Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-12-02

Between Producer and Consumer,
If we seriously want to take steps to
reduce the cost Of living, one Of the first
things We have got to do is to reduce the
gap which exists between producer and
consumer.
got hungry for sweet potatoes one
day and went into the market In our
country town to inquire the price. ]
was told they were ten cents q pound.
Not more than week before that bad
received letter from farmer friend In
Alabama and he was highly elated st
getting 75 cents q bushel of Sc pounds.
he had twenty acres In sweet potatoes
and they would yield one hundred and
fifty to two hundred bushels per acre, or
an income of from $112 to $50 per acre.
| My friend was satisfied with the price
be got and with bis profit. But when I
bought sweet potatoes for my table up
In Illinois they cost me ten cents Q
pound or at the rate Of $500 per bushel.
l used to pay about 25 cents per bushel
freight on potatoes from that neighbor-
hood to Chicago. With increased freight
rates 1t wouldn't cost more than double
that now,-or 80 cents per bushel. At
that rate those potatoes could be put In
Chicago for $1.25 per bushel. Potatoes
on track in Chicago for $1.25 or lass per
bushel sold over the counter In my mar
ket. thirty miles away, for $500 per
bushel.
Where did the 1886 between the
Chicago team-track and me, as the con-
sumer, 90 to? There bad been too
many middlemen having slice out Of
that bushel of potatoes.
A friend of mine came out from the
city one day and in the course of our
discussion of the q. G. Of L. he men,
toned that oranges were about eighty
cents per dozen. Now my Alabama
friend also raises oranges and In bis
letter to me he had said that It looked
as If they would get around $3 80 per
box, or "half strap" as he called it, for
their fruit. A half strap will hold
about twelve dozen oranges and he
therefore got in the neighborhood of
thirty cents per dozsn for his fruit,
while the consumer would paw eighty
cents. Why the difference OF that fifty
cents per dozen? Once more, too many
middlemen getting bite out of that
dczen oranges before II reaches the con-
sumer.
In both the cases-potatoes and
oranges-the producer was we'll pleased
With the price. If he could have had q
direct outlet for his products whereby
the consumer could have gotten them
without having to pay percentages to a
whole lot OF commission men he could
have gotten fifty per cent more for bis
crops and the consumer could have got
ten bis food for about fifty per cent less
than what he bad to pay.
What is the solution of this age old
problem Of the too many middle-men?
The solution has not yet been reached.
The commission men and price boosters
are tough lot to kill of. but I believe
that great steps can be made by the CO.
operation of the farming interests. In.
dividual farmers should cooperate with
their local, county, and state farm
organizations, and these form q power.
full national organization that will insure
a voice in the affairs of the day and q
seat at the first table for the farmer.
A part of this plan, believe. should
be q campaign Of publicity and educa-
ton through which the consuming pub
lie is educated to the importance of the
farming industry and the Importance of
cooperation between the producer and
consumer. With proper team work
some workable plan can be figured out
which will drop by the wayslde Q whole
lot of these superfuous middlemen and
price fixers. When this time comes, I
won't have to pay ten cents pound for
potatoes that my friend gets less than q
cent and half pound for and won't
have to pay eighty cents dozen for
oranges for which be gets thirty cents
T. c. Hart, Illinois, in Hoard's Dairy.
man.