Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1915-04-08
FARM TO TABLE" SERVICE
FOR FARMERS is SUCCESS
Government Reports Show That Move
ment for Farm Produce by Parcel
Post is Growing.

principal cities In which the services
has been installed.
The results are most gratifying in
the large centers of population where
the need for additional facilities for
obtaining fresh country produce is
greatest. In practically all the large
cities and industrial communities the
service is now securely established.
This service has not yet been estab-
lished in any North Carolina city,
principally for the reason that no
community has requested it. The
p~ostoface department has maintained
q most liberal policy in regard to the
system and has established the system
in almost every community that has
made a request for it.
In these cities the postmasters have
compiled and printed lists Of farm pro
ducers, and have circulated them
among the city householderss In
some cases, on their initiative, post
have prepared lists of city consumers
for circulation among the farmers.
The lists distributed by the mail
carriers to the househoIders in the
cities contain the names of country
producers Offering miscellaneous farm
products for sale and giving the prices.
The householder then writes the far
mer to send such and such an article
by parcel post, and forwards him the
purchase price. The list distributed
to the farmers contain the names Of
persons living in the cities who make
a habit of buying direct from the far
mers by parcel post. In this way the
city buyer receives fresh produce at g
low cost and the farmer sells direct
to the city buyer at price higher than
he would receive from the jobbing
wholesaler.
Authorities Pleased.
The postal authorities are much
pleased to find that the opposition Of
city and country retailers to this and
other features of the recent develop
ment of the parcel post has died u
The merchants are finding that the
governments express facilities are OF
value to them. parcel Post Selling"
IS no longer confined to the big mail
order houses.
Green grocers and even butchers In
country towns, and in some cases the
farmers themselves through the or
g~anization of cooperative selling
agencies, are collecting the farm pro-
duce of their locality and marketing
it in the cities by mail order. h
practices is encouraged by the post
Office department. Often, the individ-
ual farmers list of mail order custo-
mers grows so rapidly that his supply
is exhausted, compelling him to sus-
pend the service. Country selling
agencies, whether comparatively OF
privately managed. increases the out
put OF many farmers. s~tandardize price
and quality, assure a steady supply
and a reliable system of exchange.
In nearly all the cities where lists
of farmers have been circulated.
merely names and an enumeration OF
articles offered for sale have been in
cluded. In several Of he cities, now
ever, prices were added. In these in
stances, it was found that the produc-
ers quoted varying figures.
The parcel post has already done
much, and promises to do much more.
towards completing a system OF 1000
distribution which will knit the city
and country more closely together.
With its rural free delivery free de-
livery service, the postal establish
ment reaches practically all farming
territory and alike expands h selling
opportunity of the producer and buy
ing opportunity of the consumer.
Farmers hitherto unable to reach
the city market have had little cash
demand for their ~barnyard, truck and
dairy products, and have been COM
pelled to dispose of them in trade al
the nearest country town; now many
such farmers find the city market
available and are doing a cash bust
ness at figures we'll above those al
lowed them hitherto in trade. In the
cities the effect is usually a substan-
tial reduction in prices.
Some Reports.
Some of the reports made by the
postmasters to the postmaster general
regarding the service are as follows.
Richmond: about 100 parcels of
farm products are being delivered in
Richmond by mail daily. l have per-
sonally promoted the idea of further
encouraging oyster shippers to take
advantage of this service.
Chicago 1--we handled $4,000 farm
to-city packages last December. Thou
sands of Chicago families obtained
their Christmas turkey by mail. Our
daily average of parcels is $50. The
service has taken root and promises
to become an important factor in pro-
viding Chicago's food supply. The fol-
lowing articles are passing through
our Office in the parcel post: Bread.
butter, cheese, cookies, crackers, cream,
eggs, feathers, flowers. fruits, game.
graham -four, angora goat hair, Bel
gian hares, honey, horseradish, jams.
jellies, lard, maple syrup, meats, nuts
pin needle pillows, popcorn, poultry.
preserves, sausage, seeds, squads. veg
etables."s
ST. Louis: FThe traffic doubles be-
tween last August and February just
closed. More than $500 parcels of