who has national distribution that adequately reaches 

 the smaller cities is already reaching the farm market 

 in all the more expensive or shopping lines. Also he is 

 increasingly reaching the farm trade in less expensive 

 lines, for when the family goes to the trading center to 

 shop they naturally buy more or less of the cheaper 

 articles. However, the village store does and is likely 

 to continue to do a large volume of business in con- 

 venience lines, such as groceries, toilet preparations, 

 notions, overalls and other work clothes, and staple 

 lines of hardware. Hence, an adequate distribution 

 of these convenience lines necessitates jobber co- 

 operation, involving at most simply an extension 

 rather than a change in selling methods. 



The automobile has been the largest single factor 

 in this concentration of trade. This is likely to be 

 even more marked with the improvement of country 

 roads. However, other factors have contributed to 

 this concentration of trade. There are over three mil- 

 lion telephones on the farm- that is, approximately 

 one-half of all farm families now have the telephone. 

 Over one-half of all farm families now have the rural 

 free delivery. Briefly stated, the improvement in the 

 means of communication and transportation has in 

 fact moved the farm family nearer to the city. 



Not only is the farm family physically more ac- 

 cessible. They are also more accessible to the message 

 conveyed by the printed page, for more and more farm 

 families read high grade farm publications, leading 

 periodicals, daily papers and other literature deliv- 

 ered to the farm family each morning by rural free 

 delivery. 



At the same time the merchant in the small city 

 is steadily improving. The up-to-date rural merchant 

 now carries a well-selected stock of nationally known 

 products. He runs an attractive store. He aggres- 



[60] 



