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John B. Leaman writes to The Outlook for the address of The United Stores Association. He also asks for a suggestion or opinion to be written about how to handle the issue of farm produce, consumers being lied to, and unnecessary middlemen.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-04
William M. Butterfield has found a way to cut out the middle man and move produce around the country for farmers, decreasing the cost of living for all Americans. He hopes to meet with Theodore Roosevelt to get advice and promote the idea he has been working towards for 20 years.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-03
R. R. Bowker reports to President Roosevelt regarding complaints he has heard about worker conditions in Panama. Most of the complaints relate to the types and quality of food available to workers there. One possible solution would be to purchase more fresh supplies locally. It might also be worthwhile to send someone who is familiar with providing food to large numbers of people to inspect the operations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-30
William Jennings Bryan, as a farmer, drives a wagon packed high with farm produce labeled “Popularity” past a signpost labeled “to 1908 Market.” The wagon is drawn by a diminutive donkey struggling to pull the weight. Caption: Can he keep his vegetables fresh till he gets there?
William Jennings Bryan let the country know he had returned from a world tour in late 1906, just in time to rescue America and run for president again two years hence. The sarcasm redolent in that sentence was prominent in Puck‘s treatment of the Commoner’s broad hints, and it was a skeptical reaction shared by many journals, even supposed Democratic organs like Puck and even many Democrats, but the party had few other potential leaders of national stature.
A man labeled “American Food Products” and laden with agricultural produce welcomes a man labeled “American Manufactures” laden with industrial products to Europe. Caption: “Welcome to Europe, old man! I knew you’d follow me sooner or later!”
With the turn of the century, there were many assessments and reassessments of America’s place in the world. One aspect, much noted in reports, abstracts, political speeches, and financial forecasts, is that by 1901 the United States had become the world’s leader in manufacturing. This fact mirrored the business activity and general patterns of consumption in the domestic economy. Also it fueled exports, joining American agricultural goods to serve receptive world markets.
Theodore Roosevelt commiserates with Ada Hall about the rising cost of produce. He mentions that farmers are just as displeased as consumers. He hopes that those with the power to affect change will investigate the issue.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-15
Dillard S. Greenwood encloses to Theodore Roosevelt a prospect organized by the Producers and Consumers Mercantile Company from Billings, Montana and tells him of the issues they are facing. Greenwood hopes Roosevelt can lend some advice as to what they should do.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-21
Colorized postcard of a shop keeper in front of his produce stand in Manila. A variety of produce, including plantains and corn, is on display in the stand.
Unknown
A man labeled “Producer,” laden with farm produce, is stopped on one side, and a man labeled “Consumer” is stopped on the other, by a masked man between them labeled “Food Speculator” who is pointing handguns labeled “Cold Storage” at both. They have been ambushed on the “Road of Supply and Demand” and the middle-man is now going to profit from both the producer and the consumer. Caption: Good guns in bad hands.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-10-06
Two men, one labeled “Producer,” use a pulley system labeled “U.S. Parcels Post” to ship a package labeled “Direct to Consumer” beyond the reach of a man labeled “Express Co.” straddling a “R. R.” station and a man labeled “Middleman” standing in front of a “Commission Market” to a man labeled “Consumer” and a woman standing at the other end of the pulley system. The consumer in turn sends payment for the goods received by the same system. Caption: What the parcels post would mean to them both.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1911-01-04
A Native man stands on the shore of the Panama Canal with his burro loaded with local products, possibly sugarcane.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-07-09
A freight train has departed a railroad station labeled “Producer” in the countryside and is passing through a tunnel labeled “Parcels Post Tunnel” in a mountain labeled “Mount Middleman” that has the figure of a man on its side. The front of the train has emerged on the city-side of the mountain and is headed toward a station labeled “Consumer” where a crowd of people are anxiously waiting. Caption: Mount Middleman is no longer an insurmountable barrier between producer and consumer.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-01-01
A figure composed of corn and corn stalks labeled “Record Breaking Crops” walks through a dark wood at night with a diminutive Uncle Sam, who is frightened by scary-looking trees labeled “Johnson, Taft, Sherman, Roosevelt, Wilson, [and] Debs.” Caption: “Don’t be frightened, Sammy. They can’t hurt you while I am with you.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-10-16
Four toll-takers labeled “Retailer’s Profit, Commission Broker’s Profit, Rail Road’s Profit, [and] Express Company’s Profit” stand on a bridge spanning a small waterway that separates the rural “Producer” on the right from the city “Consumer” on the left. Flying overhead is an airplane labeled “Parcels Post.” Caption: If you don’t like it, you know what you can do.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1911-12-13