Evening star., 1932-05-08
Continued From First Page.)

NOOiASAAA0SA 1AOAl AAoo coNc
sands of stockholders indirectly have
vested immense authority. They can
buy what and when and where they
wish--or stay out of the market, know
ing just what their stocks are and prac-
ticaly what their needs will be. They
represent, indirectly, the millions Of
American smokers.
That handful OF buyers very naturally
has an immense superiority Of position
over the many thousands of growers of
tobacco, widely scattered, largely I'M
organized, without exact knowledge of
market needs and conditions, and need
ing money when the leaf is ripe.
/ know from experience in handling
for growers (when there was some Or
ganization) approximately billion
pounds of tobacco. selling for nearly
$500, 900 at 18 to 20 cents pound,
that that cooperation on the part of
the producers was worth while But
tobacco has been sold by unorganized
producers at from to 10 cents
pound-and, of course, such prices were
ruinous to the grower, whose time and
toll and investment went for naught.
With such disparity IN organization be-
tween buyers and sellers, the law" of
w.
Under such conditions the prices paid
for tobacco to growers have varied from
year to year as much as 200 per cent
Yet, during period of years, cigarette
prices have varied very little. The
highly organized manufacturers were
able to stabilize their selling prices year
after year, but the growers of tobacco
never knew from year to year even ap-
proximately what they might be able
TO obtain for the product of their labor.
l am not criticizing the manufac-
turer-I am simply pointing to the fact
tnat buyers OF farm products have been
highly organized; the sellers very poorly
or not at all organized, in most in
stances, until recent years.
Illustration Given.
The condition is illustrated further
IN tnls extract from report made to
the United States Senate last wear bv
a group led by Senator Arthur Capper:
The committee in its investigation
has been impressed with the high dis
tribution costs from the time the prod
uct leaves the farmer until it reaches
the consumer.
The retailer of bread charges a
gross profit of at least cent per pound
loaf. This amount, which the retailer
obtains for allowing the bread to be
placed in his store and for delivering
1t to the customer, is at present prices
equivalent to the total amount the
farmer receives for interest on his in
vestment, for preparing the land, plant
ing, tending, harvesting and deliver
ing to market the wheat contained in
q one-pound loaf of bread.
"On the average, the farmer receives
haN 1nI h. N1s1 IL
milk sold for fluid purposes, although
he has an investment much greater
than that of the distributor. There is
too great difference between the gross
profit of the retail meat dealer and
the amount received by the livestock
producer for the equivalent in meat.
Similar conditions hold in the market
ing OF other farm products"
The same committee called atten-
ton to "the recent consolidation of
the Notwithstanding companies into
a few powerful organizations, located
at strategic points throughout the
country, which practically control and
dominate the distribution of milk" It
was found that in the City of Wash
ington plans had been consummated
which would place rs per cent of the
milk distributed in the Nations Capital
In the hands of one private corporation
and its directors
Ordinarily that would be a bad thing
for the milk producers, dealing indi-
vidually with huge corporation. But
here the value Of producer co-opera-
ton is shown-for the dairy farmers
in the territory shipping milk to Wash
tngton are organized and their asso-
citation supplied "a per cent of the
city'S total needs. So, through COL
lective bargaining with the distributors,
the farmers were able to obtain ap-
proximately cents per quartz high
price compared with what producers
elsewhere received. Yet, mark this.
Washington milk consumers paid only
] cent quart more for their milk than
Chicago consumers-though milk pro-
ducers shipping into Chicago received
4 cents less a quart than the CO.
operatively associated producers ship
ping into Washington. The difference
was accounted for by the bigger share
the distributing corporations took In
Chicago. I am glad to say that spread
between the price the producer re-
ceives and the consumer pays has been
narrowed somewhat in the last few
months, due TO the bargaining efforts
of the Pure Milk Association, a CO.
operative furnishing Chicago's milk
supply.
Fair Return for Labor.
This statement of an actual situa-
ton Is striking demonstration OF the
fact that a fair and decent price te
the producer of food does not neces-
sarily result in a high price to the
consumer And it proves also that 9
low price to the producer does not
insure low price to the consumer II