STATE MARKETING ACTIVITIES 131 



poor country roads before the product reaches the railroad station. 

 Lower freight rates may be brought about by using fleets of motor 

 trucks for short haul business, provided country roads are im- 

 proved. An enormous leak in railway transportation is due to 

 the shipper himself, namely, the shipping of poorly packaged 

 perishable freight. It is appalling to witness the loss and damage 

 in foodstuffs arriving at big city markets, losses due to shipping 

 in frail containers, or to improper loading of correct containers. 

 (4) Credit is the fourth step in marketing, and is vitally important 

 under our present system of doing business with the smallest 

 possible use of money. We live in a credit age. Credit is a promise 

 to pay money. Farmers' crops go to market shortly after harvest, 

 as a rule, and are paid for in cash with money borrowed from the 

 banks. Hence credit must carry the crop till it is bought and paid 

 for by the consumer, months later in many cases. It is commonly 

 the middleman or dealer who finances the farmer by securing 

 credit from the bank. For this service a "toll" is charged. If the 

 farmer, in buying his supplies, uses book credit ("charge" account 

 at the store), he is using the most expensive form of credit known. 



The reformer of our present market system must successfully 

 solve the four problems named above, if he hopes to displace our 

 present system. Getting the farm products from the producer 

 to the consumer in the right quantity, of the right quality, at 

 the right time, at the right place (usually his kitchen door) is 

 now carried on by the middleman in a remarkably efficient manner, 

 when you take into consideration the whims and fancies of the 

 consumer, and the more basic fact that consumption is not rational 

 and never can be. (De gustibus non est disputandum "There is 

 no disputing about tastes.") Let us now turn our attention to 

 the concrete attacks being made on the marketing problem by 

 the various States. 



State Marketing Activities. The year 1915 may be given as the 

 date when the States of the Union began actual marketing activi- 

 ties. The high cost of living in recent years doubtless contributed 

 to this step by the States. The long crusade against the "middle- 

 man" may be considered as a further cause for the States under- 

 taking to deal with the marketing problem in a new and somewhat 

 concrete way. A partial survey of the State marketing activities 

 may be considered at this point, before examining the actual costs 

 and services of the middleman. 



Most of the States are now undertaking some marketing 

 activity. It is a new field, and they are feeling their way, each 



