USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > History of the activities of the people of Lackawanna County in the world war : under the supervision of the Pennsylvania Council of National Defense and Committee of Public Safety > Part 5
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Early in 1920, immediately after Governor Frank B.McClain had been appointed Federal Fair Price Commissioner for Pennsylvania other citizens than this Fair Price Committee began to take a lively
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interest in the questions of price, profits, and food and com- modity supplies generally. Mayor Alexander T. Connell, in his official capacity, took a deep interest, and issued several pro- clamations on the questions of profiteering. Always a deep stu- dent of the problem of food supplies, Mr. Seth . Shoemaker, President of the Rotary Club, and during the war the originator and manager of the Curb Markets, planned at a banquet hold carly in January to have Mr. MeClain discuss high prices and the means whereby they could be reduced. At the last minute Mr. McClain telophoned from Lancaster to the writer, stating that he could not come to Scranton until later, and asking the writer to take his place; who spoke at the banquet as follows:
"In representing Governor McClain to-night I am by no means taking his place. That is impossible, as you who know him, as you who have enjoyed his eloquence and studied his sound doctrines, are well aware. The speakers of the evening will discuss the question before us. Still, I can not re- frain from offering for your deep consideration some of the elements of the great problem that confronts the American people.
It is futile to talk about normal prices. The uni- form increase of prices is normal according to every economic law. What we must do is to cause that increase to cease where it is unfair, illegal, unreasonable, or not uniform.
"2. Prices do not mean value. Currency is inflated and money is cheap. Cheap money and corresponding high prices have been a boon to half the population, throwing three, four, six times as much income into their possession. One whose income has not kept pace with prices suffers. Part of the problem, then, is to find a method of properly distributing wealth, not by any prescription of the socialist, but by an overhauling of the wage and profit scales.
13. No increase can stand alone. Every increase in price breeds increase in other prices and in wages; every incre se in wages causes increase in other wages and in prices.
14. Hundreds of thousands of people, wage earners opa business men, have suddenly jumped from limited means to prosperity that has suggested extravagance in living and an excess of entertainment. No one regrets their good fortune; but the wild extravagance and general lack of frugality and thrift of the American people of to-day has given the profiteer an opportunity he has quickly grasped. If the
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American people would cease emulating the proverbial drunken sailor a long step would be taken toward stabilizing prices.
15. Commodities all spring from raw material. Most prime necessities spring from the raw material produced on the different sorts of farms. There are not enough producers of raw material proportionately andthe proportion stes ily grovs smaller. Keep the boys on the farm.
The pirate who takes advantage of the ild rush of the world and adds as many cents or as many dollars as he can to his selling price should be suppressed. The producers, individuals or corporate, the jobber, the wholesaler and the retailer, are all entitled to compensation and a fair profit, but let the profit be no more than foir. The laborer is or - thy of his hire but the laborer is not worthy of twice his hire It behooves every American not to add a few cents of a fow dole lars to his selling price; and it equally behooves every Ameri can not to add a few cents or a few dollars to his buying price
"What are we going to do about it?
"The Honorable Frank B. MeClain, ex-Lieutenant Governor of the State, Executive Director of the Commission of Public Tel- fare, has been appointed Federal Fair Price Commissioner of Pennsylvania. He will have and exert the authority of the National and State Governments through the Commission of Public Velgare in investigating and correcting excessive prices.
" The appointment of Governor MeClain to this difficult and important post is a most happy one. By training and experi- ence, in wisdom and patience and fairness, he is most fittod to fulfill onerous duties. If the wisdom of any one man, if the passing of statutes, or the fiat of government, could solve this problem, we ould not have to assemble here to talk.
"Governor MeClain instructed me to make what statement seemed proper, which I have done; and to say the following for him.
"It was his wish that he address you to-night. Che busi- ness upon which he would be with us is keeping him elsewhere. It is only recently that he has added that of Fair Price Com- missioner to his other duties. Together with officials of the Department of Justice he is no. formulating his policy.
"He send you his regards and congratulations that you are earnestly desirous of ridding this part of Pennsylvania of pro -- fiteering. He hopes to bring you official help in the move- mont; and frankly asks you for your help in cleaning the State of unfair prices. He promises to bring to you personally in the very near future -- next week, I believe -- the definite policy of the Government and the strong arm that goes ith it.
"And both Governor McClain and I formally and officially request that you appoint conferees to meet with Mr. McClain, that you may give him your views of the local situation, and that he may publicly announce through your conferces the policy and plan of the Commission and the Department of Justice, in
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dealing with the question so that prices may ultimately be adjusted with fairness to consumer, producer, and distributor."
Illness prevented Governor HeClain from reaching Scranton until January 28th; and so the conference did not take place as soon
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as was expected. In the mean time the carnest men who had been serving on the Fair Price Committee felt that since so many different elements of public opinion were taking a lively interest in the ques- tion of prices, the work of the Committee in the past was considered a failure, was misunderstood, or was not appreciated. It was
doubtful, too, in their minds, whether Governor McClain intended to upset their arrangements, based upon var experience, or to stamp their work with his approval. The writer therefore took temporary authority upon himself to address the Fair Price Committee on Janu- ary 16th, to the effect that in the absence of Mr. McClain, and until he did come to Scranton, the Fair Price Committee should continue. After discussing the economic and personal questions involved, he said:
"Therefore, besides asking you for the immediate present to continue your burdensome work, I advise you for the good of the cause in which we are all interested, to accept the support that law and public opinion can give you, without jealousies and without any sign of personal antagonism. Let the status quo be preserved, and let Lackawanna County lead the State in bringing about civic, commercial, and economic improvement. I
sincerely hope that in the very near future you will be able to confer with Governor McClain."
These two addresses are of some consideration in that upon them was based the organization and in a measure the policy of the Fair Price Commission in Lackawanna County and the economic view of the question of prices until the cessation of the activities of the Commission on November 1st. Instead of relieving the war committee of its duties Governor McClain gave this committee under the chair- manship of Mr. Martin his warm approval for their independent past actions. Mr. McClain, January 28, 1920, in the offices of the Pennsylvania Commission of Public Welfare in Scranton, met with
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several influential citizens of Scranton, and discussed the organization of the Fair Price Com ission for the future. There were present ifr. James S. McAnulty, President of the Scranton Life Insurance Company and _resilent of the Scranton Board of Trade, Mr. Edward J. Lynett, ommer of the scranton Times and one of the original members of the Executive Committee of the Committee of Public Safety, Mr. M. J. Martin, Chairman of the Lacka- wanna County Fair Price Commission, Mr. Seth .. Shoemaker, Manager of the Scranton Curh Markets and President of the Rotary Club, It. Mark K. Edgar, Secretary of the Board of Trade and City Treasurer, representing Mayor Connell, who was ill, Mr. John J. Collins, chair- man of the price-fixing committee of the retail merchants' associ- ation, and Eugene H. Fellows Mr. McClain, after a thorough dis- cussion of the questions under consideration, upon the unanimous advice of those present, was pleased to officially appoint Mr. Martin Chairman and Mr. Cahoon Secretary of the Fair Price Commis- sion of the County. He advised the re-appointment of all the old
members of the Commission and an enlargement of the membership.
In
the afternoon a fairly well attended meeting of merchants and inte- rested citizens at the Board of Trade Rooms was addressed by fr. McClain, Mr. Martin, Mr. 7. L. Connell, and others. The Fair Price Commission as established continued its work, under the direct orders of Governor MeClain, until November 1, 1920, when its activities were officially brought to an end. As a public body, per orming a public service, it was most useful to the people of the County.
Department of Food Conservation.
One of the departments working under the Food Adminis-
trator and under the Committee of Public Safety vas the Department
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of Food Conservation, the director of which was ifrs. Frank 4. Kaiser. The Food Conservation Department of the "omen's Division of the Food Administration for Lackawanna County comprised seventy- one chairmen representing the districts into which the County was
divided. The development of the local vork was left to a groot
extent to the committee in each district. In practical matters, in no other way did the : omen of Lackawanna County show their strength so potently as in the work of food conservation. Many of the leaders and members of the committees were chosen from among foreign-speaking women. The development of the conservation of food led to the development of Americanization.
The fifty-fifty ruling in regard to wheat created a situ- ation pregnant with possibilities of reaching these women, for, finding themselves in a difficulty common to all housewives of the United States, in being compelled to buy foods the preparation of which was strange to them; they sought the help of the Women's Council of National Defense; and accepted very gladly instruction on food sanitation, thrift in marketing, the use and value of milk; and gained a sense of food values generally. The feeding of chil- dren and the proper food for the dinner pail were given special attention among these vomen: Then the American born woman was glad to learn from the Polish born woman the trick of handling rye dough; when the Irish woman accepted from the Italian roman the receipt for spaghetti, giving in return directions for an Irish stew, a situation was taken advantage of by the people of tackaranna County which has since developed into a far greater public movement than the immediate problem of saving food as a war-time emergency. The great demand for Americanization, now gaining in rapidity, was given a startlingg impetus by the women of the County during the war
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In the country districts the necessity of substi uting strange foods for familiar ones, drove home to the woman the fact that in providing for her family she had to chow as much intel- ligence as her husband, who insisted on a balanced ration for his poultry and his stock. In teaching the use of substitute foods and the knowledge of food values, the County had the hearty co- operation of the State College Extension Department. Miss dna B. Mellanghton of that department was located here from November, 1917, until after the war. In 1918 she required a permanent assistant, and during June five of her extension workers were in the County teaching canning. An exhibit in March, 1918, brought several thousand visitors, whose great number of questions showed the permanent educational value of this comprehensive work.
The Food Conservation Division also assisted Mr. Belin during the sugar shortages and during the wheat flour shortage, helped locally with the registration of women, and several times placed cards in each house on various phases of the food question.
War Gardens.
Under the Committee of Public Safety the Department of Tar Gardens during 1917 and 1918 was under two committees -- a women's committee under the chairmanship of Mrs. C. S. eston and a men's committee under Mr. Seth W. Shoemaker. It devolved upon Mrs. Weston to see that the interest of women throughout the County was aroused, and upon Mr. Shoemaker to bring the men into action in adding to our total product what could be raised in newly es- tablished gardens. Mr. Shoemaker, Chairman of the Lackawanna County War Garden Committee, in 1917 did so much toward preparing for the future that in 1918 a magnificent result was forthcoming.
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The reports submitted by Mr. Shoomokor and by i'rs. George Mitchell, who was Chairman of the r Gorden Committee for the City of Scranton, are so comprehensive that parts of them should be included in these pages. Then it is reported that the value of the Jar Garden products of Lackawanna County amounted to $767,250, it must be understood that the production within the County as a var emergency was increased by that a ount; due to the efforts of Mrs. Weston, Mr. Shoemaker, Mrs. Mitchell, their committees, those who worked the gardens, the public-spirited citizens of the County, and the Committee of Public Safety of the whole County. Just in war gardens alone there was an increase in food production valued at three dollars for every man, woman, and child in the County.
Mr. Eugene H. Fellows, Executive Secretary, Pennsylvania Council of National Defense, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
My dear Mr. Follows:
I submit the following roport on War Gardens for the season of 1918.
1. The War Garden work in Scranton this year has been very active, and a large number of organizations have been in- terosted in the work, including the following: The Tomon's Committee of the Council of National Defense, the Scranton Rotary Club, the Scranton Board of Trade, the International Correspondence School, the Lackawanna County Form Bureau, the Scranton Boy Scouts, the Johnson Industrial School, the Polish Gardens, the Scranton Department of Public Works, and the Scranton School District. We have, of course, been organized by and worked under the general supervision of the Council of National Defense and Committee of Public Safety.
2. The persons who have been most active on this Commit- tee during the year have been Mrs. C. S. eston, Mrs. George Mitchell, Miss Louise Lindsay, Mrs. Fred Lawrason, Mr. Stanley Manness, Mr. I. Frank Hoyt, Ir. Donald Gulick, Mr. Josoph Il. Stevenson, and the Reverend Father J. J. Kowaleuski.
3. All the lots distributed by the Committee were given froc of charge. A few lots in the city were rented, but these probably represent less than one por cont of the total. 1. About 5500 gardens were registered with the Committee.
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It is estimated that there were more than 20,000 gardens in Scranton and Dunmore this year. 5. It is estimated that there were six hundred to eight hundred acros in the registered gardens, and probably about two thousand acres in the total number of gardens.
6. A quantity of fertilizing and plo ing for several large tracts of land was performed by the Committee. The Committee also gave out about three thousand packages of seeds which they purchased themselves, some fourteen hundred packages donated by the First national Bank, and fifteen hundred packages of seeds sent by Congressman John R. Farr, making a total of fifty-nine hundred. The Com ittee also received about ono thousand tomato, egg plant, and cabbage plants from The Scranton Flower Market, which were distri- buted among var gardeners, five thousand cabbage plants from C. N. Slocum, and a large number of onion sets and seed potatoes.
Garden supervision was Voluntary this year, there being eight volunteers.
8. We had a number of addresses, with and without lantern slides; illustrating war gardening.
9. The registered war gardens produced a large quantity of vegetables, and the value of this produce on the 5,500 registered gardens was about $165,000. The estimated pro- duction for the 20,000 gardens was :450,000,
10. The Scranton War Garden and Conservation Exhibition was held in Scranton September 10, 11, 12, 1918; and was the most successful exhibition of this kind ever held in the city. The avards consisted of two distinct kinds: A. The
awards for gardens; and B. The awards for fresh vegetables from war gardens, and conservation products, such as canned vegetables, dried vegetables, canned fruits, jams, and jellies. About three hundred and fifty prizes were awarded. Therc
were special prizes for the Boy scout Gardens, The Boy . couts rendered valuable assistance during the year in distri- buting literature and in many other ways.
11. The work in the towns outside of Scranton was oner- getically pushed, as the detailed report of oper tions will show you. War Garden Exhibits were held in Moscow and Clark's Summit, and at the Lackawanna County Fair at Ackerly. Meetings were held frequently in all the towns of the County, inspira- tional and technical addresses and lectures being delivered at them.
12. The large corporations, notably the Delaware, Jacka- wanna and Western Coal Company, the Hudson Coal Company, and the Erie Railroad, donated large areas of land for war garden purposes, and many of them also supplied fertilizer.
13. The following table shows the estimated acreage in gardens, and the value of war garden produce in Lackawanna County for 1918.
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Estimated Acreage in Gardens
Number
Estimated Value of Garden Products
Archbald
150
1,000
$20,000
Blakely (Peckville)
100
700
14,000
Clark's Summit
100
400
10,000
Carbondale
200
2,300
46,000
Chinchilla
25
100
2,500
Clark's Green
25
100
2,500)
Dalton
30
120
3,000
Dunmore
300
3,000
60,000
Dickson City
100
1,000
20,000
Daleville
5
20
500
Elmhurst
20
60
1,200
Glenburn
15
60
1,500
Jessup
100
1,000
10,000
Jermyn
75
500
12,000
Mayfield
75
600
12,000
Minooka
25
400
6,000
Moosic
60
600
12,000
Moscow
30
120
3,000
Olyphant
150
1,200
24,000
Old Forge
150
1,200
24,000
Scranton
2,000
20,000
450,000
Taylor
90
900
18,000
Throop
60
600
12,000
Waverly
25
100
2,500
3,910
36,090
767,250
It is to be noticed that the proportion of var gardens was smaller in the rural communities; larger in Lackawanna Valley.
Yours very sincerely, ( Signed) Seth 7. Shoemaker.
Mrs. Mitchell's report furnishes information much like
that of Mr. Shoemaker, and goes on to say :
"After Scranton produced so much valuable food this year it would seem advisable in view of the present demand for food, to encourage war garden production as much as possible during the coming season.
"A vastly important result of the war garden movement and the conservation of food is that it has enabled the members of the Committee to associate with foreign-speaking people, teaching the latter American customs and persuading them to attend schools of Americanization. These people are being persuaded into cleanliness and American ways of living together with being educated."
The closing of the war brought to an end war garden
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Gardens
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activity as a war emergency measure; but the increased acreage inspired by the war, the association of people together which would not have been brought about excepting by such a crisis, and the desire to produce on the part of individuals who never before knew that they had the power to produce, are results that do now, and will in the future, materially affect us in times of peace.
Curb
Markets.
The description of the efforts made by the Committee of Public Safety to increase and conserve food supplies in all pos- sible ways during the war should not be brought to an end without a mention of that which was a new institution in the County -- Curb Markets. There is no public market house or market place in Scran-
ton, as there is in many cities.
Housewives must buy their vege-
tables from the grocer or the huekster.
Many farmers have been
their own hucksters, at great expense of time. The plan, while it may have been talked of, of having the farmers ith produce to sell drive in to certain central locations in the city, where customers would come to them, look over their wares, at a fixed time on cor- tain days of the week, thus so economizing the farmers' time that the customer could buy more cheaply, was nover tried until it was put into effect as a war measure. No markot houses were built of established; but after a great deal of publicity emanating from Mr. Shoemaker and Mr. Joseph M. Stevenson, acting for the Committee of Public Safety, and a great deal of persuasion to convince farmer and customer that the experiment war worth trying, in the fall of 1917 Curb Markets were established in Scranton, Olyphant, and Carbondale.
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Scranton is a large mining and industrial center that is not surrounded by an agricultural community sufficiently productive to supply it with food. In fact, in 1917, it was estimated that more than ninety-two per cent of the produce consumed in Scranton had been brought in by rail.
As compared with the season of 1917 the Curb Markets of 1918 brought in more than three times as much produce. Up to Oct- ober Ist a total of 5, 492 loads of produce had been brought in from the surrounding country, making a total of more than 8,000 tons, which, at a conservative estimate, was worth about $400,000. The
problem of distributing this large increase in the quantity of produce without occasioning prices that would discourage the far- mer was considerable; as the number of consumers in Scranton was not larger than the year before.
Upon investigation it was found that people did not as a rule go very far to attend Curb Markets. A common radius on which the market can draw is usually not more than six or seven blocks. Hence, to handle the large increase in produce, the only possible solution was to open up more markets and distribute wagon-loads of produce where customers could easily reach them. With most con- sumers the problem of transportation was a serious one, finding it almost impossible to carry heavy loads more than a few blocks.
A further development of this idea of taking the produce as close as possible to the consumer was brought about in October. The plan of having the consumers get in their orders for winter potatoes, cabbage, turnips, carrots, beets, onions, for delivery at their homes, proved to be the means of distributing much more produce from the Curb Markets than would have been actually carried away.
Beginning on August 3rd, the Mifflin Avenue Market was
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the first to open, and the South Side, Hyde Park, . rovidence, Dunmore, Nay Aug, and Green Ridge Markets wore opened in turn. After a few days' trial the Dunmore Market was shifted several blocks in order to put it in a more central location.
In 1918 the development in Curb Markets was so great that in 1919, after the war, the Curb Markets were considered an insti- tution that had come to stay on a much larger scale. The instal- lation of Curb Markets was of mutual benefit to producer and con- sumer The consumer was able to reduce the cost of living materi- ally, and the producer was able to get a better price at less trouble and expense than he could obtain in the holesale market. The double advantage was obtained by eliminating the service of the middle-man, which was made possible by bringing the producer and consumer together where they could transact their business conveni- ently =- where the customer, too, could move from one producer to the next, taking her choice of wares.
Although the i petus to the Curb Market movement in Soran- ton was a war impetus, the advantages to consumer and producer have continued, and will continue, just as much in time of peace. This, of course, is born out by the experience of curb markets in other towns of the State.
Then one thinks of the many difficulties that Mr. Shoc- maker encountered in 1917 and 1918 in trying to get the Curb Har- kets started on a successful basis, the people of Scranton should always commend him for the great advantages he has brought to them. The Curb Market came to stay; and it was one of the lasting bone- fits that came to us from the great efforts put forth to make the most of our food supply during the war times.
Mr. Shoemaker's statistical report shows that on August 3, 1918, one market was open, 63 loads were in market, and : , 500
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people were in attendance. September 3rd, seven markets were open, 191 loads were in market, and 9,800 people were in atten- dance at the markets. October 5th, seven markets were open, there were 165 loads delivered, and 10,100 were present. The big day was September 24th. 227 loads were brought to market, and 13,200 people assembled to look and to buy.
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