Proceedings qf the Farriers' Club. 621 



push thoir inquiries into tlie general question of association as well 

 as a better system of marketing. Every other business has its organi- 

 zation. Why should not the agriculturists of the country, the most 

 important of all, be not organized ? 



Mr, J. B. Lyman. — As chairman of the committee referred to, I would 

 say that we are in possession of many facts that show groat abuses 

 of tlie trust which farmers put in factors or middlemen. For instance 

 here is a letter from JSTelson Payne, of Auburn, N. Y., showing that 

 on tlie 28th September he shipped ten barrels of Dutchess pears of 

 the finest quality. A firm on South street sold them for a little over 

 five dollars a barrel when that very week prices of such pears were 

 ten and twelve dollars a barrel. I have heard of a great, many such 

 cases and the committee are studying some method for relief for the 

 farmer. One defense we may make that will have some power ; to 

 publish in these reports the name and address of merchants who are 

 shown to be so careless or slow in handling farm produce so as to 

 sacrifice the interests of the shipper. The committee invite letters 

 from farmers whose returns have been so far below market figures as 

 to warrant suspicion. 



Mr. J. W. Gregory. — There is no better way out of all these evils 

 and afflictions than for the "-overnment to take charge of the trans- 



ge 



portation of the mails. The great monopolies must be broken. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — When the committee have obtained all the 

 facts we will be able to suggest several methods of relief. What we 

 want is a capable man who will stand up for the farmer against 

 monoplies, middlemen, and politicians, too, if necessary. 



Mr. D. B. Bruen, of Newark, IST. J., an old and much esteemed 

 member of the Club, spoke at length on the above text, and was lis- 

 tened to with close attention. The laborer is more especially 

 interested in being properly protected in the expenditure of liis daily 

 wages than any other class; but every individual, whether a poor 

 man or a millionaire, has the same right to protection from fraud. 

 There is no article of food so necessary for the support of human 

 life as bread. The price of a loaf is a fixed fact, whether it weighs 

 more or less. Many bakers put up conspicuous notices in their places 

 of business, "Large Bread." Whether their large loaves are puffed 

 up by some chemical process, or by the use of some deleterious arti- 

 cle lighter than flour, or by their liberality to the laboring man, to 

 give him more for his money than his fellow-tradesman, is a question 

 that can only be solved by the use of the sealer's weights and meas- 



