served by retailers in rural trading centers, who in- 

 creasingly compare favorably with merchants in the 

 larger city. Retailers in each locality are guided 

 largely in the selection of merchandise by the prefer- 

 ence of the leading families among their patrons. 

 That is, on the farm as well as in the city the prefer- 

 ences of a comparatively small number of leaders 

 determine what will be carried by the merchants and 

 what will be sold in the community. 



Obviously, those manufacturers who secure the 

 good will of the leadership families occupy a position 

 of great strategic advantage. They obtain a larger 

 proportion of the business in their line. This has been 

 one of the most powerful forces promoting concentra- 

 tion in the manufacture of products used in the farm 

 market as well as in other fields. The agricultural 

 implement industry is typical. The capital invested 

 in this industry increased fivefold in the period from 

 1880 to 1914. But the number of establishments in 

 1914 was but one-third what it was in 1880. SeeX 

 Chart 21. Further, of the 600 establishments manu^x 

 facturing agricultural implements in 1914 a small pro- 

 portion did the bulk of the business. This is not ex- 

 ceptional. It is the story of industry. In the early 

 history of an industry many firms enter. But mortality 

 sets in. The number of firms is steadily reduced. A \ 

 few persist to the end. The experience of the farm 

 implement industry is likely to be duplicated in many 

 lines of manufacture supplying the farm market. 

 Apparently, the tendency toward concentration is 

 likely to be even more rapid in the future, due largely 

 to the more effective use of national advertising to 

 reach the leadership families in the farm field and to 

 the increasing influence of these families. 



Methods in farming as well as the views and stand- 

 ards of the farm family are being transformed by 



[67] 



