Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-05-16
Is the Farmer PROTECTING

A. G. Werlich, Baraboo. says al ar
ticle with the above title in The Wis
J consin Farmer accords with his ideas.
! The editor of The Farmer says:
l am glad to see the large eastern
magazines of national circulation, TAX
! ing I'D the case of the farmer, after
long indifference, and putting him
right before the unthinking public,
particularly in the matter Of prices.
/ All too many people in our towns and
cities think that because they are pay
ing high price for foodstufs the
! farmer is reaping a golden harvest far
beyond his just desserts, that he IS the
Robin Hood of the day, eXactlng trlD-
ute from all who gather around the
! dining-room table. The farmer IS en-
loving prosperity but not commenSu-
rate with his hard labOrs; he IS fecelV-
ing fair prices, but he is not reaplh8
the excess profits which so many as
srme he is reaping simply because the
householder is paying such a high
nrice. The distance between the pro
Queer and the consumer was never
greater than today.
am glad to see as representative d
national MAGAZINE is The New RepuD-
lie, for instnce, printing. an article III
which it is pointed out that the farm
or receives only about 80 Per cent Oh
the consumers price on the average
often much less. The article goes on
further to point out that labor To-Day
costs the warmer $50 to $50 month
whereas before it cost him onlY 9oo
To $40: that seed is 300 per cent hlSher
than it was before the war; that ma
chinerv is so per cent higher; that
money draws higher interest rates;
and SO on and on. War Industries anu
war itself have drafted away so much
labor the farmer must pay factory
ages, with factory hours, TO keep MS
help. There area hundred ana one
increased expenses and difficulties
which the farmer has to contend with
today. and what is the result? is ne
roaming the benefit Of the high prices
which the consumer is being Obliged
tn nav? I could answer the question
rvself-T have answered it frequently
in these cOIumnS-but this time pre-
fer to let another one speak tor me-
the writer of the magazine article re-
ferred to:
'The way to cut the cost of living
in half to the buyer and to double
profits to the farmer is to cut out the
intermediary private profiteering pir-
ate. who takes toll at both ends, de-
pressing prices to the farmer by Jug
gled and manipulated market lists,
and by lacking up prices to the buyer
under cover of increased costs.
"N0w. then, letsus apply this remedy
in terms Of the breakfast table! You
begin with an apple, which apple
growers say you ought conscientious
" to eat, both for your st0mach's sake
and to encourage the apple orchard
The farmer does well-and as [ sold
IA baskets Of apples last year at this
price, I am quoting from experience,
not market lists--if he sells those ap-
Piles over and above cost Of barrel
freight. commission, at So a barrel net
for three bushels Of say $50 to 500 ap~
ples. according to size. That is, the
farmer gets for your breakfast apple
One-half to three-fOurths of a cent. Ii
you are at a hotel, you pay rs cents
for that apple, or the equivalent OF $1o
barrel for 300 large Grade A Fancles.
! If you are in your own home. you have
, probably paid S. barrel or cents an
| apDle. Who got the difference be-
tween the farmers one-half cent and
v0ur 25 cents. or 2 cents? A hundred
different agencies Of distribution.
Freight claimed only small part, 40
cents for 400 barreled apples, or one
! tenth of a cent, or 10 cents for lOO
! boxed or Grated apples, again one
tenth of cent. Delay, storage, cart
age. commission man, jobber, whole
saIer. claimed the difference between
the farmers one-half cent and your
. cents: and hotel rentals and high
J nriced chefs claimed the difference be-
tween the farmers one-half cent and
the hotels rs cents. Now if the pro
Queer could get a straight net l cent
for his apples, he would flood the mar
/ ket with such quantities Of apples that
apples would always be cheap and new
err scarce The farmer could afford
higher wages for pickers, spraying,
packers. AS it is now, he ships you
barely 25 per cent of his crop. The
rest go to the cider mill to increase
the poison known as apple brandy, or
else they rot on the ground. l saw
as many as 5000 bushels in one orch
ard fed to the hogs the first year OF
the war.
After discussing milk and eggs in
the same way, the editor concludes:
Now, you and l have known these
facts all along, but the consumer-to