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Show I IFROM 01CE FROM THE COUNTRY COUNTRYY Y IJ1plex mpl piei Economy Threatens Tluoeatens Tluoeatensall Threatensall uall all Business EnterpriseBy Enterprise ? , lOr'S lOrS , . ' . ' , NolII No/ No NoThis / * This is 11 til 11II 11 II second sIIcond sIIcondI I 11 ' < . series SIIrll11 writers of articles .rtellls rtellls . , ) es on 0 " current QroGBy prob QroG probBy rob robby Byt0 by EJ LollIS t0 ' IJrornfie/J IJrornfie J IJrornfieJon1 promfieldssone / on/1 on 1 / of Amerlct/sleadmg Amerlct sleadmg Amer cds / leading wnters ) By LOUIS BROMFILLDRel"sed BROMFIELDReleased BROMFIELD BROMFILLD BROMFIELDReleased Released Rel"sed Relsed " " by V/fSU V fSU WNU / Featuresere Featuresere features featurespMere pMere ere are times when it seems that the pattern of our agn Agri agnral Agriral agnIfeiral ral and business busmess life appears not to have kept pace Wlth with withdevelopment withDevelopment development of industry mdustry and technology technologye technology3'fTbe technology3fTbe ' e oldfrontler old frontier of the general farm is one case in m point pomt Anl An l tIS tie the field of dlstnbutlon distribution of ofall all goods but notably of food , 11 . either retail or mdustrIal industrial indust ; ; 11-a- 11 a 11aegeneral ; ; n-id- n id nidgeneral egeneral - ; - - general generalfarm -farm farm - farm the thebusiness thebusiness business enterprise has In the theen theL thecen -L L - en a fireat great bulwark bulv.arh bulvarh . . of o ( Amcrdependence Amerdependence Amcr Amer Amcrdependence dependence and charactcreQ.uentJy characters character charactcr s . equently eQ.uentJy eQuentJy equentil of our economy asquestion as asnuestlon question nuestlon Is whether our pres pros presphcated prost prcsnplicited phcated placated and complex mdustrlallzed industrialized mdus indus t ; tnalized trlallzed trialized economyany economy economyan any an > ) loneer longer can afford af of afford 4 ford these remnants remnantsot remnantsof ot of another day andhether andwhether and andwhether \ whether \\hether hether the thc propnltors propn propri " ' ,4 4 , 2 dors ltors Mors of the generalfarm general generalfarm ' farm and the smallbusmess smallbusiness small busmess business enterpnse enterprise enterpnsecan enterprisecan , can survive muchlonger muchlonger much longer the econom economic economF F Ic strain stram placed placedupon placedupon placedy upon them Tied 111lth inwith m 111 in mT.ith T.ith Tith \\lth lth with \ \ . the ploblems pioblems ploblemsof pioblemsinfield pioblemsinfield infield of oP both is the quesf quest ques t on of d stnbuuonously stributionously stnbution stnbuuon stribution lously ously expensive and Ineffiand lneffland ineffi lneffl md and in the actual process of ofilly ofhilly 111 illy adjustme adjuStJng adusting ) Itselt itself Itseltis itselfis itselfIs is iot not only that the world has hasunmensely hasimmensely hasat immensely unmensely In our time butthat butthat but butthat that the United Umted States has hasw haswth hasck w wth th it The problem of ad adwages adwages ady wages and purchasing purchasmg pow powthe powthe powI the prices of all commodities commoditiesbecome commoditiesbecome commoditiesiiccome become the most urgent oneconfrontmg oneconfronting one oneconfronting confronting confrontmg the tree free enterpnse enterprise enterprisem enterpnsem m Size Sue specialization speclal1zatlOn and nd ofcy ef of efcy eficy cy all ba\ ba bae ha\e ha e hate \ e their bearing bearmg uponcosts uponcosts upon [ costs and notably upon foodi foodl foods food l- l - s . . le Ie e old fashioned generaln generalis general is 15 an Inefficient unit umt in ID an our ourly ourUy 11 ly complex interrelated lDterrelated pro- pro prolion proIlon pro-cllin pro cllin - - lion Ilon economy So too is the theIn thea0 theill In a0 retail retad enterprise enterpnse competWith competwith comptt- comptt compet- compet compttmth - - - mth With the efficiency bUYlDgdlstnbutlDg buyingdistributing buying bUYlDg ' . distnhutine dlstnbutlDg distributing power of the thewell thewelllntegrated ( heil , welllntegrated well Inteerated Integrated chain chains chainres s super markets and coop coop- - coopyes coop-Ires coop Ires . - ves yes veseconomiC yeseconomic economic pressures of our ourare ourare ourtry are all toward bigness effi em effiand emand effly and nd lo 10 to v cost production and andibutlon andbutlon anditulion ibutlon butlon exactly exacti exact ! ) ; as the rewards rewardshe rewardse e automobile automoble ! industry mdustry have haveto haveto haveto to mass production assembly assemblyg assemblybg g corrpames companies coir panics which produced producedmmodlty producedmmodlty producedmmodity mmodlty ot of high quality tor for a ar ar ar ) r ce In the problem of food foodIh1s foodthis foodthis Ih1s this efficiency begms begins at theextends theextends the [ extends through the old field fieldbutton fieldtobution butlon button to the retail outlet outletCcle outletCycle outlet'C outletC ' ' Ccle Cycle ) cle of H gh Costshigh Costshigh Costs ! high cost of food begms begins onrm onrm on onrm rm through inefficiency mefficlency andreduction and androduction andreduction roduction reduction per acre wlich whch which pro prohigh prohigh prohigh high costs per man hour and andommodity andommodity : ommodlty ommodity unit umt It contmues continues contmuesh continuesh contmuesgh h the field of dlstnbutlon distribution dlstnbutlonmvolves distributioninvolves distributioni involves mvolves handling handlmg - many manyi - commission merchants merchantset et neei"e neeie rlggmg rigging " and at times tunes a ad ad ad d of price pnce between producer produceronsumer produceronsumer producerconsumer onsumer of several hundred hundredent hundredent hundredsnt : ent tPpoint tP . i point is that small retallers retailers retailerstil retailersD 11 D as the great chain cham stores or orratives orratives orratives ratives are a link Imk in m thus tius cham chain chamat chainat chamnt at the small retailer is largely largelye e mercy of market rlggmg rigging rlggmgIsslon riggingfission riggingllssion Isslon fission merchants expensive expensivelot expensivelot lot distribution dlstnbution and multiple multiplebution multiplebutton multiplemtion bution button agencies ( that is thewholesale thewholesale the ' wholesale buyers and com comon comon cornon on merchants the local whole wholetrlbutors wholetributors wholelistnbutors trlbutors tributors et cetera-each cetera each cetera - each oftakes oftakes of ) takes a cut eventually paid paidthe paidthe paid1 the consumer or in m losses by byall byall bymail all retail retal ! proprietor proprietort ) t I the fame same time hme the small smalllIer smallDer smalltiler lIer Der is a victim of the eco- eco ecoo ecoo eco-nio eco nio - - - o squeeze created by the thet1 thety thelity t1 ty of the chain cham stores storesr r markets and cooperatlTcsKl cooperativesse cooperativesset cooperatives se\ se set selow setlow \ low prices because oflIer ofher of ofUcr > Ucr lIer her purchase and dlstrlbu distnbu distnbuCost dlstrlbucost distnbui cost Rarely save in deluxe deluxeis deluxeas IS as lite hke \ New l\ew l ew fork York s 5 MadISon MadISonoe MidisonMe oe can CaD the small unit umt re- re rer rer rc-tt rc tt - - - r set a pm pridE price ! higher in m his hismUDIty hismnndy hisnmnnity mUDIty mnndy than that of the bigorgaDizahons bigorganizations big ' rcamzations orgaDizahons organizations altboueh although his hisIs hisIs hisil Is mai may ma ) be much creator greater s econom c tendency and pres prestoday prestoday presi today are certainly certamly all in the thelion thelion theton lion of low costs high . effi effiand effiand effl7 and the bigness which wluch crethem crethem ere cre hem them The consumer is con cond cond conid d almost wholly with the goal goaluy goalSr goal"yng goalyng uy Sr " ng the best quality tor for theit the theIt the't thet It ' price Certainly super mar marcba marcha mari cha cba n tores stores ( and cooperatives cooperativesrOWing cooperativesowing cooperativesBowing rOWing owing and will continue contmue to doxed dored do doled led xed red or tax tree free in m the cate case ofcooperatives ofCooperatives of of"operatives "operatives operatives cooperatives " lor tor for even withthey withthey with they still can sell at lowerI lowera lower ' I a than the smiU small independent independentator independentatorDollar ator atorDollar Dollar Value Paramountof Paramount ot of this thl of course ruses raises the thee the'e thee ' e quettion question of monopol es if notn notnwide not notnwid n nwide nwid wide at least In , certainE certomI certom certain I * ' and areas Monopoly in turn turnes turnes turn't turnt " es ' government regulation But"e Bute But Bute " e moment at t least the con o A + arm 1 1n n Mev MevJplk , Jplk JplkkiC kiC : 3In In a sense slime tl 11 tlII 11a t ! t II a small distributori dIstributorilS distributoras distributor ilS as i exempt exempl fied fled by tf II t1 IIe t1a e a corner grocery groceryslore grocerystore [ rocerystore slore store senerstfarmer gmeralfilNnllr generalfarmer aid . id tin tbll the old fsshioned fiuhonlld fashioned , . gmeral general filNnllr farmer sre are like the Ihll horse a < id bug buggy buggy butfy gy rel rei reics relcs cs of ofs s * " former dny dilY day daysumer dnysumer sumer is not concerned with these thesethmgs thesethings thesethings thmgs things He is concerned solely with withmalng withmaking withmaking malng making ! { his dollar buy as much as aspossible aspossible aspossible possible both m in quality and quan quanbty quantity quantity quantityThe bty tity btyThe tityThe The fundamental point pomt is that th thl thlpressures thepressures pressures agamst against the small enter enterpnses enterprises enterprises pnses prises are economic economl ( : and therefore thereforeextremely thereforeextremely thereforeextremely extremely powerful In a sense the themall thesmall thesmall mall small $ distributor d1stnbutor as exemplified by bythe bythe bythe the corner grocery store and the theold theold theold old fashioned fasluoned general farmer are arelIke arelike arelike lIke the horse and buggy relics of a aformer aformer aformer former day This Tlus was before the theworld thexorld world " , orId and this tlus nation had shrunk shrunkwhen shrunknhen when \ hen the retailer bought his bls food fooddirectly fooddirectly fooddirectly directly from the farmer and food foodcommodlues foodcommodities foodcommodities commodlues commodities \ nere were ere not shipped rom from fromrural romrural ! fromrural rural communities commurutJes into mto the cIties cItiesand citiesand citiesand and then back again agam to the town In Inthose inthose inthose those same rural communities commumties With Withan withan withan an enormous distribution markup m in mbetween inbetween mbetween between This markup the big food foodhandlers foodhandlers foodhandlers handlers are able largely to ellml elsmi ellmlnate elsminate ehminate nate by d rpct rrct r ct mass buymg buying and andsluppmg andshipping andshipping sluppmg shipping The forces of economics economicsand economicsand economicsand and of mass production and distnbution dlstn distri dlstnbution distributlon bution butlon are difficult or impossible to toresIst toresist toresist toresistOf resIst resIstOf Of course ft It would be possible possiblefor possiblefor possiblefor for government to subsidize 5ubsldlze the thesmall thesmall thesmall small Inefficient handicapped handicappedoperator handicappedoperator handicappedoperator operator with taxpayers money moneyvery moneyvery moneyvery very largely largeJy that is what has hashappened hashappened hashappened happened in m the case ease of the nn nnprogressive nnprogressive unprogressive progressive inefficient farmer farmerand farmerand farmerand and the absentee landlord tenant tenantsystems tenantsystems tenantsystems systems in aenculture agriculture But the theconsumer theconsumer theconsumer consumer take takes * the beating be- be because because be because - - cause he continues contmues to pay not notonly notonly notonly only high prices but also taxes taxesIn taxesin taxesIn In the form of subsidies out of ofthe ofthe ofhe the ( other pocket pocketIt It is 18 notable that the National NationalPoultrymen NationalPoultrymen NationalPoultrymen Poultrymen s association recently recentlyurged recentlyurged recentlyurged urged congress to drop all poultry poultryand poultryand poultryand and egg price pnce support measures so sothat sothat sothat that the subsidized inefficient mefficlent poul poultry poultry poultry try producer would be el1mmated eliminated el1mmatedand eliminatedand eliminatedand and the prices would find a lower lowerlevel lowerlevel lowerlevel level to the consumer but one shll still shllprofitable stillprofitable stilprofitable ) profitable to the eff efTcient clent dent producerSentimentall producerSentimentally producer producerSentimentally Sentimentally Sentimentall ) I hate to see the thepassmg thepassing thepassing passmg passing of the old fashioned general generalfarm generalfarm generalfarm farm and the comer corner grocery store storeBoth storeBoth storeBoth Both mstitut mstltut institut ons ens gave me much muchhappmess muchhappiness muchhappiness happmess happiness and ! friendliness rlenclliness frsendlsness m my myyouth myyouth myyouth youth but I am afraid there isn sin t tany tany tany any longer much place for them m in inour mour mour our highly lughly co-nplex co nplex eo-nplex eo complex - - economic civill cmvili civillzatlon cmvilizatton civilizatlon zatlon zatton In a shrunken world In the theend theend theend end we shall be forced to catch up up'IHth upwith upwith 'IHth IHth with ' our times by the sheer ruthless ruthlessI ruthlessforce ruthlessforce ruthlessforce force of economics and because the theconsumer theconsumer theconsumer I consumer no loneer longer can afford affordeither affordeither affordeither either institution |