Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 125 



or the consumer to put himself to too great inconvenience merely 

 to discharge what he may clearly recognize in the abstract as his 

 duty to the local producer. The farmer must plan to have his 

 supply come as regularly as possible, and, above all things, to keep 

 it up to the standard in quality and to have it so packed and 

 handled that it is attractive to the eye and easy to sell. 



In short, the farmer must cater to his market just as the 

 merchant does. Unless he will do this much, he cannot get the 

 business and does not deserve to have it. 



BURDENS THE CONSUMER LAYS UPON THE MERCHANTS AND FARMER. 



As stated before, the consumer is as much in need of educa- 

 tion as is the producer. We give little thought to the effect our 

 purchase may have upon the development of local or state indus- 

 tries. We are just as happy with a broom made in Michigan, the 

 brush for which perhaps was grown in, our own State and shipped 

 six hundred miles to have a handle attached, as we would be with 

 one made in our own community. We buy western apples by the 

 peck and let better apples rot in the neighborhood for want of a 

 market. A neighbor kills a beef or a few hogs, and part of the 

 meat wastes because he cannot use it all in his own family. In 

 the meantime we have patronized the butcher shop the meats of 

 which come from the city. 



The consumer buys in small lots, usually over the telephone, 

 and insists upon immediate delivery. He has gotten out of the 

 habit of buying in quantity. Formerly the winter supply of ap- 

 ples, potatoes, onions, etc., was provided in the fall. Now these 

 things are purchased as needed from day to day, and usually in 

 quantities not to exceed a peck. This practically prevents the 

 farmer from selling direct to the consumer. He has not the time 

 to deliver daily and in such small quantities. The remedy is to 

 be found in the consumer being encouraged to buy in larger quan- 

 tities, or in establishing local co-operative markets, where the 

 farmers' representative may take orders and later deliver the ma- 

 terial for all the members of the association. 



A merchant in Emporia, Kan., told me that it cost the retail 

 merchants of that city of ten thousand inhabitants thirty thou- 

 sand dollars last year to deliver their goods from the stores to 

 the homes of their customers. 



