Norwich bulletin., 1921-02-25
writt.r speciallv For The Bulletin )

: Written Specially For The Bulletin.) , Last week, We talked a little about athe relation which prices paid by con ssumerS bear to prices paid to farmers, We tried, at that time, to go as easy as swe could with the retail dealer. At any sr:tte, we gave him the benefit of the -ilouht We assumed, since he had to : reduce his prices largely to the consume .ers, that he had some excuse for trying 10 cut down his buying expenses.
 Judging from a recent address in New York city by Iir Porter, New York state commissioner of foods and. markets. we were altogether too charitable. He asserts that wholesale prices for farm products in the New York city market are down below even pre-war rates. Com mission stores in the wholesale sectieF are hliei with perishable products which the wholesale merchants are unable to sell even at pre-war prices" And he says. right out loud, that a great many people believe 'the retail trade is not giving people the benefit of low whole sale priceA"
 Ne nAx Is in brtter position to know the facts about both wholesale and re- tail prices s' farm products in New York city than Commissioner Porter. When such statements come from such a man they are worth more than all the asser- t;ene of interested profteers in that Shy lcek-fnfested Gomorrah.
 He gives facts and figures to hack UT his beliefs For concrete illustrations take these sample cases
 Genesee county N. T., farmer whc shfyped fn q carload of good potatoes last week, got s1.50 a barrel for them after freight etc, has been paid. Last yeaR, at this time, they would have brought him from $s to $S5o a bar ffeL
 A eaPleAd Of Oniens from central New Yerk brought seventy-nve cents per 100 pound bag. After freight. etc. had been de dacted, the farmer got a net return O twenty-five cents 2 bag, out of which h. had ts pay at least fifteen cents for eacl bag. This lert him ten cents a hun dfed pounds to pay for the seed, the Ia Der. the fertilizer. and all the rest of hi innunerable producing expenses.
 Fast year cabbages brought from s7 to $1eo . ton wholesale Now the farme ases well .o get from SIP to $15 a ton"
 . eeUtneyn and Caitfernia early vegeta bles are being wholesaIed at quite a aes1rdly low prices
 s A Eeeeat carload shipment of Cali .fofnia celery brought, at wholesale, S55. The. shippers bill for freight, commission etc, amounted to Se2see
 < A Texas spinach grower sent a car load of 75s baskets which sold at whole sale for S4s7.55. He paid in freight an other charges $72e.ss.
 A Florida trucker sent a carload ( Aeo crates of lettuce. It sold at whole sale for $S3s4s. 'The freight alon amounted to $sss75. and icing, war-ta carriage and commission brought the shi] 'pers expense up to tOtal of $491. .e5
 The lettuce raiser paid s15217 for u privilege of giving away his carioaI The spinach grower paid s25335 for similar privilege.
 ' But the hungry people of Now Tor city, who wanted portions of that lettuc and that spinach and those onions an cabbages. etc, when they came to bu their daily rations found no correspond Ing reduction in the prices charged the by the retailers. They paid a cent or tv .less than last year, to be sure. but n .swhere got the half or two-thirds r, 7duction which the wholesalers and r tailers were forcing upon the farr CTS.
 A New York city newspaper, whi. look up Dr. Porter's assertions and ma an independent investigation of the1 has fully corroborated him. As a rest of It's inquiries In both retail and whoi sale markets. 1t found conditions whi it summed up in the statement ths ''the public is not getting the benefit the big drop in wholesale prices" ., The reporter following up wholesa and retail quotations Of va rious farm pr ducts. A bag of Maine potatoes, weigl ing 1s0 pounds sold at wholesale, tl morning of his Investigations, for $2.5 That afternoon, they were selling in u retail market at five cents a podnd,
 at the rate of go for the 1So-pound ba The discrepancy was equally mark,