The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-12-27
BY ARTHUR HAPPIER United States Senator from Kansas. Written especially for The Inter-
 SnFvirsa

1 Washington. Dec. 27.- Something is radically wrong with a national system of distribution which permits of absolute waste of food produces in 1 one section of the country when in i other sections there exists good de- mand That condition occurs ire i Guently in the Uni ed States In the | fruit-producing sections Of Michigan and New York press reports declare that large quantities of fruit routed and was wasted because there was nc market for it. At the same time midwest, where the crop was cut short by late spring fros s. Produc- i CTS in New York and Michigan, the 1 reports state, did not obtain profit able prices for their crop despite the fact that other sections of the coun- try were anxious to buy. Propapiy inadequate transportation rarlrleies and shortage of labor were factors iE this condition. But at any rate the system of distribution failed to func- ton to the profit either Of the pro- ducer or the consumer.
 How Dollar Is Divided
 There is an enormous spread be- tween the price the producer obtains for his products and the price the consumer pays for them. This spread, occurs in the marketing and distri- button of those produces The Cal ifornia Fruit Growers exchange made an investigation to determine how the consumers dollar was diVld-o
 
 included, and 5,485 reports were ob tained The results showed that the factors entering into the division of the consumers dollar spent in buy ing citrus fruit in 1914, are:
 Retail distribution cost (gross), 333 per cent; jobbers' distribution cost (gross), S.2 Der cent. growers refrigeration cost, 20.5 per cent. hacking house cost, "A per cent; cost of picking and hauling to pack ing house, 2.4 per cent; proportion retained for fruit on the tree, ger per cent.
 These figures are supplied by G: Harold Powell, general manager of the California Fruit Growers ex- f change, Los Angeles. They show that = the retailer gets 33.3 per cent. and f the grower 26.7 per cent. of the con sun2er's dollar. The cost of jobbing d and retailing is 41.5 per cent. m r 10 per cent, and in another town = 22 per cert, showing wide var1a- = tion The retailers margins raT . Herbert Hoover recently made this d statement: ''The margins between h our farmers and the wholesalers II = cornmoditiesother than grain, in some y the highest in any civilied country st fully 25 per cent. higher than in mos 1t European countrleS.
 $ Where Farmer Loses y Mr. Hoover also said:
 if "Analysis of the character Of tn
 margin between the farmer and tn
 wholesaler will show that decrease
 in price find immediate reflection ol
 the farmer, while immediate in
 creases in prices are absorbed by tn
 trades between, and the farmer get
 but a tagging increase.
 Prices of hogs obtained by farmers
 prices paid by the consumer and tn
 margin be4Veen. as shown in govern ' ment statistics for 1914, 1919 an' NJ 1920, indicate an enormous JOSS V both the producer and the consume to the one in the low price ob
 tained and to the other in the ex n cessive price paid. These hgure F are:
 Price of hogs in principal state
 per 100 pounds: 1914. 7-45; 191!
 Ts1e.27; 1920 s1537. Price of cure
 products to consumer for the 109
 pound hog. 1914, s1S-96; 1sl:
 s37.23; 1920, SETH. Margin betWee
 the farmer and the consumer. 1S1z 'y s1152: 1a19 s21.O6; 1920, s22-34. of While the farmer has gained abou Ht s792 in price the margin has III h. creased by S10.S2 to the consumer l., The consumer has paid 30 cens noof e, while the farmer got 90 cents les a. during the last year..
 ie Il Faulty Transportation m Inadequate transportation facilitie n. add 70 the costiness of the distrlou ,e ton system. In the. face of a ca d. shortage the producer cannot moV