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market places, the institute meetings, the winter fairs, in fact wherever farmers congregate 

 to discuss their industry, that the bacon industry has no stability, and that the producers 

 do not receive their share of the returns from the market. In the face of this we 

 have the continuous high prices that have maintained, not in the summer alone when values 

 are almost always high, but right through the autumn and into the winter even at the holiday 

 season when so many householders are expected to be using poultry. But, say the great 

 army who have sold their sows "What would have happened had we all continued raising 

 hogs at the rate of 1903 ? allow the supply to reach a high point and the great gulf is ready 

 to yawn at us as ugly as before. We are getting along very well without the pigs. Satis- 

 factory help is not easy to get and our calves, foals and fowls are making very good use of 

 the skim milk." This is the feeling that is experienced throughout the country and enables 

 the wise, persistent hog raiser to make a fine profit from his swine. 



Then there is the grievance about buyers paying at the flat rate for all kinds light , 

 ideal and heavy. Much pains have been taken to produce the long, fleshy singer 

 which brings the producer no more than the cheaper fat pig that is produced in the corn 

 belt. The packers again get the credit of reaping the fine returns from the superior hogs 

 after purchasing them at the same rate as the less valuable kind. The packers blame the 

 buyers and the buyers keep on as they have been doing while no concerted effort is being 

 made to bring about a satisfactory solution of the problem. The farmer is following his 

 inclination but what is to become of the bacon industry ? 



In Ireland, in England and in Denmark, the Commission compared this with the state of 

 the industry which in those countries was found to be sailing upon a comparatively smooth 

 sea. It is true that producers and packers in the Old World, have not always seen alike and 

 even yet troubles and doubts arise. Each country in its own way, manages to solve these 

 problems, not by dropping the industry but by discovering the weak points and applying 

 what appears to be the best remedy. In some cases the packers have taken the initiative 

 in others it has been left to the producers. In England we have examples of both. The 

 Harris Wiltshire curers allow no grievance to grow. With the least evidence of dissatisfaction 

 the farmers are asked to meet the packers to examine for themselves the point at issue. 

 Such meetings are not confined to interviews in which the books are revealed to prove a 

 theory but the whole question is thrashed out until confidence and harmony are restored. 

 The packers in this, exercise good business judgment as they know well that their success 

 depends on the supply and kind of hogs they are able to get from week to week and from 

 month to month. Co-operation between the two is alike good for the packer and the pro- 

 ducer. 



In the Eastern counties co-operation works out in another way. The buyer became 

 a dominating factor and having no important business at stake he undertook to take more 

 than his share of the returns of the industry. The impression gained foothold that an 

 understanding between buyers had been reached but this did not drive farmers out of pig 

 raising. The Eastern Counties Farmers' Co-operative Association engaged an exper- 

 ienced salesman and trusted him to find a market. This man drives an automobile up 

 and down the roads and farmers are so well satisfied with the results that they raise in that 

 district more pigs than anywhere else in Great Britain. 



In Ireland the Commission heard some grumbling about the buyers. The pig fair 

 system of selling is not quite satisfactory. Buyers usually arrive at the town the evening 

 before and it is felt that competition is not always as keen as it ought to be. Here, however, 

 buying on merit is the rule for every bunch of pigs calls for a long discussion and the good 

 pigs got the preference. Then the old established packing firms announce their prices 

 for first-class hogs and usually set it high enough to get most that are offered. 



Still some dissatisfaction with conditions of buying hogs prevails in Ireland and it 

 is confidently predicted that unless co-operative curing becomes general in parts of Ireland 

 where pigs are sold alive, that it will not be long before auction markets are operated as in 

 England and Scotland. This it would seem should be a good solution for much of the 

 buying difficulty in Canada. It ought to do away with the flat rate system of paying alike 

 for all kinds, good and bad. It would do more, it would stimulate competition which is 

 limited to a minimum in many country sections in Canada. 



