MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 139 



rapidly since 1880.^ At tliat time tliese centers, as computed by the 

 census, were about 200 miles apart. In 1800 they were 2f)0 miles from 

 one another, and in 1900 this distance was 385 miles. Something of the 

 effect of this has been ott'set no doubt by imju'ovements in transportation. 

 This does not tell the whole story of course. The first development of 

 western agriculture was close to the rivers and the lakes. Later the 

 industry moved into regions where the effect of these avenues of cheap 

 transportation was less. 



A distributive expense of great importance is the modern advertising 

 cam])aign. Although I am willing to grant what the business man says 

 about the necessity of advertising for his individual business it is true 

 in my opinion that advertising is one of the great blood-suckers of 

 modern industry. Very largely it is a waste of money so far as the 

 customer is concerned, as it is merely a usurpation by the manufacturer 

 of the function of recommending and guaranteeing products which pre- 

 viously the local retailer performed. And in the change there is a waste, 

 for the retailer is still necessary and the manufacturer must spend 

 innnense sums to gain the attention of the customers, a thing which 

 the retailer has without expense in connection with shopping. Mr. 

 Wiley of the Department of Agriculture recently said in Chicago that 

 the cost of a bushel of wheat sold to the customer in the form of a well 

 advertised breakfast food was flO.OO. The statement of a prominent 

 breakfast food manufacturer shows that over 30^^ of the cost to the 

 consumer is manufacturer's advertising, and 10% more is involved in 

 other manufacturer's selling expenses. And to this something should be 

 added for the cost of doing business all over the United States in little 

 ♦piantities here and there wherever the national advertising campaign 

 makes an appeal, and something for the expense to the grocers for 

 carrying a large assortment of ditferent brands of foods to satisfy the 

 many small demands created by rival advertising campaigns. 



Finally, on the subject of distribution, a word further may be said 

 about the retail store. Possibly retail gross profits are less than they 

 were during the days of the Granger agitation in the latter sixties and 

 early seventies.- But it would be difticult to ascertain it, because most 

 of the high profit goods of today are either entirely new or could not be 

 directly matched with articles oft'ered in the seventies. When we think 

 of economical retailing we naturally think of the department store, but 

 this agency which is economical when not conceived on too luxurious a 

 ])lan apjdies in a very small degree to food distribution. Foods are dis- 

 tributed, as are drugs and drinks, by neighborhood convenience stores. 

 Grocery stores and meat and bakery shops must make small sales and 

 numerous deliveries because the city family has small storage space, 

 uses expensive ice, and the cook is not expert in the ('(mtinental art of 

 recooking. These deliveries are not only expensive but there is involved 

 in them the circumstance that when a customer's purchases are numer- 

 ous and small and chietty delivered it is out of the question to get cash 

 payment for each purchase, so that a large sum is constantly tied up in 

 credit advances. For these reasons such stores are distributed to resi- 

 dence districts and are small and uneconomical. The number of such 



'In 1870 the distance between them was 1^5 miles. 



-18G7-1870 covers the activity of the Grangers and Sovereigns of Industry. 



