The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1919-06-07
WHO GETS The PROFITS?
Not the Farmer Unreasonable ExtenHow the Consumer
Cut Down High Living Cost.
BY COL. CLARENCE OUSLEY.
Secretary of Agriculture.
Assistant Secretary Of Agriculture.

titles as a single loaf of bread or few
wards Of cloth. which requires the en-
pluymCnt of many persons.
If houscholdcrs could or would pur-
chase their flour by the barrel or their
cloth by the bolt: II they coulu OF
would purchase comparatively in groups;
if they could or would dispense with
the convenience Of telephone for order
ing. and Of charge accounts. there
would be Il considerable shrinkaGc be-
twc.n the rricc which the consumer
paws and that which the farmer re-
CcIVCS.
Ru. so long as people prefer or arc
compelled by their CIrcumstanC" 10 pur-
chaS. bread by tho loaf or cloth by the
few yards, to have deliveries made IN
small lots. and 10 maintain the present
convenient system of distribution, thcy
must not only pay the cost of such ser
vice OF convenience or necessity, as the
case may be, hut must pay also Il gen
ercus profit which the intelligent self
interest of the retail dealer enables him
TO obtain.
Such comparisons might be made
with much more striking disparity in
tho cases OF articles of luxury or perish
able products than II. he cases of the
have boon cited.
The farmer on the ono hand ana the
manufacturer on the other. except in
n few lines Of production or or manu-
facturo favored by war circumstances.
arc receiving little. if any. more than
the normal profits OF prc-war times. In
fact. the farmer on the average IS -
cclylng for the first time In n genera
ton an adequate profit on his Invest
mcnt and his labor.
We cannot here go TO the length or
n discussion Of the subtle question "t
the whole cause Of high prices as they
are related to the money supply or IN"
volume OF public credit throughout the
world but the most casual investigation
oF comparativc prices received by pro-
duccrS. manufacturers and dealers VIII
show that Of the three classes tho deal
crs perhaps arc enjoying the highest
ratio Of increment.
There is little prospect or any great
reduction in the prices or farm products
on the whole for some time 10 come
Europnan disorder is such that pr"dur-
tion on tho other side Of the water VIII
not this year roach proportions comrar-
able to prc-wnr Yields. On tho other
hand. II is doubtful whether the year
1919 will show moro actual lahorcrs On
the farms Of the United states thah
were on them in 1914. in proportion 10
the land in cultivation.
Any attempt by legislation or other
wise 10 force down the prices paid y"
farmers Will automatically defeat itself
BY making farming less attractive. ana
, thereby tempting some to abandon
farming Tn" city consumer therefore,.
must find relief in other processes. H.
should address himself 20 the very
wastcrul system of distribution.
Theorists and acadcmicions, not 20
speak Of rcvolutionists, may imagine nil
kinds OF measures Of relief through. .hc
powers OF government or the powers or
the mob. but in the long run the cold.
economic facts which have determined
production and consumption since the
world began will continue to assert
themselves.
Copyright, 1879