Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-11-14
NEICnbORHOOD
TRADE n 0 I
u
!. ENCOURAGED
Augusta Neglects Ser
vice and Good Will for
Rural District
The Third of a Series of Paid
Advertisements Written
With the Idea Of Bringing
Clean and Profitable Indus
tries to Augusta
fBy GEORGE WEBER
,pasiden. Webber's Auto Electric
Service.)

N tEeSlur!IS NNO A|iCCtILC
Augusta must depend a. much for
its growth and prosperity upon the
outlying district and upon the farmer
and his trade as it depends upon its
own internal development.
Dollar days and other occasions
when special sales are held may help,
bat fail in creating any material and
permanent increase in business to tho
city.
THE farmer and his wife. when they
bring their produce to the market
must feel confident that they can dis
\ pose of their goods at a decent price.
II ne thinks he can not do 50 in Au-
glsta he goes elsewhere and else
] where he buys his clothing and his
seeds and his hardware.
The old order of things has chang.
] ed and now the farmer if he doesn't
receive price which he feels Is Just,
steps into his car and finds that the
! GOOD roads and the road signs make 1t
a. easy for him to leave Augusta as it
was for him to come. &c. therefore,
IL we expect to benefit by our rural
trade we must expect to buy the
farmers produce as well as sell him.
7 Among the farmers different sour
ces of revenue we would quite likely
ind that his poultry and his eggs
l form no small part Of his income
| the money derived from this source
| il depended upon to purchase many
Of his important needs and often
enough it falls upon the egg money"
! to help materially in the education Of
his children.
The old and true law Of supply and
demand makes it possible for out
side interests to take their toll from
every community that makes no ef-
fort to balance the supply and the
demand.
The producer in this case is the.
farmer and his family, at the time
when their product is plentiful drives
to Augusta and finds the local stores
unable to purchase more as the days
supply has exceeded the days de-
mand and their small refrigerators
ore full.
The farmer is forced to drive from
one store to another and il unlike
his neighbor with car he has to de-
pend upon his horse and market wag
on. he is forced to sell at practically
whatever price is offered and with
the money received he is able to buy
but a part of the things he intended.
So he goes back home and the mail
order houses have won another Gus
toner.
Too often, the farmer justly dis
coura ged at the scant returns receiv-
ed from his products is lured by the
glowing advertisements Of the west
ern railroads and land campaigners.
We are making no real effort to help
him 50 he calls in the auctioneer to
help him. He goes west to learn that
! Jim Hill mustard and Japs are worse
than what he has left behind. We
lose by his leaving. the farmer him
i self loses and the only ones who gain
are the western railroads and the
sharpers who sell him the land and
throw in the alkali.
Rand and McNally's- atlas has this
to say about the State of Maine:
Recently the advance in popula-
ton in Maine has been seriously re-
tarded owing to the Western migra-
ton of many of It's people"
How shall we here in Augusta
remedy these evils and make these
conditions better both for the far
rer and ourselves?
Why not a Cold Storage warehouse.
Such plant is needed here for our
own protection. 1t would stabilize
prices and make retail prices OF per-
ishable products lower in the winter
and provide a ready market for the
! farmer in the summer.
! am figuring now on concern
not speculative at heart and owned by
! outsiders whose only thought Is 70
buy at the lowest and sell at the
highest figure Neither do I have
faith in strictly cooperative insti-
tuition. as too much management
usually spells mismanagement. but
Cold Storage warehouse. where our
dealers could rent space alta fair
figure so that they might purchase
the farmers perishable products.
when they were offered.
The management Of this plant
snouid also hav" 4 fund and system
o. that they would he able to advance
ne farmer fair percentage OF the
veiPf and insurance sliD ana wren ths
proper time arrived sell II for him Anc
SSreo!t him with the proceeds less
\ lar commission and reasonable stor-
>, AT the present time We depend upon
me Western packers and the cold stor,
sse plants in other cities. We sell
mem our product for pittance when
rack again a few months later at
.arge increase in price. We cry prom
.eer at the middle man and hackers
s s YET by our own inaction and short
sghtcdncss do we make his profits
s iahis city is especially adapted as
sl.e fer such plant. We draw our
nsac rom large section and likewise
an ship either by rail or interrrban
ia ",,f large section. WHY should we
rs'S And why is it that our Cham
@r Of Commerce makes no effort to-
s sar.s establishing such a plant in our
Does the average Augusta citizen
ns.lise the geographical adyantaEe
r ia. this city holds over all other
sslles in Maine? We notice it here
Sssss,bly more forcibly than others. as
..ssirdly a day goes by but what we re-
i've telephone calls and kilograms
o mom distant parts of the State re-
IsssssI'ing us to ship them Generator or
lsaaItion Parts. Armatures Ball Bear
ra AZ, etc. and 1t is not unusual Tor |
tss. owners to drive from as far dis
nv as Lewiston or Rockland for. us |
,haspslr their Electrical Equipment or |
Ne storage Battery. The fact that |
"a carry A large stock Of eplacement /