Missouri Farm Facts. 439 



BUYING AND SELLING. 



The farmer of today needs conditions whereby he will not have to 

 take the merchant's price for his products, then give the merchant his 

 price for his goods. — Dent county. 



One of the greatest problems the farmer is "up against" is in buy- 

 ing and selling. We need some kind of a farmers' union so we could 

 price what we have to sell. "We have to let the buyer price our farm 

 produce, and then they price what they sell to us. While I think it all 

 right for the merchant to price his coffee, sugar, clothing, dry goods and 

 machinery, we ought to be able to price our cattle, hogs, sheep, corn, 

 wheat, eggs, poultry and other stuff, such as we have to sell. — Dent 

 county. 



The question of greatest need or problem is one hard to get at, but 

 it appears to me that the correct method of buying and selling direct 

 from producer to consumer, through organizations for that purpose, is 

 of the most importance. At the same time such a plan would be hard 

 to put into practice, owing to the long-established business methods. The 

 consumer, in the majority of cases, pays about twice what the producer 

 receives. — Carter county. 



The greatest need of the farmer is to stop gambling on his products. 

 Then, the middlemen are so numerous that the margin must be high so 

 all can live. This means that the cost between producer and consumer is 

 about doubled. True, we need distributing plants, but we have a sur- 

 plus of middlemen, so that they must sell their goods high in order to 

 make money. They ought to have money, but I don't think that a man 

 should have as much for cutting up a cow as for raising her in from 

 three to five years. — Gentry county. 



We need co-operation to regulate the price of products sold. — Mont- 

 gomery county. 



Combinations control everything that we have to sell and buy. — 

 Adair county. 



Trusts run down the line to the retailer, who is the "king bee." 

 He learned his lesson quick and well. A beef that sells for 5 cents per 

 pound on foot increases to 20 cents when sold in roasts. Some farming 

 implements have increased in price almost 50 per cent. I bought the 



first manure spreader in this community. I wrote of the 



manufacturers. As I did not hear from them for some 



time I thought it strange, but one day an implement dealer said to me, 

 "You want to buy a manure spreader." I replied, "Yes, but how did 



