Daily Kennebec journal., 1922-09-21

Augusta dealers will refuse to buy
and the surplus for shipping will be
much greater than If the price is
nearer it's correct level.
If the price that Augusta people
are willing to pay is too low, the re-
turns from the surplus shipped else
where will bring a better net price
and the price in Augusta will have
to be adjusted to meet this outside
competition.
| The result of the process will be
that Augusta will get all of its supply
Fin good condition and at a price
slightly lower than that asked in
Boston and other centers. The saw
ing will be in the matter of freight
and handling which will be split be-
| tween farmers and local consumers.
The canning factory project met
approval and the plan as outlined in
this preliminary meeting had. as its
biggest feature the idea Of co-opera-
tive control and joint ownership;
shares being owned by farmers and
business men with no possibility of
| majority control by any one individu-
al.
The trouble with canning factor
les Is that they are owned privately
and the produce is bought at as low
a price as possible regardless of the
effect upon the prosperity of the
producer; it has too frequently been
a take-it-or-leave-it policy so that
the sweet corn industry in Maine Is
in wretched condition. If the fac
tory is owned jointly by merchants
who want to see their customers
prosper and by the producers, with
a board of directors in control who
are business men, it is thought that
| there is every likelihood Of success
for the venture. 1t is such a propo-
sition that this committee is eXpec-
ted to work out for Augusta.
| The cold storage plant was tenn
| porarily tabled as being too much of
a venture to be undertaken at the
present. 1t requires anywhere from
| $4,000 to S250O00 to build such a
plant, although the need of it to give
absolute control Of the situation can
not be doubted.
The meeting last evening was en-
thusiastic and everyone seemed to
feel that a proposition Of this kind
carried to a successful conclusion in
Augusta by merchants and farmers
working together would mean much
to the future Of marketing in Maine.
Every man present agreed to meet at
a later date to hear the report Of the
committee and it was the sense of
! the meeting that the Chamber of
| Commerce should work through this
committee to make q thorough and
businesslike investigation of the pro-
! jects The investigation will begin
| Immediately and will be completed in
! about month, at which time q sec
| 0nd meeting will be called.
Just to show how Maine has fallen
back in agricultural lines, one man
present brought an echo of the re-
,.4nt assessors meeting at the State
ilouse whenshe stated that 20 years
ago the barns were full Of stock
where today it was the rule to find
/ one old man and one COW as the en-
! tire outfit and the man poverty
| stricken at that The farmer must
gamble with nature and his markets;
| he can't control nature, but he can
! control his market.
| Another man pointed out that the
short hours and big pay Of labor IN
cities has drawn away the farmer
/ helpers and discouraged his sons ana
very few young men are willing to
| face the long hours entailed in farm
ing for the limited income offered in
return.
Another man pointed out that the
man who can produce in carload lots
! doesn't have to worry about his
market, it is the little fellow who pro-
duces only a little of each crop who
must find a market for his goods ana
! he hasn't enough to do his own
grading, asserting. etc. These things
can be done wsen the faTmers pool
their interests a wholesale market
at Augusta would remedy all this.
1t was also brought cut in tine
discussion that Maine corn can be
made a nationally advertised article.
such as the California raisins, and
| other crops The community owned
plant could undertake this advertis-
| ing. whereas the individual plants do
not do so.
The meeting was presided over by
Robert E. Beane. president OF the
Merchants Bureau, and Secretary q.
| c. Clarke made the opening speech
and led the discussion.