80 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



tliat this large margin cannot long continue 

 to be taken, we have gone on increasing the 

 number of middlemen. 



The extremes to which these differences in 

 farm price and consumer 's price went last year 

 can be easily illustrated. A mutton chop in 

 a New York hotel cost more than was paid 

 for a sheep in Colorado or Kansas. Ham is 

 sold throughout the country at about six times 

 the price: of live hogs at Chicago when the 

 normal ratio is supposed to be about one to 

 three and one-half. They cannot understand 

 how a campaign for greater meat consumption 

 can succeed while this wide price range exists. 



Take a case in reference to vegetables. A 

 New Jersey farmer sold his potatoes to a com- 

 mission house for $1.50 per barrel, receiving 

 $9.00 for 6 barrels. After deducting the price 

 of the barrels, freight and cartage and 10 per 

 cent commission, the firm sent the farmer 99 

 cents for the potatoes. 



It was shown during the investigation by the 

 Senate Committee for the District of Columbia 

 that a bushel of potatoes for which a farmer in 

 Michigan received $1.00 was sold for from $4.00 

 to $6.00 in Washington and it passed through 

 many hands. The farmer sold it to the village 



