The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-12-30
THE QUESTION OF MARKETING

The Department of Agriculture
has been zealously working to in
troducc new food plants and, so far
as ascertaining whether they will
grow profitably in this country is
concerned, these efforts are COM
:; mendable. If a market could be pro-
vided for these new products of the
soil there would be more encourage
ment to the grower to raise them.
But there's the rub. The most SEN
sible conclusion we have yet seen
on this subject in type is this in the
first paragraph of the late report
from the Office Of Markets and Ru-
raj Organizations:
"(t is believed that effective and
economical methods for distribute
ing and marketing farm products
should go hand in hand with scien-
tific methods of production, as it
profits little to improve the quality
and increase the quantity of our
crops if we cannot learn when.
where, and how they may be sold
to advantage"
The farmer complains that it is
useless to adopt new methods of
! production and increase the yield
of his acres when the net results of
such procedure. if generally adopt
ed, is to decrease the price of his
products per unit and his profit per
acre. He may Improve the quality
and increase the quantity of his
crops. but has to employ more time
in cn,tivating and preparing his
crops for market at net loss of
income. The student of economic
questions knows that the producer
might receive better returns at the
SAINT time that the consumer bought
at lower average prices if the pres
ent haphazard way of selling were
improved upon or new methods of
marketing substituted
If there no longer eluts in one
market with contemporaneous scar
city in others producer and con-
sumner would both profit 1t is not
that the the earth produces too
much but that the distribution of
her bounty is too uneaven. So we
hear OF carloads dumped into the
river at one place while there is
active demand at another for the
same kinds of produce. Yet this is
only che of the ways in which both
producer and consumer suffer.
The theory that both men at the
two ends of the line are robbed by
the middleman before food reaches
the table is being abandond. There
is Wrongdoing somewhere along the
line sometimes, but it is not so gen.
eral as is often supposed. The cause
of the trouble is being sought for
elsewhere. The farmer cannot re-
fora the methods of marketing sing
ly nor, with great success, collec-
lively. Much can be, and has been.
done by cooperation where the
farmer can be induced to try it. But
it sometimes fails through lack of
competent management or proper
bookkeeping. What is needed for
the general good is the discovery of
methods which will secure the re-
suits of cooperative marketing
without the necessity of voluntary
cooperative marketing organiza
tions.
IN" organization of the Office of
, Markets and Rural Organizations
was move in the proper direction
but it finds as might be expected
that the situation is so complex as
to require much preliminary study
! and Investigation. The report is
: evidence that its members are cap
able men who are not ready to rush
/ before the public with raw projects
, original or adopted, but recognize
the necessity of observation and
thought before framing final con-
illusions
Tne proposition of the Association
, of Southern Commissioners of Agri-
culture of township, county and
state chambers of agriculture, cul-
minating in semi-oflicial national
chamber of agriculture sometime
, similar to what Germany has done
for the German farmer-requires
considerable consideration before il
can he either approved or disap-
proved. 1t might appropriately be
referred to the Office of Markets and
Rural Organization for report or
elaboration Union.
Fish aescue Hospital
Iowa has a fish-rescue hospital to