The Prescott daily news., 1915-04-28

tho ultimate consumer pays $2E)0D,- n0O O0O Or, to express 1t in this wise; Tho American farmer today Is doing business on a thirty-iiVe cent dollar. ana lue consumer ot hts products pays one hundred cents for the same amount of agricultural products for Which the DrouGCer receives but thirty live cents. owing to the lack of some central di- recting intelligence there Is an enor- nous amount of waste, especially in perishabl products. At times one hundred cars of fruit or vegetables are sent tO a market which can consume but ten. and ten are sent to market that can use one hundred. Foodstuffs are shipped for long distances only to be reshipped and consumed in the vii cinity in which they were grown. Our stora ge and transportation facilities are first swamped then starved; pro- duce is allowed to waste and rot in the fields and consumers are compelled to pay exorbitant prices.
 There have been times when corn has been burned for fuel here in Ok lahoma, when your coal mines were closed for want of orders or miners. while oil from our wells flowed like water in your branches and hungry workingmen in idleness begging for bread were walking the streets of nearby cities, and the railroads were threatened with bankruptcy for want of traffic and all simultaneously. Sure ly this Is an unhealthy and unwar- ranted condition. Any system of dis trtbution which permits one peck of potatoes to rot while one hungry man goes unfed Is an obsolete and made Qvate system. You farmers who fail to receive an adequate price for your cropsI you consumers who pay your hard earned dollar for products for which tho farmer receives but thirty five cents; and you employers of la bor-none, none need to be told there is something wrong with our present
 l. AlA t~N ct nf ing alone reduces the workingman' s wage and ofttimes devours his income.
 Producer Gets Too Little.
 Under the present manner of mar keting the producer receives too little hence he seeks to lessen his losses by producing less: the consumer pays too much and tries to cut down his ex- penses by consuming less; the rail- roads having less to transport charge more to make up for the loss Of ton mage; the dealer charges a larger profit to make up for the smaller sale; and here we round and round in vicious circle getting nowhere, the circle growing more vicious all the while.
 Permit me to say just here. Mir President, that neither the railroads nor the commission men, nor the wholesalers, nor the retailers should be charged with all the blame. Both the producer and consumer are entitled to their share of it. The producer needs to be taught the best manner. place and time to market his crop, how to classify, arrange, grade, and pack 1t to meet the requirements of the trade, and the consumer needs to be taught better purchasing methods and to dis tinguiSh between high prices and eN- pensive service
 A Success in Europe.
 If we as nation were pioneers In the work Of attempting to scientitical- ly systematize the handling and mar t.- IL f,, bility of our plans might be ques- toned; but, far from being pioneers investigation shows that we are a quarter of a century behind the meth ods employed in Europe. In Germany in particular. the system of handling and distributing farm products is car ried to such perfection that investiga- tors are unanimous in testifying that the foundation on which the conner cial and military greatness of the German Empire iS built is her won derful system Of laudIiu@ and diSuib- uting farm products for the benefit and protection of her producers.
 National Committee Organized.
 The supreme importance of improV- ing the methods of marketing farm products has long heen recognized. but efforts in that direction have been iSo- lated and without dctiuitencsS Of plan considering the subject as a whole. To Mir. David Luhin, that great man whose life is dedicated to the cause of agricultural bettcrmcnt. the United StatcS delegate to tht International in- stitute of Agriculture. Rome, Italy, is due the idea that We should study the German system with the view of adapt ing 1t to American conditions and of organizing to secure its adoption in this country. When he was in America last year, many coni crenceS were held with him in WashinltOn. and the Ques- tion thoroughly considered Finally. before Mr. Luhn lcrl Washington last fall, a special meeting of certain Scna - tors and representatives in Congress, representatives, of farm organizations. and members of the farm press. was held and the National Marketing Com mittee was organized. Your president. Senator Fletcher. who iS never so hap py as when doing good and great things was elected pres dent Of the committee. Its first vice president is Wm. T. Greasy. for many years the head of the great Grange Organization of Pennsylvania, and at present Sccre- tary of the National Dairy Union. The second vice president is that we'll known Westerner of large commercial and agricultural enterprises and mu-