Norwich bulletin., 1919-11-21
COMMON SENSE IN DOMESTIC ECONOMICS

(Written Specially For The Bulletin)
 The Rural New Yorker has recent ly given it's readers series of high ly informative articles on the way in which Lancaster, Penn. manages it's food supply.
 It seems that. for more than hun dred years. the producer to consumer problem has been settled in Lancaster. Settled in a way perfectly satisfactory to both producer and consumer. Set tied right. Settled by a simple appli- cation of what is often called com nonsense" because, as has heretofore been intimated, it is so preciously un- common.
 How the system originated and how it has developed are historical topics interesting enough, but perhaps lit tie academic. What a great many far mers are more interested in-and what q great many consumers ought to be interested in-is the question what the system is and how it works.
 Briefly stated. the whole method is simply one of complete elimination of the middleman in all local transac- t tons. The city of Lancaster main tains public market. To this public market the farmers of Lancaster county bring their farm products. in their own wagons or trucks. Also, to this market come the housekeepers of Lancaster, with their own market baskets, and buy direct from the far mers, the goods they want at such prices as they agree upon. and carry them home. AS one observer puts it.: Here in Lancaster on market day, one can see the chief justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. an ex- 1 lieutenant go overnor of the state, the manufacturer, the merchant. the socie- i ty woman all cheerfully elbowing each other among the stalls, looking for a | choice lot of produce. or perhaps a 1 bargain
 Let me suggest that picture for mental framing by lot of New Eng l land housekeepers. Men of the high ; est rank and standing. women of the greatest refinement. each with mar i ket basket on arm. "cheerfully elbow ! ing each other among the stalls ir i the search for the material of theil i dinner.
 There isn't a store in the city whicf supplies farm produce. Why? The i,attempt to start such stores results 1T i sure failure. Why? Listen to the an i swer:
 The Lancaster housewife simply will not order her vegetables by tele phone, but prefers to go to the marke
 and see what she brys.'
 Does this mean an-thing to thu
 housewives of Connecticut cities?
 Does it give them any idea of wh! they have to nay such hi~h prices fn
 vegetables and why they too often ge
 such poor quality? 5aIs a5
 Doss it suggest to them that thu
 remedy for high prices and profiteer
 ing, at least, so far as local product
 are concerned is right in their owl ! hands? That they would show great CT wisdom in doing something alonI
 these Lancaster lines than in sui , fering ard scolding. after their presen manner?
 | Lancaster county is no lockwood , or poverty stricken community. 1
 lies on the southern border of Penn , sylvania, touching the Maryland line and about m dway between Philadel , phia and Harrisburg. It is goo l farming land. is thicklv dotted wit
 villages and well gridironed by rail
 roads. It is thic6ly inhabited. for
 country whose chief industry is farm
 ing, having, according to the censu . of 1910, a population of 167 0oQ. No ! is Lancaster town mere crossroad z village where 'tcountrifed" ideas rul' ! 3 but thriving city of 47.oo0 people, ac
 cordng to that same census. One ( the things that is said to impres ! travellers in the county is the evidenc | of solidly based prosperity which ev
 anywhere manifests itself-in the cit 2 and villages and on the farms. e Why shouldn't this be so? The pee n pie of that county seem to have con a bined, city consumer with farm pro t ducer, in perfecting a system whic
 assures a square deal to both. witf q out the intervention of any thimble a rigging third party to underpay tf a one and overcharge the other. t That the city consumers are sati! n fled with it is shown by the fact ths : they won't sustain or support or ( t business with any other market. Tn; - the rural producers are satisfied s proven by the remark of a Lanca. h ter farmer: Tt doesn't matter wh; 7. we may have as a surplus. we can a