New-York tribune., 1920-04-01
/ ne Costly Middle,oar1
How Producers and Consu7,-
ers Gould Cheaper Service

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In the editorial section of The
Tribune for March 90 there is an
interesting letter from DR.. Elmer II.
Copeland, of Northampton, Mass. de-
sc1iblng his adventures in trying to deal
directly for farm products with farmers.
made the mistake Of drawing some dis
couraglng conclusions from All alto
gc-hcr too limited experience. Accord
ing to the doctors letter, he had two
or three experiences in buying farm
products from ncar~farmers. and be
cause these experiences were unsatis-
factory he leaves the impression that
all farmers are dishonest and inclined
20 protiteer.
1he doctor complains that in one of
these deals he bought potatoes which
were OF good quality and attractive in
the top of the sack, but they grew
smaller and smaller toward the bottom.
where they were no larger than mar
bles. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES are few dis
honest farmers who will practice thing
OF tins kind if they think they can get
away with it; but the practice IS by no
means confined to farmers. for every
city shopper knows that there are many
retailers who do the same thing The
very great majority of farmers, how
ever, would like to see any Of their
number who try to fool the public with
inferior products in jail, where they
belong.
Ono Of the reasons for the unfortu-
nate and dangerous misunderstanding
which is growing between town and
country is that tho average city dweller
draws his conclusions from wrong prem
ses. The most he knows about farming
and farmers is what he secs of the
small truck grower near the cities and
the summer resorts. These truck grow
ers arc not representative Of the real
large food producers at all. In fact.
many OF thru were originally city dwell
crs. Many OF them have made large
amount of money during the war by
charging retail prices at road markets.
IN just the same way tina. they over
charged DR.. Copeland They are not
large factor in the actual total produc-
ton Of food, for they farm only a few
acres. The real farmer living back
from the cities runs a large farm and
produces food on a large scale and has
neither time nor labor to "soak" his
city cousin who comes riding along In
an automobile.
There has been good deal Of nom
sense written about doing away with
tho middleman. With the tremendous
growth Of the cities during the last
nall century, a CORES spending need has
grown for some kind of service or sys-
TEN which would get the food produced
by the farmer to the consumers table.
In some way this service will always
have to be performed and it will ALWAYS
cost money; but the trouble is the pres
ent system has grown without definite
ann, except to make money, and it is
awkward and exceedingly expensive 1t
Is absurd that products should cost the
consumers two and three times what the
farmer receives for them. Farmers
have recognized this for years, but the
war and high prices have just forced
1T upon the attention of consumers.
This service from farm to city can
not be eliminated, but it can and must
be shortened and cheapened. It cannot
be cheapencd by few individuals driv-
ing out into tho near suburbs and bring
ing a basketful Of produce, but be-
licve 1T can be helped by organization
OF tho two great bodies most at interest
the producers and the consumers
and considerable progress has already
been made along this line. In the past
neither the producer nor tho consumer