mental in organizing a large number of local marketing 

 and buying organizations of farmers. In the aggre- 

 gate the number of farmers' cooperative marketing 

 associations is estimated at 10,000, which market 

 products valued at one billion dollars a year. Some 

 failures are inevitable. But gradually the farmers in 

 all sections are learning to apply better business 

 methods in marketing and buying. This does not nec- 

 essarily mean the elimination of the retail dealer. 

 Where the dealer renders the same service on equally 

 advantageous terms he is likely to do most of the busi- 

 ness. In a word, he must do a larger volume at a lower 

 percentage of gross profit. 



More efficient methods of distribution, which in- 

 crease the farmer's net income, naturally make farm- 

 ing more attractive and help to keep a larger number 

 of more efficient men on the farms. More capable 

 farmers produce a larger volume at a lower cost, 

 tending in a measure to check rising food prices and 

 at the same time provide a more satisfactory net in- 

 come for the farm family. 



Governmental Agencies 



Governmental agencies national, state and lo- 

 cal are doing a vast amount to promote progress in 

 agriculture. The United States Department of Agri- 

 culture is a great and interesting factor in agricultural 

 progress. In 1904 the Department of Agriculture 

 received appropriations of a little over $6,000,000. 

 This amount has been increased from time to time 

 until in 1918 under war conditions the appropriations 

 were $68,000,000. Agricultural colleges everywhere 

 are the backbone of agricultural progress. The aggre- 

 gate amount voted to support the agricultural colleges 

 in 1917 was nearly four times what it was in 1904. 

 See Chart 18. Even more important, we now employ 



[491 



