440 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



you find it out?" Then he told me that the company wrote 



him from Kansas City. He also informed me that the price was $125. 

 Both he and the house were to have a big ' ' rake off. ' ' Yet there are but 

 few manufacturers who sell direct to farmers. — Platte county. 



In spite of the much-talked-about high prices for all kind of farm 

 products, there is a general poverty surrounding the whole farming 

 business. In looking around in my own neighborhood I find most farm- 

 ers who would need at least one steady farm hand the year 'round, doing 

 without help because they cannot afford to pay $20 per month, which 

 is not too much for a good man, either. I believe that the farmer is 

 not getting a fair share of the products of his labor, because there are too 

 many parasites (middlemen) robbing him, and it's time that the farm- 

 ers should co-operate in buying and selling. Farm help is scarce because 

 the manufacturers can pay better wages than the farmer, and our boys 

 and girls who would otherwise much rather stay on the farm and enjoy 

 the surroundings of their homes are going to the cities to earn more 

 money. — Cole county. 



The people in the cities may cry "Down with high priced pro- 

 visions," and boycott them if they wish, but the farmers just can't pro- 

 duce them any cheaper and pay the high prices for farm help, and farm 

 high priced land and pay the tariff on the necessaries of life. — Cole 

 county. 



ROADS. 



We have some poor public roads in our county. Only a small per 

 cent, of the farmers own up-to-date vehicles, on account of bad roads. 

 — ^Wayne county. 



The question of good roads is a big one. — Phelps county. 



Farmers in this section are badly in need of a railroad. "We are 

 20 miles from any railroad and freight is very high on everything by 

 the time it reaches us. The farmer has to pay nearly $1 per hundred 

 pounds on all he has to buy, laid down here. That is, he pays the mer- 

 chant in purchasing his goods. — Pulaski county. 



The greatest need or problem of all for the farmer is good roads. 

 If the farmer, according to my opinion, had good roads so he could travel 

 as well in winter as in summer there would be less trouble about hired 

 help. The young man sometimes likes to go out, and without roads we 

 cannot keep him on the farm. So long as the State does not undertake 

 to take charge of the roads, we w^ill never have any good roads. — Osage 

 county. 



