The Ocala banner., 1922-02-03
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HusI.
NESS?

Inc answer lOfu6I secretary VI
agriculture gives to this question is
"a lack of orders due to the reduced
purchasing power of the farmer" s
He is right. Until the prices at
! which farmers sell and the prices at
which farmers may reach something
approximating sane level, business
and industry and labor are not going
to get out Of the hole And the great
est obstacle to the necessary level
ing process continues to be the i'm
possible freight rates which have
bound and hampered the country for
the last 16 months.
Until we reduce the confiscatory
freight rates and the prices of most
manufactured goods, agriculture is
not going to start back on the road to
recovery, and until agriculture recov-
ers nothing else will A general re-
duction in rail rates must be the first
step. There is salvation in it to the
What sanity or sense is there to
change prices such as these:
prices such as these:
Corn one-third of cent pound !;
coal two-fifths of cent.
Coal $3.50 ton; freight charges
300 miles, $3.50.
Oats Is cents a bushel; oatmeal 20
cents bowlful.
Wool 10 to Is cents pound; wool
en- yarn $3.50.
Wool to make a suit of clothes, As
cents; price of suit $50 to SIS.
Two days wages for shucking corn
So; price of corn sold for $3.50.
Potatoes, from nothing at the farm
to S1.S5 bushel in town; freight
charges Dakota to Michigan S165 a
bushel
Hides three cents a pound and no
demand; work shoes So a pair
One horsehide 81; one pair of horse
hide gloves $3.50.
Seventy pounds of corn 25 cents;
10 pounds of cornmeal so cents.
Sixty pounds of wheat. IS cents; IS
pounds of -four $270.
Texas cabbage in Texas, less
freight, So to S6 ton; Texas cabbage
in Chicago, $3.50 ton
One pound of live hog 61a cents;
one pound of pork steak 25 cents, one
pound of lard 20 cents.
Live steer six to seven cents a
pound; beef roast 35 cents pound;
steak 25 cents pound \
1t takes pound of good country
butter to buy a box of axle grease
made of refinery refuse; a bushel of
oats to buy a cup of coffee; a bushel
of corn to pay for plate of corn
cakes; liz bushels of corn to pay for
a haircut; two bushels of corn to buy
a pound of good breakfast bacon;
40 bushels of corn to buy a pair of
shoes; bushel of corn to buy cheap
pair of cotton socks: 120 bushels Of
corn to buy hand-me-down suit of
clothes; $50 bushels of corn to buy an
overcoat; so to 100 bushels of corn
to get woman's hat.
1t costs as much or more TO ship
hay, oats, sheep, hides, potatoes and
other farm products as the grower
gets for them.
We pay in freight charges from
$3.50 to 81 pound for our shoes;
from $5 to $40 q pound for our cloth
ing: from $40 to $40 a pound for our
hats But the average freight from
New York to the central west is only
from one-third to one-fourth of one
per cent of the average selling price
OF the clothing and dry goods used by
the consumer.
The farmer has to pay from eight
10 1914 cents a pound for implements
and the freight on the implements av-
erages more than 33 1-3 per cent of
the total cost as against one-fifth of
one per cent on dry goods, clothing
and accessories. He receives, in the
central belt from one-third to two
thirds of one cent a pound for his
corn and the freight is from 100 to 200
per cent of what he receives for it at
his baryard gate.
Prices paid to producers of prin-
cipal crops are 54 per cent less than
year ago; 5S per cent less than two
years ago; and "a per cent less than
the 10-year average.
Prices paid to producers for meat
animals are 35 per cent less than a
year ago; 4s per cent less than two
years ago; and IL per cent less than
the S0-year average.
At the same time the cost of every
thing else is out of line compared
with what the producer gets for his
stuff, and aside from some reduction
in clothing and farm implements, and
some other things a farmer huvs. the