495 
, The Hearing on the Wicks Bill 
The Line-up Over the Issue 
GENERAL OPPOSITION.—March 20th wa.s the 
bigge.st farmer.s’ day Albany over saw. Farmers 
from all parts of the State were at the Capitol to 
protest against the Wicks bill in the name of them¬ 
selves and their neighbors and other organizations. 
For once the produce dealers and middlemen from 
New York joined hands with the farmer in a com¬ 
mon can.se against this bill. There was no protest 
against it. and no apparent defense of it. by the 
milk distributing interest.s. which in Itself was 
significant The hearing extended from two o’clock 
in the afternoon until seven ji. in. The only ad¬ 
vocates who appeared for the bill were the mem¬ 
bers of the committee that framed it. Farmers 
and dealers and business men were unanimous in 
their opposition to it. Everybody conceded that 
the people of the State did not want the Wicks 
bill, and that mea.sure is dead.'' 
A SIGNIFICANT DEMONSTR.VTION. — This 
demonstration of the power and influence of far¬ 
mers at Albany was worth more to the agricultural 
interests of the State than anything that has hap¬ 
pened in 50 years. It Avas the first real contest that 
farmers have waged at Albany, and they won. In 
this farmers have made it plain that partisan poli¬ 
tics no longer cut much of a figure with them. 
They have made it plain that a legislative group 
can no longer drive a measure down the throats of 
farmers, that fanners do not want. As the work 
progresses there may be larger and more strenuous 
contests, but there can never again be a beginning, 
and no contest in the future can have greater 
significance, nor greater importance to the agricul¬ 
tural interests of the State of New York than this 
united protest against the principles of the Wicks 
bill. 
IN DEFENSE OF ITS FRAMER.—One thing 
.should be said. In our judgment Senator Wicks 
was misled and misguided in the preparation of 
this measure. To what extent he may be account¬ 
able for permitting political associate or crafty 
counsel to betray the interests that he repre.sents, 
is a debatable question, but results may affect a 
man’s judgment and i)erspicacity without affecting 
his integrity. Senator Wicks has not had long ex¬ 
perience in legislative matters. He is a (piiet. un¬ 
assuming man, kindly in his disposition, courteous in 
manner, and winsome in personality. He permitted 
a very vicious bill to be iiresented in his name, but 
in our judgment Senator Wicks was entirely in¬ 
nocent of any personal intent to embai'rass the agri¬ 
cultural interests of the State. 
THE TWO SIDES.—While the Wicks bill is dead 
the contest that inspired it is yet on. This con¬ 
test has lined the people of the State clearly and 
definitely on two opposing sides. There are men 
on both sides who would not be able to define the 
policies Avith which they are lined uj). There are, 
as is alAA'ays the case, a feAv men out of place. They 
belong on the other side but do not know it. This 
want of complete* alignment is due to the fact that 
they haA'o not yet grasped the fundamental prin¬ 
ciples underlying the contest. The man out on the 
farm betAveen the plow handles, Avith nothing to 
befog the issue, and no other interests but the farm 
to consider, has had no difiiculty in lining uj) on the 
right .side. When you find a man with speculative 
interests even mixed up Avith the farm operations, 
you may find him on either side. He is the most 
dangerous factor in the situation. He po.ses as a 
farmer in farm conventions and at Albany, but in 
the speculative circles he is recognized as a dealer, 
and the larger his interests as a speculator or 
agent of a dealer, the stronger his position on the 
side of strictly speculative interests. 
INTERESTS INVOLVED.— The line-up is this: 
On one side the men who say that the pre.sent sys¬ 
tem of distribution is right; that speculation in 
food is right; that it is even necessary; that men 
have a right to go out and buy up food i)roduct.s, 
make a monopoly and corner in them, and hold them 
as long or as shoit as they like, and finally sell 
them for all they can make the public pay. They 
take a chance on the gamble and they are entitled 
to their winnings. These men Avould put no re¬ 
striction on dealing and re-di'aling. on speculation 
or gambling in food products. We .must allow the 
commis.sion dealers. Avholesalers, jofibers and re¬ 
tailers to multiply themselves as much as they like 
between the producer and the consumer, and all 
that society can do or may do- is to pass general hiAvs 
to regulate the traffic. In the past Ave have called 
combinations illegal and regulated the traffic. At the 
same time Ave all knoAV that combinations and re¬ 
straint in trade did exist and does exist in trade 
TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
circles. The men Avith these conditions insist that 
the law of supply and demand is sufficient regula¬ 
tion of speculation and prices. The Wicks bill Avent 
further and proposed to recognize and license com¬ 
binations in restraint of trade, and relied on a 
regulation of the monopoly to protect the public. 
This is a fair, though not an exhaustiA'e, statement 
of the condition of the men on one side of this 
proposition. ' 
DISCOT’RAGING PRODUCTION.—On the other 
side AA'e have men who .see AA’omen and children 
hungering in the city, and the high cost putting 
food beyond their reach, AA’hile the best and fine.st 
fruit in the world is rotting on the farms of the 
State, because the system in vogue has made the 
cost of distribution so high that the farmer is un¬ 
able to sell it for enough to pay the cost of trans¬ 
portation and sale AA’ithout regard to the original 
cost of production. They see bumper crops selling 
for less money in total than a small crop, because 
the .system of distribution holds the price to the con¬ 
sumer at the high level and discourages the extra 
consumption that would come if the price to the 
con.sumer were made commensurate Avith the cost 
at the farm. In this sy.stem we see the constant 
discouragement of production. The discouragement 
of production has decreased the number of pro¬ 
ducers from ♦50% of the population to 40%, and in- 
crea.sed the city population of consumers from 40% 
to 00%. This influence ’ .i the decrease of produc¬ 
tion Ave believe is one of the large factors in the 
present crisis of the abnormal high cost of food. 
Give the farms of this State a steady price for 
farm products to cover cost of production and a 
reasonable reAvar.l for labor and iuA'estment, and 
there never will be any shortage of food. The men 
on this side belieA’e that the cost of distribution is 
too high; that the producer and consumer ought 
to bo brought closer together, and ♦^hat by an effi¬ 
cient and economic system of distribution a con¬ 
siderable saving can be effected. They belieA^e that 
under the present system the huv of supply and 
demand is obstructed and made Inoperative in the 
large percentage of the transactions in food traffic. 
They belieA'e that the cost of distribution can be 
reduced, and that it is not only the privilege, but 
the duty of the State to devise a system and dem¬ 
onstrate the reasonable cost of distribution, fl’liey 
insist that this is not putting the State in the busi¬ 
ness; that it is simply a kindergarten lesson in 
the art of distribution. The educators of the Avorld 
are agreed that the best lessons are learned by 
doing. The State has been sjiending money to 
teach and instruct in the production and distribu¬ 
tion of food for a good many years. Its lessons 
have been verbal and written, and in the case of 
production the lessons have sometimes been dem- 
onstration.s. This side of the controversy now de¬ 
mands that the lessons in distribution be of the 
kindergarten type—that we teach the le.sson by do¬ 
ing. If Ave fail—and there may be some failures— 
the les.son Avill be A'aluable. It will tell us that Ave 
have been complaining Avithout reason, and that the 
present system is as good or better than any Ave 
can y(*t (h'A’ise. If, on the other hand, the dem¬ 
onstrations proA^e that food can bo distributed just 
as Avell as now at a material saving, there can be 
no disputing the fact, and the lesson Avill be an 
important one. Five years ago the farmers of the 
State adopted this kindergai’ten system of in.struc- 
tion for the education of distributors. ’Fhey have 
made a partial and imi)erfect trial of it through 
the Department of Foods and Markets, and they 
are more determined today than tney ever AA-ere 
before to have this system thoroughly tried out to 
a successful conclu.sion. If any Legislature in tlie 
State doubted this fact before they cannot doubt it 
after the demonstration in favor of it at the Wicks 
bill hearing Avhen a prominent fruit groAver of 
the State a.sked Senator IlroAvn AA'hy the Depart¬ 
ment had not been given sufficient funds to try out 
the system for Avhich it had been created, and for 
Avhich the Wicks bill Avas alleged to be devised. 
This is also a fair but incomplete analysis of the 
sentiment lined up on the other side. 
A SUMMARY OF SENTIMENT.—It is very ap¬ 
parent that the men on the first side are and must 
be opposed to the Department of Foods and Mar¬ 
kets. The men on the other side are in favor of 
the Department. The.se men on the .second side are 
frank and open and clear-cut and insistent. They 
knoAV just Avhat they want and demand it. The 
gentlemen on the other side arc inclined to dodge 
the issue. They cannot openly declare that they 
have no concern for the cost of distribution. They 
are not Avilling to go with ex-Judge Ward and claim 
that distribution is as low as it can be made. That 
theory kept Ward out of the last hearing, if it did 
not eliminate him entirely, but they do not want 
to reduce the cost of distribution. They do not 
want to disturb the dealers, the speculator, the man¬ 
ipulator or gambler in food i)roducts. 'If the cost 
could be reduced and allow this cla.ss of middle¬ 
men free sway and the profits that go Avith it all 
will be Avell, but there is a limit to the Ioav cost 
of production, and a limit to the price the consum¬ 
er can pay, and .so an attempt is being made to 
shuffle from one form of administration to an¬ 
other to do something to hold the temper of the 
jicojile in check and still do nothing to arouse the 
ire of the interests that are making their jirofits 
in the handling and storing and speculation of 
food. 
The Wicks bill is dead, but the problem that 
brought it into existence is a A'ery liA'e proposition. 
Legislation Muddle Over the Wicks Bill 
The death of the Wicks bill leaA’es the .situation 
at Albany in a very much muddled condition. ’Lhe 
po.sitive demand of the farmers from all parts of 
the State has been to kill the Wicks bill and to 
create no new legislation at all approaching that 
measure at this time. This AAms not only the senti¬ 
ment of the farmers at the hearing but it Avas the 
command that they brought from their neighbors 
at home, and the command that reached Albany 
in letter and telegram. The demand is to leave the 
Departments under their separate heads Avith such 
revision of the existing hiAv as may be needed. 
They insist that both the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture and the Dejiartment of Foods and Markets 
have sufficient laws iioaa'^ if properly organized AA'ith 
men and money to look after the interests that 
are entrusted to the Departments. If moi’e men 
and more money and more energy are needed in 
the.se departments, or if other men than the ones 
noAV directing them are needed, we have the meams 
to make changes noAv just as Ave Avould IniA'e under 
any neAV head or commission form. ’There is some 
disposition to follow up a suggestion made by .Sen¬ 
ator RroAvn to form a commission similar to the 
Regents of the Educational Board. We cannot see 
how this Avill help the situation. A majority of 
farmers have a preference for a single head. They 
are able to get at one man and to focus attention 
on what he is doing. The commission is imper- 
.sonal; they cannot reach it and they do not like 
it. If we had a commission they Avould probably 
say leaA’e it alone. We haA'o the single head; aa'o 
like it better and Ave Avant it left alone. There is 
a natural feeling on the part of those behind the 
late Wicks bill to do something, and there has been 
some acquiescence in the regent form of commis¬ 
.sion, but it has also been pointed out that Avith a 
eommission all established .six months from noAv Ave 
Avill be exactly in the .same jiosition in Avhich Ave are 
today. Conditions Avill not be changed one iota. 
The only claim for the commis.sion is that it will 
take the departments out of politics. How this is 
to be accomplished does not appear. The Governor 
has the appointment of the r'resent heads. He 
Avon Id have the appointment of the first board of 
nine or more members, and this board Avould be 
obliged to select executives. If the Governor Avould 
make politic.al appointments for these heads Avonld 
he not also make political appointments in the com¬ 
mission? If he Avould make the one non-political 
he could just as easily make the others non-jiolitical. 
M ith a board of nine members from different part.s 
of the State there AAaiuld be nine incentiA'es for 
political appointments AA’here at the jiresent time 
there could be but one. 'Fhe legislative influence 
would be as broad in one case as in the other. 
The form in itself is not important. Arguments 
may be adduced for and against both sides. The 
one important thing now is that a change is a sub¬ 
terfuge, It is dodging a responsibility. It is de¬ 
laying a proposition that must be met. We must 
decide sooner or later Avhether AA’e are going to 
maintain our present speculative system of distribu¬ 
tion, or replace it by a direct distribution bet\A’een 
producer and consnmer. There are men Avho are 
afraid to speak out plainly on that proposition, but 
in fact that is the only problem iiiA’olved. 
Notes from Department of Foods and 
Markets 
204 Franklin St., New York City 
March 22, 1917. 
EGGS.—Fancy State and nearby hennery whites, 
.‘He to .'14c; State and nearby gathered Avhites 29.- to 
'12c; fancy State and nearby hennery browns 29e to 
.’He; State and nearby hennery brown and mixed gath¬ 
ered 2Sc to 29c. (Continued on page 499> 
