The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1906-2016, 1916-08-13
From the Farm to The Family,

ing the high cost Of living is to bring
the producer and the consumer closer
together We have solved the prob
lem of producing food and merchan-
disc cheaDly, but until lately we have
not been able 10 distribute it cheap
ly. BY the time the farmers produce
reached the city mans table It often
cost double or even quadrupIe what
the farmer got for IT. Since the pub
lie awoke to the real situation the
old clumsy system of distribution is
being remedied. And the express com
panies, long criticised as backward in
their methods and extortionate in
their charges are to be credited with
the most effective system yet envolv-
ed.
The competition of the federal par
Gel post drove the express companies
TO the necessity OF developing effici-
ency along new lines or going out of
business. They quickly felt the effect
OF the governments lower charges for
carrying small parcels. They lower
cd their own rates in response. Then
as farmers, gardeners and poultry
raisers began TO use the parcel post
10 get their products quickly and
| cheaply to the city market, the ex-
press companies saw their opportunity
and went after it," While the federal
postofiice and agricultural depart
ments have done much to systematic
the development of farm to fami-
ly' market for the mutual benefit to
the producer and consumer. the ex-
press people have gone ahead and con
stituted themselves not merely the
carrier of the food stuffs from country
to city, but the convenient agent
through whom the two Interested par
ties can transact their business.
All this is rather academic. Suppose
you live in New York and want eggs.
butter and chickens fresh from the
country, cheaper than your own city
dealer can furnish them. You read
quotation sheet" issued on Monday
by the express company. 1t tells you
where those articles ale for sale,
what they cost, what the transporta-
ton charge is, how TO order them.
They put you in direct communication
with producers within a radius of
1000 miles. You give your order
through the express company. Your
butter may be shipped from an Ohio
creamery; your eggs may come from
Maine; your poultry shipped in re-
frigerator car or a specially devils
ed iced box, may arrive PROMPTLY from
Pennsylvania or Kentucky. You pay a
special commodity rate" for a min
imum weight of fifteen pounds. and
the same per dozen for your eggs. All
you have to do is to tell the express
company what you want, and give in
your check for the proper amount, de
termined by the quotation sheet the
merchandise is delivered in good con
dition at your door without further
formality
The possibilities of this system
seem almost limitless. The low com
modify rate" brings the whole coun-
try in touch with the consumer in
the big city. A New Yorker or Chi
cagoau or Bostonian can get choice
fruits from California direct from
fruit ranch to table by paying freight
charge OF four cents pound tS5 cents
mmimum) He can get combination
packages of cheese direct from the
Wisconsin shipping points. He can
get real maple syrup and real buck
wheat flour in the same package. at
rock bottom cost. Last summer a
New York State farmer put up a
combination package of half bushel
of selected potatoes and half bush
el OF choice pippin apples, and deliv-
cred them express prepaid in New
York city Tor 81. His supply was soon
exhausted and he had 10 tell the ex-
ress company to stop taking orders.
At first this business was done
chiefly with individual householders.
In the large cities. however, particu-
| J.. ~. MI ,,I s.l,;,.v n thcra has