sumer's price, whereas when the purchase was by the box the grower reecived 59.3 per cent.

FACTS FOR MANY PRODUCTS.

Farmers received 83.3 per cent of the final price in the retail purchase of blackberries by the crate, 75 per cent in the purchase of cucumbers by the third of a bushel, 66.7 per cent in the purchase of egg-plant by the crate, 60 per cent in the purchase of green peas by the quart, 70.5 per cent when hay was bought by the ton, and 82.2 per cent in the purchase of horses from retailers.

Among the many other products represented in this list are oats, with 73.6 per cent of the price going to the farmer when bought by the bushel; melons, 50 per cent when bought by the pound; parsnips, 60 per cent when bought by the bunch; potatoes, 59.3 per cent when bought by the bushel; string beans, 80 per cent when bought by the barrel; sweet potatoes, 60.8 per cent when bought by the barrel; turnips, 60 per cent in purchases by the bunch; watermelons, 33.5 per cent when bought singly.

In some cases there were purchasers from the farmer who were middlemen. It was found that cotton growers received 93 per cent of the price paid by cotton manufacturers for the raw cotton; 84.1 per cent of the price of broom corn paid by the broom manufacturers; 80 per cent of the price of calves and 91 per cent of the price of cattle paid by packers; 93 per cent of the price of hogs and 74.2 per cent of the price of lambs obtained by packers; 87 per cent of the price of tobacco paid by the hogshead and 92.2 per cent when bought by the pound by manufacturers; 72.9 per cent in the case of wheat bought by millers; and 91.7 per cent in the case of wool bought by manufacturers.

FREIGHT CHARGES.

To the foregoing percentages that represent the share of the farmer in the consumer's price should be added the percentage standing for the freight charge in determining the share of the consumer's price that goes to the middlemen.

With approximate accuracy it has been determined that when the farmer received 50 per cent of the consumer's price, the freight charge on butter is about 0.5 of 1 per cent of the consumer's price; eggs, 0.6 of 1 per cent; apples, 6.8 per cent; beans, 2.4 per cent;

potatoes, 7.4 per cent; grain of all sorts, 3.8 per cent; hay, 7.9 per cent; cattle and hogs, 1.2 per cent; live poultry, 2.2 per cent; wool, 0.3 of 1 per cent.

The foregoing allowances for freight are to be increased by onehalf when the farmer receives about three-fourths of the consumer's price.

COFFEE AND TEA PRICES.

The import statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor afford some striking comparisons between original value and consumer's price. In the fiscal year 1910 four-fifths of the coffee imported into the United States came from Brazil; 17 per cent from other countries in South and Central America and from Mexico, so that 97.2 per cent of the imports were from Mexico, Central and South America. About 0.1 of 1 per cent of the coffee imports are from Aden and are the nominal Mocha coffee, and 1.3 per cent of the imports are from the East Indies and are the Java coffee.

In 1910 the coffee imported from American countries, which was 97.2 per cent of all coffee imports, had an import value of 7.8 cents per pound. To this should be added the ocean freight rate. From Rio Janeiro the rate is 0.28 of 1 cent, or about one-fourth of a cent per pound. For nearly all of this American coffee the consumers paid prices ranging from 20 to 35 cents per pound. In other words, the import value, plus the ocean freight charge, is only from 23 to 40 per cent of the principal range of prices paid for the coffee at retail.

Tea may be referred to in the same way. In the fiscal year 1910 the average import value of tea was 16 cents per pound. It is assumed that nearly all of the tea consumed in this country is bought at retail prices ranging from 50 to 70 cents per pound and, with this understanding, the import value of tea is from 23 per cent to 32 per cent of what the consumer pays.

CONSUMER'S PRICE AS AN INCREASE OF FARMER'S PRICE.

In the consideration of this subject so far, the aspect has been that of the producer; the farmer thinks of the price that the consumer pays for farm products and compares with them the price that he himself receives.

While the farmer is looking forward with regard to the prices of his products, the consumer is looking backward, and so regards

the prices that he pays as increases upon what the farmer gets. This aspect of the matter may now be worth some attention.

It is established by the investigation of this Department made last June that the milk consumers of 78 cities paid for milk an increase of 100.8 per cent above the price received by dairymen; in other words, the farmer's price was fully doubled. The lowest increase among the geographic divisions was 75.5 per cent in the South Atlantic States and the highest was 111.9 per cent in the Western States.

In the purchase of butter the consumer pays 15.8 per cent above the factory price in the case of creamery prints, 15.6 per cent above in the case of factory tub, and 13.3 per cent above the factory price in the case of renovated butter. The percentages of increase among the five divisions of States do not vary much from the averages for the United States.

Some large percentages of increase of prices were found by the Industrial Commission-135.3 per cent for cabbage bought by the head; 100 per cent for melons bought by the pound, for buttermilk sold by the quart, and for oranges sold by the crate; 260 per cent for onions bought by the peck; 400.4 per cent for oranges bought by the dozen; 111.1 per cent for strawberries bought by the quart; and 200 per cent for watermelons sold singly.

There were many cases of increase of consumer's price over farmer's price amounting to 75 per cent and over, but under 100 per cent, and among these were 90.5 per cent for apples bought by the barrel and 80.6 per cent for apples bought by the box; 75 per cent for chickens bought by the head; 83.4 per cent for onions bought by the pound; 80.5 per cent for potatoes bought by the bushel; 88.8 per cent for poultry in general bought by the pound; 95.8 per cent for strawberries bought by the box; 82.5 per cent for sweet potatoes bought by the bushel.

It may be worth while to extend the list of farm products that are sold to consumers at a large increase above farm prices. In the class of commodities selling for an increase of price amounting to 50 per cent and over but under 75 per cent above farm prices may be mentioned the following increases; 61.8 per cent for cabbage bought by the pound; 66.7 per cent for celery bought by the bunch, turnips and parsnips bought by the bunch, and green peas bought by the quart; 54.4 per cent for chickens bought by the

pound; 50 per cent for eggplants bought by the crate; 68.4 per cent for onions bought by the bushel; 68.7 per cent for oranges bought by the box; 60 per cent for potatoes bought by the peck; 59.8 per cent for turkeys bought by the pound.

The import price of coffee in the fiscal year 1910, which was 8 cents a pound, after the increase to 20 and 35 cents per pound to the retailer, has risen in price to the consumer from 150 to 337.5 per cent. So with tea of the same fiscal year; its import price of 16 cents per pound, after being increased to 50 to 70 cents per pound, cost the consumer an advance of 212.5 to 337.5 per cent.

Before assigning to middlemen the various increases of prices, it is proper to deduct the percentages due to freight rates. The freight charge for milk received in New York is about 18 per cent of the producer's price and in Chicago about 14.7 per cent. Of the import price of coffee, the ocean freight charge from Rio Janeiro is 3.6 per cent. The percentages of farm price for which freight charges stand in the United States may be estimated at approximately 0.9 of 1 per cent of the factory price for butter; 1.2 per cent of the farm price for clover seed; 1.6 per cent for cotton; 1.3 per cent for eggs; 13.6 per cent for apples; 4.8 per cent for beans; 14.8 per cent for potatoes; and 5 per cent for sweet potatoes. The rates for oats, rye, barley, and wheat are nearly the same, ranging from 6 per cent for oats to 7.3 per cent for barley and rye. The rate for corn is 9.2 per cent and the average for all grain is 7.7 per cent. For hay the percentage is 15.8 per cent; for cattle and hogs, 2.5 per cent; for live poultry, 4.5 per cent; and for wool, 0.6 of 1 per cent.*

NO GROUND FOR COMPLAINT AGAINST THE FARMER.

From the details that have been presented with regard to the increase of the prices of farm products between farmer and consumer, the conclusion is inevitable that the consumer has no wellgrounded complaint against the farmer for the prices that he pays. The farmer supplies the capital for production and takes the risk of his losses; his crops are at the mercy of drought, and flood, and heat, and frost, to say nothing of noxious insects and blighting diseases. He supplies hard, exacting, unremitting labor. A degree

*As the prices received by the farmer and paid by the consumer go up the percentage for freight recedes.

and range of information and intelligence are demanded by agriculture which are hardly equaled in any other occupation. Then there is the risk of over-production and disastrously low prices. From beginning to end the farmer must steer dextrously to escape perils to his profits and indeed to his capital on every hand. At last the products are started on their way to the consumer. The railroad, generally speaking, adds a percentage of increase to the farmer's prices that is not large. After delivery by the railroad the products are stored a short time, are measured into the various retail quantities, more or less small, and the dealers are rid of them as soon as possible. The dealers have risks that are practically small, except credit sales and such risks as grow out of their trying to do an amount of business which is small as compared with their number.

PROBLEM FOR CONSUMERS AND NOT FARMERS TO REMEDY.

After consideration of the elements of the matter, it is plain that the farmer is not getting an exorbitant price for his products, and that the cost of distribution from the time of delivery at destination by the railroad to delivery to the consumer is the feature of the problem of high prices which must present itself to the consumer for treatment.

Why do not consumers buy directly from the farmers? A distribution of farm products in this simple way has already begun in England, where co-operative organizations of farmers are selling by direct consignment to co-operative organizations of consumers in cities.

Farmers' co-operative selling associations are numerous in this country, but co-operative buying associations among the people of cities and towns are few. Aside from buying associations maintained by farmers, hardly any exist in this country. It is apparent, therefore, that the consumer has much to do to work out his own salvation with regard to the prices that he pays. were selling last spring in some places where there had been overproduction for 20 cents and in some places for even 9 cents per bushel at the farm, while at the same time city consumers in the East were paying 50 to 75 cents per bushel, although there was nothing to prevent them from combining to buy a carload or more of potatoes directly from the grower and for delivery directly to themselves.