208 THE MONTHLY Bt'LLKTIX. 



and delegate from the United states to that institution. What I say to 

 you today, therefore, will be a feeble effort to convey to you some of the 

 ideas of Mr. Luhin upon this suhject. If any doubt exists in the minds 

 of anyone here present that an economic distribution of farm products 

 he necessary, he das only to learn that there is an annual disappearance, 

 let us call it. of six hillions of dollars from tie- farm to tin- kitchen of 

 the consumer in the annual marketing of our farm crops. In other 

 words, it eosts six billions of dollars to place the farm produets of the 

 country upon the tables of the consumers and manifestly, therefore, 

 something is wrong with the system. Such a waste as this in the 

 administration of human affairs creates a problem that we all can and 

 should study, because we are vitally interested therein. It is a prob- 

 lem about which we .should sit down and reason together and any man 

 who is studying this problem earnestly and intelligently and patiently 

 should lie given full credit for so doing. We should not. it seems to me. 

 criticise those who are working along lines which they think will lead 

 to better distribution of farm produets but should sympathetically 

 cuss the situation with them and try to assist them. It does not make 

 any difference, in the final outcome whether the system that shall be 

 adopted shall be the system which you may think best or the ^ysi 

 which I may think best. I dare say, also, that before the problem shall 

 have been successfully solved a great many experiments will have to be 

 tried in order that they may be eliminated from the situation. 



At this point permit me to say that I have never been able to under- 

 stand the opposition to the study and consideration of this problem 

 which seems to come from the existing distributing agencies. If I 

 represented a railroad, or an express company, or any of the cooperative 

 distributing agencies, or was a jobber. I would welcome any advance 

 that might be made toward the economic distribution of the products 

 which I handled. I would realize that you could no more stop progress 

 in this respect in a civilized nation than you could stop the general 

 progress of the human race and I would also realize that the more 

 economic system of distribute n of farm products, the greater would be 

 the demand. As a result of this increased demand the number of dis- 

 tributing agencies would lie greatly increased. Likewise were I a 

 grocer, for example, in the city of Sacramento. I would not have 

 opposed the experiment which was conducted there in the use of the 

 parcel pest as a medium of distribution of farm products, but would 

 have assisted it. I would have done this in the full realization that if 

 by some means I could cause all of the farmers in the surrounding 

 country to come to the city every day and successfully sell their 

 products, the demand for the general goods which I carried would be 

 greatly increased and at the expense only of a few "green goods." 



Perhaps some that are here today are not fully convinced of the 

 necessity of a better method of distribution of farm products. If so, 

 stop and think for a moment. 



California has the best climate in the world, the most fertile soil to 

 be found anywhere, living conditions which are as near ideal as pos- 

 sible and broad and fertile acres to be settled by individual farmers and 

 yd the farmers do not come. Ask yourself why. The answer is 

 obvious for conditions have become such in this country that the 

 farmer, as a rule, does not have his full political, financial and social 



