y8 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



by an Oregon operator have been shipped through Denver to 

 Omaha and their beef sent to points on the Atlantic Coast, while 

 Oregon and California points were importing beef from Chi- 

 cago. Hogs raised in Illinois and sold at Indianapolis have 

 been slaughtered in Boston and a part of their cured bacon 

 shipped to Los Angeles, while Oregon hogs were being shipped 

 to Omaha. Michigan dressed veal calves, expressed to South 

 Water Street Commission Houses at Chicago, have been returned 

 to the identical shipping points from which they came to fill 

 orders from local retail meat markets. 



INTERMEDIARY EXPENSES. 



Some attribute our marketing difficulties to the presence of 

 so many middle-men and speculators. These agencies have 

 come into existence by the failure or inability of the farmer to 

 perform these duties himself. If he is unable to personally dis- 

 tribute his crops and deal direct with the consumer or ware- 

 house these crops until the market is ready to consume them, he 

 must employ agents or commission men to do this work for him. 

 It is no doubt true, however, that there are entirely too many 

 middle-men engaged in the distribution of agricultural pro- 

 ducts. Under our present system of marketing some of these 

 intermediary agents are a necessity, but a great number are a 

 burden to both producer and consumer. 



MARKETING DIFFERS FROM PRODUCTION. 



The individual grower of agricultural products cannot stand 

 on equal ground with the buyers of his products, in that he does 

 not have the knowledge of market and crop conditions, nor 

 selling experience sufficient to hold his own in striking a bar- 

 gain. Production and marketing are essentially different and 

 special ability is required to do either well. This is an age of 

 specialization. All large commercial and industrial enterprises 

 are divided into departments managed by experts in their given 

 lines. The sales departments have their sales agents who have 

 spent years in study in order to become expert salesmen ; pur- 

 chasing departments have their expert buyers, while the factory 

 or producing end has another corps of experts. 



The necessity of separating the producing force from the sell- 

 ing force has been realized by manufacturing concerns. Why 



