Norwich bulletin., 1922-01-27

written. Specially For The Bullettn)
clipped the following paragraph from
= big city paper. the other day.:
When a farmer invests farm earnings
In, another enterprise of which he knows
little, Il proves that he had small faith
IN his own business"
! suppose that the smart Aleck who
got that of really thought he had said
a mouthful>
Quite likely he may have patted his
\type-Eriter on the keyboard and said,
VERY good. Liza Jane That gets the
old hayseed right where the haar js
short Guess thatll shut EN- up for
while"
One day. last summer, an onficial Of
the government bought Georgia water
melon in Baltimore. He paid. the regu-
lar price asked by all the dealers that
day. viz: One dollar. 1t turned out to
be not very good melon and the off
cial somewhat regretted his dollar. Then
X occurred 10 him that he'd like to know
5ust where that dollar went, who got
Il and how Il was divided up. Being a
government official and having not only
a pull but something of a push, too, this
was a comparatively short Job for him.
he found out that the farmer in
Georgia who Ngrew the melon and de-
livercd Il 20 the railroad got seven
cents for Il: that the railroad which
hauled L from Georgia to Baltimore got
twelve cents for freight and that the
Baltimore dealers got eighty-one cents
for taking It of the railroad car and
handing It TO him.
They made a gross profit Of eighty
one cents on an investment Of nineteen
cents.
Their receipts for the melon were
It
the farmers receipts for II.
We do not know nor does there seem
20 be any way for finding out Just what
the dealers had to pay for overhead and
other expenses OF marketing that water
melon.
Nor is there any apparent way of as
tertaining what the farmers overhead
and other expenses were for growing the
melon.
Whatever they were in either case. the
dealers had eighty-one cents in hand
with which 70 pay theirs while Mr..
Farmer had Just seven cents In hand
with which 10 pay his.
Sa-ow. ~ they used TO say da-own
east-snd also in virginia-let's suppose
a case Let's suppose that Mr. Smart
Alec who wrote our text had a few
dollars in his pocket TO invest in the wa
termelon Industry. Dye s'pose he'd in
vest Il IN the end which realized seven
cents per melon, or in the end which
realized eighty-one cents per melon?
Just as fairly sensible investor look.
ing for returns on his investments, which
end OF that poker would he take hold
or
Would he PIN tlfs faith to the sever
cent tan or TO the eighty-one cent dog?
Or. would ne reflect that wisdom 1,
Justified Of her children and keep hi:
money inNhis own overaTs pockets?
Really. This Is what the literary fe1
iers call an academic question" rather
than a practical one For mighty few
farmers. these days. have any loose mon
ey lying round for investment in an,
direction.
An through the west and scuthwes
farmers are cutting down on their plant
iugs and sowfngs, or planning to do SO
for the simple reason that they can
get their mooney back for the grail
they already have on hand In man
Ftates they are burning corn in thei
own stoves or selling It to public lish
and power plants for use as fuel unde
The big boilers, because they can't sci
Z any other way; because they haven
the money TO buy coal: and becaus
they've got to burn something or freez
70 death. -
They are offered seventeen to ninetee
cents bushel for their corn Tha
amounts 10 somewhere in the vicinity @
thirty-dve cents a hundred pound.
said my grain dealer to me, the othe
daE: I'm charged ninety-five cents
hundred freight on corn, now. Used I
be twenty-six cents"
Thirty-fve cents a hundred to tn
farmer for the corn nine.y-fve cents
hundred for delivering 1t.
Thirtr-hve cents a hundred to til
farmer for the grain and all the valu
there istin It; ninety-ive cents to til
railroads for pulling it around.
The railroads aren't getting rich eve
out n this -outrageously uneven gobbl
for they have TO pass the greater mai
OF their income over to their bosses. III
hrotherhoods.
The farmers aren't getting rich
aren't really coming out even for the
can't make the Erain-selling and II
coai-huyirg ends Of their business NEE
Meanwhile. the railroad brotherhood
are resisting every. effort 70 reduce raj
road wages even by a beSzar,y ten {
twelve per cent And / read that ~
anthracite coal miners promise to stril
WREN their present contracts exnir
next April. for an increase OF at lea,
twenty per cent. in their pay. Also. III
one-time farm laborer refuses to get o,
the manure or pillow the oat-rround II,
less he's paid, more for the work ths
az the oats VII sell for. with the manu-
under them.
a.