculture show some yer.
interesting information and enable
comparison between the cost of mar
keting products of the farm and those
Of the factory. A few items will serve
to illustrate the general run. The
cost of getting sugar from the reliner'
to the consumer is cents on the do:
lar; the cost of getting tobacco from
factory to the consumer is IA cent
on the dollar. In Selling q dollars
worth of eggs the middleman gets
profit of so cents on the dollar. In
selling a dollars worth of potatoes
the middleman makes 70 cents on tht
dollar; in selling dollars worth o.
fruit the middleman gets 81 cents on
the dollar, and on cantaloupes 50
cents.
Farmers Bulletin No. $40, published
by the United States Department 90
Agriculture, in discussing this sub
ject. said:
1.-THE high price paid by consumers,
ranging from to 500 per cent, in
come cases, more than the farmer
receives, indicates that there is plenty
of room for lowering the cost of farm
products to consumers and at the
same time largely increasing the cas-
income per farm, "'ithout increasir
farm production. TITS condition is
undoubtedly marketing problem
which will have to be solved b. better
organization of farmers aid improved
methods of marketing"
Large Shippers Influence Rates.
In railroad rates the inequalities
are equally as glaring. Rate making
in it's primitive stages was largely in
huenced by demands and arguments
of large shippers, but the farmers
were unorganized and seldom appear.
ed before rate-making bodies, and the
burden of expense in transportation
lies largely against the raw products
of the farm.
In banking, our securities are dis.
eliminated against, as compared with
the products of the factories and
mines. The farmer is entitled to a
square deal. The farmer is more in.
terested in good prices and efficient
service than he is in rates.
PRODUCE ACID-PROOF GLASS