330 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



the middle man, both to producers and 

 consumers. The farmer's prices are 

 manipulated. After the bulk of the 

 wheat crop is sold by the farmers, the 

 prices go up. What new factor or 

 factors have since matured to change 

 the price? Only the cunning hand of 

 the market manipulator. 



DEAI,ERS MANIPULATE PRICES TO 



THEIR ADVANTAGE, AND THE 



GROWERS' LOSS. 



In this part of the New Jersey 

 peach section we have raised and 

 shipped millions of baskets of peaches, 

 yet most of the growers have been left 

 poor. Why is this? Let us see. Bas- 

 kets have cost from 2^4 cts. to 4^^ cts. 

 each. When the most peaches were 

 shipped the prices ranged from 3 to 

 SVz cts. Freight was 9 cts. a basket; 

 cartage 4 cts.; commission 10 per cent. 

 On a 50-cent basket the cost would be 

 from 21 cts. to 21 Va cts. per basket, 

 about double what is should have 

 been, leaving to the growers 28 ^^ to 29 

 cts. per basket— less than cost of pro- 

 duction. The larger part of the 

 peaches have been sold for less than 

 50 cts. per basket— many away below 

 that price. In some instances a bill 

 of costs has been rendered. We have 

 had returns of 8 cts. per basket, net. 

 When peaches have sold at wholesale 

 for 25 and 25 cts. per basket, I have 

 known them to retail at 10 and 15 cts. 

 per quart. One season when we were 

 getting from about 50 to 75 cts. per 

 basket for the best grade of peaches, 

 a friend told me that he had seen 

 good peaches offered for sale on Sta- 

 ten Island for $3.00 per basket. An- 

 other season there was only a moder- 

 ate crop of peaches here, and the crop 

 was a small one generally throughout 

 the country, yet, when the "run" of 

 the Reeve's favorite variety came, 

 there was a "glut;" and when the 

 "run" of late Crawfords came on 

 there was a worse "glut." So the man- 



ipulators said, but, in reality, there 

 was no glut at all. The manipulators 

 of prices were only fixing things to 

 suit themselves, but to the injury of 

 the growers. I then saw what was 

 the trouble, the great trouble, with 

 farming. If there is manipulation of 

 prices with one product, then there 

 must be the same with all products, 

 if it is worth while. It is just the 

 same with honey, without a question. 

 Excessive cost of distribution— pub- 

 lic carrier charges and middleman's 

 profits— is the great cause of the 

 farmer not receiving his share of the 

 wealth produced. Another cause, and 

 approaching it in importance, is over 

 production. In nearly every branch of 

 agriculture there has been over pro- 

 duction at some time or another. The 

 only exception that I know of is wool. 

 If there is much profit, or a fair profit, 

 in any one line of production, people 

 rush into it, often wildly, as in the 

 peach business here in New Jersey, 

 and all profits disappear and the busi- 

 ness is killed, unless it is in some lo- 

 calities possessing some one or more 

 advantage not within the reach of all. 

 The raising of horses and beef cattle 

 is enjoying a temporary respite, but 

 the chief advantages are gained by the 

 speculators; the producers, as usual, 

 getting the mimimum of benefits. Al- 

 though the price of beef has been up 

 a few cents for some time back, my 

 nearest neighbor could get only six 

 and eight cents per pound, equal to 

 seven cents per side, for nice young 

 beef in the month of December. 



THE EVILS OF COMPETITION. 



Over-production is due to competi- 

 tion. People are now beginning to see 

 competition in its true light. Instead 

 of being a blessing, it is nothing more 

 than a necessary evil, to be curtailed 

 and restricted. As society advances in 

 development, competition will be elim- 

 inated altogether. It means every 

 man trying to get the best of another— 



