St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-02-09


for food products averages mills per
ton mile. as compared with mills
per ton mile for transportation over
inland waterways and 23 cents per
ton mile for transportation by horse
drawn truck, according to the recent
report by the Mayors Market Com
mission of New York city. In other
words, ton of freight can be trans
ported nearly 700 miles by rail for
what it would cost to carry it 20 miles
by horse drawn conveyance. A fed
eral investigation in 1906 found the
average cost of hauling produce from
the farms to the shipping points, over
the whole of the United States, varies
from 7 to "A cents per 100 pounds,
with an average of IL cents. This in
itial cost of hauling. the produce from
the average American farm to the
shipping point makes rail rates on
long distance shipments sink into rel
alive insignificance- Grain, flour, and
provisions can be sent from Chicago
to Liverpool, if carried by lake and
rail to the seaboard and thence by
steamer to Liverpool. for Is cents per
100 pounds. That is, it costs but 4
cents per 100 pounds more to get farm
produce from Chicago to Liverpool, a
it from the average farm to the local
station. This development of inter
state and transcontinentaI freight
rates has opened wide the door of the
eastern market to the western or
southern farmer. AS result of such
growth the farmer from Kansas is
nearer Burlington today than many
Vermont farmer of a generation
ago, indeed. nearer than many of the
present generation under our present
costly system of distribution TO our
home markets The advantage other
wise accruing to the eastern farmer,
when there is an increased demand or
a shortage of supply, is over balanced
by the very slight disadvantage of the
more distant farmer as far as the cost
of rail transportation from shipping
point to market is concerned, and by
the facility with which farm produce
from any section of the country may
be sent, even after transit has started,
to point. offering a more favorable
market. This fact leads us to speak
of the second element concerned in
this fixation of uniform prices for our
agricultural produce.
Diversion of Shipments.
The method known as the diversion
of shipments, or selling in transit, by
which a carload, destined for a par
ticular market and already in transit
for that point may be DETECTED to the
market Offering better price, has
wide influence as a contributor to-
wards a nationwide price. For ex-
ample, a carload of cattle from a
Kansas shipping point consigned to
Chicago may be DETECTED by telegram
to Kansas City or Omaha. Western
grain billed through to any point in
the East may be turned almost any
day to another destination where the
price happens to be a fraction of a
cent higher In fact, this competition
among produce markets is no small
force in the continuance of a uniform
price level. 1t is not too much to say
that it is the great force in the main
tenance of the price level to the farm
er for his output. Due to competitive
bidding it is impossible for any one
market to depress the price level for
any appreciable length of time. 1t re-
suits, therefore, that in this modern
age of the telegram and a highly eff
ficient railway service the eastern
farmer because of his location near
the more populous centers, or because
of local stringency in supply, has little
advantage as far as the wholesale
price of farm produce is concerned.
Storage and Refrigeration.
The third factor in fixing uniform
wholesale prices on certain Semi-per-
ishable farm products is cold storage
and refrigeration. Butter produced in
June and July is held for sale in jan
uary and February. Eggs laid in the
spring are held for sale during the
winter months of the following year.
In other words, certain commodities
produced at a time of the year in ex-
cess of the existing cOnsumptive de-
mand are held for sale during that
part of the year when the normal sup
ply is insufficient to meet the con-
sumptive demand. Thus, this equaliz-
alton of supply and demand makes for
stability of price not only month by
month over the year but for one sea-
son as compared with another.
The final factor. and perhaps the
most important, making for nation
wide stability in market prices on
farm products is the method by which
crop reports are issued by the United
States Department of Agriculture. On
the basis of these reports the produce
exchanges make their prices, both on
spot transactions and futures in the
primary markets of the country. In
formation concerning crop conditions
throughout the country is secured by
the Bureau of Statistics. through the
aid of it's highly organized crop re-
porting staff consisting of state agents,
special travelling agents, and county
and town correspondents. To this has
been added an International Crop Re-
porting Agency which furnishes the
added facilities for a knowledge of
worldwide conditions. From the re-
ports received the crop reporting
board arrives at state and national
averages and totals as to crop condi-
tons in each and every locality. At
stated hour the report is sent world
wide by telephone and telegraph and
upon the information therein are
based our market prices. That is, on
the basis of the knowledge gained re-
garding the visible supply and its re-
lation to what he best considers to be
the probable total demand the world
over throughout the year. the specu-
1afnr on he fhnrn11OnIU r.