l6 FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 



assembled from long distances before the process of 

 fabrication can begin. After the raw materials have 

 been fabricated into finished goods a process which 

 may require movement of the semi-manufactured 

 goods back and forth among several plants located at 

 different points of the country the finished goods 

 must be transported and stored at the points of con- 

 sumption until the public is ready to use them. The 

 larger factories are made in order to lower production 

 costs, the greater become the distances and the more 

 intricate the problems involved in assembling the raw 

 materials and distributing the finished goods. Thus 

 the lower we make the factory costs, the higher be- 

 come the distribution costs. 



It cost the Campbell Soup Company much less to 

 produce a can of tomatoes in their great factories than 

 it cost Mrs. Borsodi to produce one in her kitchen. 

 But after they had produced theirs, all the costs of 

 getting it from their factory to the ultimate con- 

 sumer had to be added. In Mrs. Borsodi's case the 

 first cost was the final cost. No distribution costs had 

 to be added because the point of production and the 

 point of consumption was the same. 



All the orthodox economic teachings to which I 

 had subscribed underwent a complete transformation 

 as soon as I fully digested the implications of this dis- 

 covery. 



I discovered that more than two-thirds of the 

 things which the average family now buys could be 



