| Show A VOICE FROM THE COUNTRY Complex Economy Threatens Threatens' Small Business Enterprise Editors Editor's Note Nol This it is the second in i a series seN of Articles articles on 0 cu current problems rob rob- lams lems by Louis Bromfield on one of Americas Ameris le leading ing writers u By LOUIS BROMFIELD Released by Features There are times when it seems that the pattern of our agricultural agricultural agricultural agri agri- cultural and business life lile 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 Another Another An An- other is the field of distribution of all goods but notably of food I and t the e small ent enterprise either retail or industrial Like the old fashioned general farm me Ute t small business enterprise has in hi the past been a great bulwark of American American Amerlean Amer Amer- ican lean independence and character and frequently of our economy as aswell well The question is whether our present present present pres pres- ent complicated and complex industrialized industrialIzed industrialized indus indus- economy any longer can afford afford afford af af- af- af ford these remnants of another and day I E whether the proprietors proprietors I of the general I farm and the small business enterprise p can survive much longer the economic econom econom- ic strain placed upon them Tied in with the problems Bromfield of both is the question question question ques ques- tion of distribution notoriously expensive and inefficient fell fell- cleat and In the actual process of painfully adjusting Itself It Is not only that the w world has I shrunk immensely In our time but also that the United States has shrunk with it it The problem of adjusting adjusting adjusting ad ad- wages and purchasing power power pow pow- er to the prices of all commodities has become the most urgent one now confronting the free enterprise system Size specialization and efficiency efficiency efficiency ef ef- ef- ef all have their bearing upon living costs and notably upon food rites Tices The old old fashioned fashioned general farm is an Inefficient unit in our highly complex interrelated production production production pro pro- economy So too is the small retail enterprise competing competing competing ing with the efficiency buying and distributing power of the vast well-Integrated well chain stores super-markets super and coop coop- The economic pressures of our century are all toward bigness efficiency efficiency effi em- and low cost production and distribution exactly as the rewards of the automobile industry have gone to production mass-production assembly assembly- line big companies which produced a commodity of high quality for a alow alow alow low price In the problem of food costs this efficiency begins at the farm 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 produces produces produces pro pro- duces high costs per man hour and per commodity unit It continues through the fi field ld 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 per cent I f x 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 sm small lot distribution and multiple distribution agencies that is is the great wholesale buyers and commission commission commission com com- mission merchants the local wholesale wholesale wholesale whole whole- sale distributors et cetera each cetera each of whom takes a cut eventually paid for by the consumer or in losses by bythe bythe bythe the small retail proprietor At the same time the small retailer is a victim of 01 the economic economic economic eco eco- squeeze created by the ability of 01 the chain stores super-markets super and cooperatives to set low prices because of 01 smaller purchase and distribution distribution distribution tion cost Rarely save in deluxe e areas like New Yorks York's Madison avenue can the small unit retailer retailer retailer re re- set a price higher in 10 his bis community than that of 01 the bigger bigger bigger big big- ger organizations although his costs may be much greater The economic tendency and pressures pressures pressures pres pres- today are arc certainly all in the direction of low costs high efficiency efficiency efficiency effi effi- and the bigness which cre cre- creates creates creates ates them The consumer is concerned concerned concerned con con- almost wholly with the goal of buying the best quality for the lowest price Certainly supermarkets super mar chain stores and cooperatives are growing and will continue to do doso doso so taxed or tax-free tax 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 or monopolies if it not wide nation at least in certain states and and areas arcas Monopoly in turn Implies government regulation But at the moment at least the con con- K fir 1 4 r ax r l t tY Y c cM cr r M J Vl VlY Y i In 1 a sense the small distributor as ItS exem exemplified by the corner orner grocery store and the 11 old-fashioned old general farmer are lik like the horse and buggy buggy buggy bug bug- gy relics relis of oj a former Jay days sumer is not concerned with these things He is concerned solely with making his dollar doUar buy as much as possible both in quality and quan tits The fundamental point is that the pressures against the small enterprises enterprises enter enter- are economic and therefore extremely powerful In a sense the small distributor as exemplified by bythe bythe bythe the corner grocery store and the old-fashioned old 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 eliminate nate hate by direct mass buying and shipping The forces of economics and of mass production and distribution distribution distri are difficult or im Impossible to resist Of 01 course it would be possible for government to subsidize the small inefficient handicapped operator with taxpayers taxpayers' money very largely that is what has happened in the case of 01 the unprogressive un- un progressive inefficient farmer and the tenant landlord systems in agriculture But Dut the consumer takes the beating because because because be be- cause he continues to pay not only high prices but also taxes in the form of subsidies out of 01 the other pocket It is notable that the National association recently urged congress to drop all poultry and egg support price measures so that the subsidized inefficient poultry poultry poul try producer would be eliminated and the prices would find a lower level to the consumer but one still profitable to the efficient producer Sentimentally I hate to see the passing of the old fashioned general genera farm and the corner grocery store Both institutions gave me me much happiness and friendliness in my youth but I am afraid there isn't any longer much place for them in our highly complex economic civilization civil civili 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 |
