MARKET CONDITIONS. 



Dean R. L. Watts, 

 State College, Pa. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: I can assure you it is a great pleasure to appear 

 in this conference as the representative of your agricultural college. This 

 institution does not belong to President Sparks, his faculty or the trustees, 

 but it is your college. While we have almost 1,200 students studying 

 agriculture, we feel that one of the most important hnes of work of the 

 School of Agriculture of the Pennsylvania State College is to take the 

 College to the farmer. We know that an exceedingly small percentage 

 of your sons and daughters — the young people of this state — will ever 

 find it possible to come to the College. There are 225,000 farmers in 

 Pennsylvania and we have in the College over 1,000 of them, but this is a 

 very small percentage of those who must have help. So that we realize 

 that our great problem is to take the College to the farmer and help him 

 solve his problems right on his own ground. 



I have been requested to speak on market conditions and I wish to 

 discuss this topic with special reference to Pennsylvania. The interests 

 of the city and country are mutual. Whatever is beneficial to the farmer 

 will usually help the city man. We hear a great deal in the country about 

 the high cost of living in the city. Occasionally, when we drift into the 

 city restaurants, we wonder how in the world the city man can make 

 both ends meet; and when you talk to the farmer, he will in all probability 

 tell you that his profits are not any larger than they were a few years 

 ago. We realize that city consumers are paying more for food than they 

 have paid for many years, but producers are not reahzing very much larger 

 profits. 



I want to congratulate the Corn Exchange Bank, Rural Progress 

 Association, The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture and 

 everybody who has had any part in this meeting, on the idea of having a 

 get-together conference in Philadelphia. I am glad that the framers of the 

 programme have barred out all questions relating to production. It is high 

 time that the producers of this district and the consumers in our cities get 

 together for the purpose of discussing market problems. 



There are certain factors which contribute largely to the high cost of 

 food, and I shall view this question largely from the standpoint of one who 

 lives in the country and who has had experience in producing for city 

 markets. In the first place, those of us who live in the country believe 

 that too many people in the city are making a living off the farmer. We 



(29) 



