FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 2 1 3 



a dozen. Now the question is, whether these Jews steal it 

 the night before, or whether some fool of a farmer is willing 

 to sell it to them for four or five cents a dozen. This Jew 

 peddling business ought to be done away with for the benefit 

 of those who are growing and selling produce. I believe 

 the farmers and the market gardeners would have a better 

 show of disposing of their crops if it were not for those who 

 cut down the price of produce to the last fraction of a penny 

 for the sake of underselling those who raise it. 



A IMember: I think that point can be well brought up 

 and taken care of in the work of this organization. Of 

 course these people do get their corn somewhere, but a large 

 part of it comes from the markets, and it is withered corn 

 which has been left over from the day before, and the major- 

 ity of the people ought to know it, but nevertheless some 

 of it does come from the country, and it would be a great 

 advantage both to us, and to the farmer and the public in 

 general, if it were done away with. 



President Eddy : I will say the purpose of this Society 

 is to educate the farmers not to do this thing, and I doubt 

 if any of the members do it. I met one of those Jew ped- 

 dlers twenty miles from Hartford one day with barrels, and 

 I asked him what he had, and he said he had apples. Now 

 he goes out and buys those apples from some of the farmers, 

 and brings them into the city and sells them very cheap. 

 Now that is what our Society is for — to educate the farmers 

 not to do this very thing. 



Mr. Smith : I believe there is another side to this Jew 

 question, and I think it is well worth thinking of. The Jew 

 peddler takes the produce from the farmer and carries it to 

 the consumer. He skips the middleman, and he enables the 

 farmer to get rid of his crop, and he often enables the farmer 

 to sell his goods, when otherwise he couldn't sell them at all. 

 I don't believe on the whole the Jew peddler stands in the 

 way of the farmer getting a good price for his produce ; T do 

 believe that often and often he is the means of doubling the 

 sale. It seemed to me, this very year in New Britain, that 

 twice the plums were sold because of the Jew peddler, for 

 he took the plums to the consumer and forced them on hivn 



