Norwich bulletin., 1920-09-17
f~2 R1,atL{E.|
 1.-THE FARMERS TALkl 4 la TO FARMERS @y
THE FAILURE TO ARRANGE PROPER DIsTRIBU. TON
T0FAPMERS
TON

asked the farmer if he would sell us s few of the fallen peaches to eat. Great Scott!'' he retprted, take all you want; take 'ern off the ground or off the trees which ever you choose; you're welcom
 to all you can eat Or carry away
 But you can sell these sn the trees,o said, expostulat!ngiy. "Sen ,s1n?" hu replied: Why, man. can't sell 'eTn for S5 cents bushel picked and deiiy- cred at the station" Happening to have heard & retailer in the city quote them at $1,z5 8. hasket-less than half busnei-te customer, only the day before, l.. ill my innocence, thought l SAW 6 chance for that grocer to save money for himself and his customers by putting him wise to this opportunity- So, on my return to town, I dropped in,
 at his store and told him what I had
 heard in Portland, and how he could buy 3 hundred bushels or more there for 5
 cents. He-had forgotten CT didn't know
 that I overheard his selling price O. 1 forty-eight hours previous and answered curtly; "Thirty-five cents! Why, l can 1 buy 'em for less'n that, all I want" 1 You'n perhaps observe from this oc currenee that prohteering isn't a 1s1S- 20 invention.
 Twenty years ago I happened to have
 8 big crop of extra nice and extra early
 white beans. Being in my nearest mar l ket town, I dropped in at a big grocery /, to see if I could sell them When went i'll the grocer was doing up q quart of beans for customer. ''Ten cents. please said he. She paid it and went out. There are, as you may remember, thirty-two quarts in d busilel. He was therefore, getting sage a. brshel for his beans at retail. 1 said to myself "IIa certainly can afford to pay me S2.5a q
 bushel for better and frasher beans, de- lvered at his back door,
 Did he? Well, hardly.
 Really, We doa't need any more beans.' he replied to my question.
 sswe,ve engaged our years supply from
 Michigan, and they'll be here almost any
 day now" And what arc tlay worth
 by the Dushsl,'' I asked. We paid
 S1.35 for ours. delivered" was his reply
 A quick operation in mental arithmetic
 indicated that. if he paid s1.35 . bushel
 and sold for s3.20 a Dushel, he was ses-
 ting S1.s5 g, bushel for putting them il !, paper bags--which were cheap. tacs. l days-and the farmer out in hichigar
 tsSs getting s1.S5 a bushel for growing , them and harvesting them and cleanine l them and putting them in expensiv' , to New England.
 I [ so, having the tiIne, I meda f2irly
 complete round of the bean dealers i1 < lthat city. All had the same answer Z $1.35 2 bushei.'
 ] I don't doubt that every farmer coul' l, tell scores of similar experiences. Tllel : is 1ot. there never has been. anythin' . unusual about them. They are quite l the daily course; quite the customar.
 thing.
 0 But the fact that 3 wrong is hosr, ' with antiquity doesn't make it a righ- d Or invest 1t with any sanctity. t Instead, the fact that q wrong Is ol |. and antiquated induces in the thoughtfr e mind Q weary wonder why it has bee It permitted to persist so long.
 e Isn't it more than queer, isn't it boI d derinG on the disgraceful that all th world hasn't yet evolved a system b
 which the apples and peaches of one dis il trict can be moved g. hundred or tw m miles to a fruit-laclling population, witt l., out requiring the producer. on one sid ,f to work for nothing and board himsel -o while, on the other hand. compelling u n consumer to mortgage her baby's- cri
 to buy any of it?
 1f If such state of affairs were repor h ed from Mars, say, by the professors d the new inter-stellar wireless astronom
 wouldn't our keen-rninded economis
 and our able-rnouthed Statesmen" of, 'e ,e it as convincing proof of the senility -u ! the Martian intellect and the decrepitut ,c of Martisn morals?
 ie Yet they used to say that sauce ft - the goose was good enough for the gal ia THE FARMER.