The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-03-09

ask If their trouble is not ours, an
, see what can be done to improve tn
situation. Purely from self-interes
II for no higher motive, we shoul
help them. All Of us want to get BAG
permanently to "normalcy !" but is
reasonable to hope for that condition
unless our greatest and most basic In
| dustry can be put on sound and SOLE
permanent foundation? The farmer
are not entitled to special privileges
but are they not right in demanding
that they be placed on an equal foot
Ing with the buyers Of their product
and with other industries?
Let us, then, consider some Of tn,
farmers grievances, and see how fal
they are real In doing SO, we shoulC
remember that while there have been
and still are, instances Of purposefu
abuse, the subject should not be ap
preached with any general imputatior
to existing distributive agencies of de
liberately intentional oppression, but
rather with the conception that the
marketing of farm products has not
been modernized.
An ancient evil, and a persistent
one, is the undergrading Of farm prod
ucts, with the result that what the
farmers sell as Of one quality is re-
| sold as Of higher. That this sort Of
chicanery should persist on any i'm
portant scale In these days of bust
ness integrity would seem almost in
! credible, but there is much evidence
| that 1t does SO persist. Even as
write, the newspapers announce the
suspension Of several firms from the
New York Produce Exchange for ex-
porting to Germany as No. 2 wheat
whole shipload Of grossly inferior wheat
mixed with oats, chaff and the like
Another evil is that of inaccurate
weighing of farm products, which, 1t
Is charged, Is sometimes a matter Of
dishonest intention and sometimes of
protective policy on the part of the
local buyer, who fears that he may
weigh out" more than he weighs in"
greater grievance is that at pres
ent the field farmer has little or no
control over the time and conditions
of marketing his products, with the
result that he is often underpaid for
his products and usually overcharged
for marketing service. The differ
ence between what the farmer re-
ceives and what the consumer pays
often exceeds all possibility of justi-
fication. To cite a single illustration
Last year, according to figures attest
ed by the railways and the growers,
Georgia watermelon raisers received
on the average rs cents for a melon,
the railroads got 1927 cents for carry
ing 1t to Baltimore and the consumer
paid one dollar, leaving 1913 cents for
the service of marketing and its risks,
as against POP cents for growing and
The hard annals of
farm-life are replete with such com
mentaries on the crudeness of pres
ent practices.
Nature prescribes that the farmers
goods must be finished within two
Or three months of the year, while
financial and storage limitations gen
orally compel him to sell them at the
same time. AS a rule, other Industries
ire in continuous process of finish
ng goods for the markets they dis
ribute as they produce, and they can
urtail production without too great
injury to themselves or the commu-
lity; but If the farmer restricts his
utput, it is with disastrous conse-
uences, both to himself and to the {
ommunity.
The average farmer Is busy with
reduction for the major part of the {
ear, and has nothing to sell. The E
ulk of his output comes on the mar d
ct at once Because of lack of stor +
&c facilities and of financial support, t
lie farmer cannot carry his goods il
trough the year and dispose Of them 0
3 they are currently needed. In the t
-eat majority of cases, farmers have 0
entrust storage-in warehouses and b
evators-and the financial carrying Il
their products to others. Il
Farm products are generally mar G
sted at time when there is a con- u
,stion of both transportation and c,
1ance-when cars and money are O.
arce. The outcome In many in al
ances, Is that the farmers not only p-
II under pressure, and therefore at e'
disadvantage, but are compelled to ST
Ike further reductions in net returns
order to meet the charges for the sI
rvice Of storing, transporting, f1nanc- es
&, and ultimate marketing which al
argos they claim, are often excess as
7e, bear heavily on both consumer tr
d producer, and are under the con- CO
j Of those performing the services. pr
is true that they are relieved Of eli
e risks Of changing market by Of
ling at once but they are quite WILL be