Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-05-15
FARMER DISCUSSES
MApKNT ppN
:,
continued IrUm page ~

the head of local markets corrected
daily, that parsnips were bringing
$1.25 per sack. l had occasion to
drive to Tacoma, some 81 miles, to
deliver man his winters supply of
| vegetables. l finished out my load
with about one-half "a ton Of parsnips.
nicely washed, selected and placed in
clean, new sacks, and many of those
?arsnips were as large as your coat
sleeve, in fact could not we'll be finer
raised.
after delivering my mixed veget-
ables | turned my team over to a man
| that was with me, and | drummed the
whole length of one street that was
| principally composed of grocery
| stores and vendors of vegetables gen
erally-showed my samples-and
| never sold pound. l invariably met
| With the same reply: The Dagoes fur
nish us with all the vegetables we
vail every MY tiLuc
| short and l hit commission house.
! The first thing l heard was a kick
| because my goods were washed, but
| he finally agreed to give me so cents
per sack providing l would take the
most of it in trade, which l did in
order to get out of town.
$50 much for the daily corrected
market reports, so much for the
| merchant, so much for the commits
sion house, and SO much for the en-
.erprising Dago, who is gradually
monopolizing the American truck
gardeners job. Now, herr is one in
Olympia.
Il at one time took sack of fine
early cabbage to local market. The
proprietor said he would take it (and
by the way l noticed no other cabbage
in sight.) OF course l expected a
fair price for it as it was quite early
The man was busy at the time and
told me to hang it on the scales. He
looked at the weight and asked me
to empty it in tray for the purpose.
He settled with me for three-quarters
Of a cent per pound. 1 kicked but ii
did no good. He paid me in meat at
his own price. What his profit was
on the meat am not prepared to say
but a lady came in before left, pick
ed up a head of that cabbage and ask
ed him, How much?' He looked up
and said, Ten cents That cabbage
probably weighed 2h or 3 pounds
Talk about everything you touch
turning to gold-that merchant did
not even touch that head of cabbage
Nov we will turn to our public
markets-where is there a single one
conducted by American gardeners? l
believe what our Snohomish merchant
writes of is quite true: who can COM
pete with this sort Of thing? 1t is
all true enough that the japanese and
Italian hucksters have the same right
to live as anyone, but I believe in
taking Gre of our own people first
and not offer too much encourage
m~ut to this class of emigrant.
here is a point in this discussion
that / would like to see answered:
The only thing to do Is to raise what
there is market for, and quit raising
stu1 that people can't use.' When
the snohomish writer made this state
ment he should have gone farther and
enlightened the farmers as to what
they should raise that would find
ready market. I for one would be
mighty glad to hear of it. The trouble
is the route from producer to con-
sumner is too long. and there are too
many merchants and commission men
stationed along that route to grab
profits as the produce passes through
their hands.
"And in regard to the farmer rails
ing stuff that the people can't use,'
I don't believe the farmer raises
single pound of produce that could
not be used, especially by the poor OF
the cities, II permitted to reach them
at a decent price, and this crazy proft
system is to blame for the most OF
our troubles, for nothing will be han
died unless a good big profit can be
made in the transaction. Speculation
in the necessaries of life should be
eliminated entirely.
Every truly,
"ROSS CHILSON."
Estimate Big Increase In wheat.