The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-09-18
Baruch Seeks Cost Differ
ences Between Wheat
aa, and Flour 30
-, t8rt
FARMER GETS ONLY
SO FOR THE WHEAT

Bread-Broker Has Been In Kansas
studying-Thinks the ''Cat'' Is the
Middleman.
TOPEKA, Kan, Sept. lS.-Who gets
the $50 or more that it costs to handle al
barrel of flour from the time the wheat
| leaves the bins of the farmers to the
time when it reaches the consumer in
the form of bread? That is the question
which committee of Kansas farmers
and Bernard NJ Baruch, Wall street
broker, are going to try. to solve.
Baruch spent part of last week in Kan
sas in conference with the state board Of
agriculture and members of the various
/ farm organizations in the state Then he
went out into the small towns, even to
the homes of the farmers, into their
stores, to see if he could find some solu-
ton to the problem. A great amount of
material is being compiled for him by
the state board of agriculture, the State
Agricultural college and the farmers or
carnations When he has had time to
study it Baruch says he IS coming back
to Kansas for further conferences with
the farmers to see if they can evolve
some plan to help the situation
Kansas is the biggest wheat growing
state in the Hnion. 1t has a crop esti-
mated as high as lJ60O0,00O bushels this
year. Based upon the average prices be-
ing paid for thea wheat the farmer re-
ceives SO for sufficient wheat to make a
| t,aFpaI Is J,-
in the city, buys back that wheat in the
form Of loaves of bread and this man
pays at least $40 for that barrel Of flour
There is a spread" of $50 between the
farmers field and the mouth Of the con
sumner, or ON the $40 basis, Of 222.2 per
cent
Il ran up against this when I was buy
ing supplies for the government and the
allies said Mr. Baruch to the confer
ence of farmers There is too big diff
ference in the prices between the far
mer and the mouth of the consumer. It
was problem that puzzled me while L
4 was the chairman Of the war industries
board, but / did not have much time or
opportunity to study it then Now that
that work is completed / want to fird
ont about this.
Il found that the farmer could get top
prices for his products But the Spread
between what he received and what the
consumer paid continued just as big. In
some instances the spread became
wider, which Indicated there might be
profteering somewhere IN the transas-
ton. 1t Just looks to me that there is
n cat somewhere in the dealing between
the farmer and the consumer that is get
ting the cream Of the profits on farm
products What | want to do now and
what | hope to accomplish with the aid
OF the farmers and their organizations is
to find that cats When, we locate him.
we can take steps to remove him.
Mr. Baruch Indicated that the name of
the kitten might be ''AIiddleman". fact
long known to the farmers In fact his
studies led him to think that there are
too many middlemen Some are essential
hut he found evidences Of there being too
many, each one taking a profit and each
adding TO the ',spreadr between the far
mer and the consumer. The consumer,
having to pay the entire bill, howled AMI
walled at everybody connected with the
deal and, not knowing Just where the
kitty was, blamed everybody from the
farmer up
Cooperative selling of farm products
has reduced the net marketing cost Of
the farmer and adds to his profit, but il
has had no effect on the distribution
costs. Cooperative marketing, on tho
selling side, brings to the farmer a
| slightly larger return for his crops. but
instead of reducing the costs to the con.
sumner apparently eliminated one single
middleman and put his profits 1.-THE gra in
DEALER into the pocket Of the farmer.
Cooperative marketing, on the buying
side has reduced the costs of goods
slightly to the consumer. But the vel
, une IS not large enough to make heavy
, reductions in costs.
I. ID. Hammatt, specialist for the
Kansas board of agriculture has been
making an investigation of the co-opera-
tive movement for many months. Har,-
matt formerly was miller. one sof tire
big ones of Kansas He quit the mill in
the interest of his health and went TO
farming. While farming he discovered
this spread between the price the far
mer received and the price the consumer
) paid. Now he is devoting all of his time,
and at the expense of the state, to try
to fnd-a solution to the problem.
q he has as his aid the ~aeads. ef~tAe w.
rious farm marketing organizatidls
fthreughout Che state the 9inyestisatis 2
edUipmeft of the Agricultural COLLEGE al /
A>the hoard iof& a gficuttufe. Now he IAs
SECURED the and on Bernard sHafrch. who
: kmade larger purchases os1slnNlies>E tha 4
.5hRd eyer Been made by any mans during
the same snaee of time Herb6rt Co. Hoo
\ yer is coming ITO Kansas. aex1 snloRfsl frr
conference similar to tlrst &arrang6
4 with Mr.. Baruch and it is. for the SAN e
nurpose. TRYING to find the why of the
spread between the cost of the raw mn
terial and the price paid by the consum-
4 er for the finished product
4 While Mr. Barueh is represented as
saving the spread is 800. Senator Can
per Of Kansas figures the spread bn-
tween what the farmer gets fo7 his
wheat and what the consumer paws for
} his bread. He figures that the farmer