REPORT OF BUREAU OF MARKETING AND SUPPUES. 121 



REPORT OF BUREAU OF MARKETING AND 



SUPPLIES. 



To Hon. John A. Roberts, Commissioner: 



I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the 

 Bureau of Marketing and SuppHes relative to the special work 

 of this department in bringing about a state wide organization 

 of those engaged in agricultural work, thereby perfecting a sys- 

 tem of marketing and buying supplies that would bring the 

 markets and base of supply nearer the consumer and producer. 



The men selected to carry on the educational work and lay 

 the foundation upon which to build the system realized the 

 magnitude of the work before them, therefore great care was 

 taken to start at the base of the trouble so as not to make a 

 backward step necessary. 



As the special work in which the Department is now engaged 

 is a departure from the usual methods of agricultural depart- 

 ments, a statement as to the conditions that influenced the De- 

 partment to undertake to solve the problems of marketing and 

 buying supplies will not be out of place. In the more early 

 years the farmer was engaged in a system of general farming, 

 raising about everything he required to maintain life and clothe 

 himself and family. Later he became commercially engaged, 

 and then it became necessary to raise the crops that had the 

 most commercial value. These crops he had to market and the 

 only method presented was to sell them to a local buyer or 

 consign them to commission men. Both of these methods were 

 unsatisfactory. The farmer was entirely at the mercy of the 

 men engaged in the commission business, for he had no way 

 to determine just what returns should be made. In the case of 

 the local buyer, to some extent the same conditions obtained. 

 The farmer had no medium through which he could be in- 



