156 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



mate consumer had to pay more. But the problem is 

 not of this character ; it is predicated on two indisputa- 

 ble facts: first, that the farmer is at present getting 

 too little for what he produces, and, second, that the 

 consumer is paying too much for what he consumes. 

 Somebody or something in between must be eliminated ; 

 not the system, but some of its members or practices. 



A practice has grown up in the army, and is prob- 

 ably legalized, whereby the families of officers are per- 

 mitted to secure from the government stores their food, 

 clothing, and coal. In talking recently with the wife 

 of an army-officer I found that the prices paid by her 

 for these necessities of life are very much lower than 

 those paid by citizens to the merchants of the town. 

 Naturally the trade objects to this distribution of the 

 necessities of life to the families of officers, but it goes 

 on. Objection may be made to this that it is not good 

 business. It may be thought that the supplies fur- 

 nished to officers 7 families at the cheap rate mentioned 

 are really paid for by the taxpayers of the country. 

 Of course it is true that the food of the army is thus 

 paid for; but the supplies which are furnished to the 

 officers' families are furnished at cost, and do not im- 

 pose any burden of any kind on the taxpayers. The 

 army is compelled to have its commissaries and its 

 quartermasters with their clerks, storehouses, etc., and 

 the distribution of supplies to the families of officers is 

 thus made without additional cost to the Government. 



Mayor Shank of Indianapolis, acting without author- 

 ity of law and spending not a penny of the citizens' 

 money, has sold some of the necessities of life in the 

 open market of that city at a price considerably below 

 that charged in the public markets. He made a spe- 

 cialty of potatoes and turkeys for Thanksgiving, and 



