Show A VOICE FROM THE COUNTRY complex economy threatens small business enterprise editors note this is the second in a senes series of articles on current trob terns lems by louis bromfield one of americas leading writers by LOUIS BROMFIELD ne released leased by features there are times when it seems that the pattern of our agricultural and business life appears not to have kept pace with the development of industry and technology the old frontier of the general farm is one case in point another is the field of distribution of all goods but notably of food an and d the small enterprise either retail or industrial like the old fashioned general farm the thel small business enterprise has in the past been a great bulwark of amer lean ican independence and character and frequently of our economy as well the question Is whether our pres ent complicated and complex indus economy any longer can at af ford these remnants of another day and whether the ebors of the general farm and the small business enterprise can survive much longer the econom ic strain placed M upon them tied in with the problems bromfield of both is the ques tion of distribution notoriously expensive and clent and in the actual process of painfully adjusting itself it is not only that the world has shrunk immensely in our time b but t also that the united states I 1 has shrunk with it the problem of ad wages and purchasing pow er to the prices of all commodities has become the most urgent one now now confronting the free enterprise system size specialization and ef fici ency all have their bearing upon living costs and notably upon food rices the old fashioned general farm Is an inefficient unit in our highly complex interrelated production economy so too is the small retail enterprise competing with the efficiency buying and distributing power of the vast well integrated chain stores super markets and cooperatives era tives the economic pressures of our century are all toward bigness effi dency and low cost production and distribution exactly as the rewards of the automobile industry have gone to mass production assembly line big companies which produced a commodity of high quality for a low price in the problem of food costs this efficiency begins at the farm arm extends through the old field of distribution to the retail outlet cycle of high costs the high cost of food begins on the farm through inefficiency and low production per acre which pro duces high costs per man hour and per commodity unit it continues through the field of distribution which involves handling many times commission merchants market rigging and at times a spread of price between producer and consumer of several hundred per cent the point is that small retailers as well as the great chain stores or cooperatives are a link in this chain but that the small retailer is largely at the mercy of market rigging commission merchants expensive small mall lot distribution and multiple distribution agencies that is the great wholesale buyers and corn coin mission merchants the local whole sale distributors et cetera each of whom takes a cut eventually paid tor for by the consumer or in losses by the small retail proprietor at the same time the small retailer Is a victim of the economic squeeze created by the ability of the chain stores super markets and cooperatives to set low prices because of smaller purchase and dis tribu tion cost rarely save in deluxe areas like new york s madison avenue can the small unit retailer set a price higher in 1 bis his community than that of the big ger organizations although bis his costs may be much greater the economic tendency and pres today are certainly all in the direction direction of low costs high efell clency and the bigness which ere cre ates them the consumer is con berned almost wholly with othe the goal of buying the best quality tor for the lowest price certainly super mar bets chain stores and cooperatives are growing and will continue to do so taxed or tax free in the case of big cooperatives for even with taxes they still can sell at lower prices than the small independent operator dollar value paramount all of this of course raises the grave question of monopolies if not nation wide at least in certain states and areas donop monopoly oly in turn implies government regulation but at the moment at least the con in a sense the small distributor as exemplified by the corner grocery vore and the fashioned old general farmer are like the horse and bug gy relics of a former day sumer Is not concerned with these things he Is concerned solely with making his dollar buy as much as possible both in quality and quan city the fundamental point Is that the pressures against the small enter arises are economic and therefore extremely powerful in a sense the small distributor as exemplified by the corner grocery store and the old fashioned general farmer are like the horse and buggy relics of a former day this was before the world and this nation had shrunk when the retailer bought his food directly from the farmer and food commodities were not shipped from rural communities into the cities and then back again to the town in those same rural communities with an enormous distribution markup in between this markup the big food handlers are able largely to elaml nate by direct mass buying and shipping the forces of economics and of mass production and distri aution are difficult or impossible to resist of course it would be possible for government to subsidize lz e the subside aped small inefficient handicapped a operator with taxpayers money very largely that is what has happened in the case of the un progressive inefficient farmer and the absentee landlord tenant systems in agriculture but the consumer takes the beating because he continues to pay not only high prices but also taxes in the form of subsidies out of the other pocket it is notable that the national Poultry men s association recently urged congress to drop all poultry and egg price support measures so that the subsidized inefficient poul try producer would be eliminated and the prices would tad find a lower level to the consumer but one still profitable to the efficient producer sentimentally I 1 hate to see the passing of the old fashioned general genera farm and the corner comer grocery store both institutions gave me much happiness and friendliness in my youth but I 1 am afraid there isn t any longer much place tor for them in our highly complex economic civill bation in a shrunken world in the end we shall be forced to catch up with our times by the sheer ruthless force of economics and because the consumer no longer can afford either institution |