THE RELATION OF AGRICULTURAL CREDIT AND CO- 

 OPERATION TO THE COST OF FOOD IN 

 PHILADELPHIA. 



By J. Clyde Marquis, 



Delegate of the City of Philadelphia to the American Commission on European 

 Agricultural Credits; Associate Editor of The Country Gentleman. 



The unrest among farmers has been gradually increasing since the 

 Civil War, but it was not until the growing cost of food aroused the 

 city consumer to the situation that any widespread notice was taken 

 of the matter by public men — Congress, the legislatures and the pub- 

 lic press. The agricultural press has been full of the discussion for thirty 

 years and there is nothing new about it to those who have been studying 

 agricultural economics closely. The trouble has been that until the 

 present they have not been heard by the public. 



Public agitation broke out during the Roosevelt administration 

 and resulted in The Country Life Commission, which was the first pop- 

 ular propaganda directing attention to our agricultural situation. Then 

 David Lubin went a step further. Beheving that the trouble at the bottom 

 was a financial one he urged the Southern Commercial Congress to lead 

 a delegation of state representatives abroad to see how Europe had met 

 the financial problems in similar situations. Lubin must have credit 

 for having secured the appointment of the official Commission, which 

 is soon to report its findings to the President and to Congress. 



The city man asks, what has all this to do with his grocery bills? 

 Let us analyze by stating a series of facts that are now generally accepted 

 as facts : 



1. Food costs have increased. The proofs are well. known to 

 every one. 



2. The farmer has not gotten the increase in profits which the 

 consumer has paid. Plenty of farmers are testifying to this 

 point. 



3. The increased cost for services by distributing agencies in the 

 city now increases the cost of food over the prices received 

 by the producer from 50, 75, 100, and in some cases 200 per 

 cent. For the city of Philadelphia the proof has been provided 

 in the investigations of Dr. King, of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, under the direction of Director Cooke of the Bureau 

 of Public Works. 



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