48 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 



pays the profit, and farm conditions will be so 

 improved that more men will go into the business 

 of farming, and the congestion of workers in our 

 cities will be relieved. 



The author does not believe it possible or prac- 

 ticable to entirely eliminate the middlemen stand- 

 ing between the farmer and the consumer. Like 

 every question it has its two sides. The middle- 

 men have done a great work for our country. 

 Stop and consider their achievements. They 

 have built our cities with their massive business 

 blocks, hotels, churches, school buildings, li- 

 braries, universities, colleges and beautiful resi- 

 dences. They have erected, put, and kept in 

 operation our manufacturing plants, that have 

 led to the invention and manufacture of those 

 splendid, wonderful and varied machines, devices, 

 goods, wares, and merchandise that have light- 

 ened toil, lessened labor, and contributed to our 

 enjoyment in a thousand ways, and that have 

 cheapened the necessities of life, and have given 

 us opportunities of living never enjoyed by any 

 age of the world's history. 



They have furnished the money to build our 

 railroads, steam ships, and canals. They have 

 established banks that have furnished much of 

 the capital to carry on farm operations. 



They have almost universally contributed ' the 

 capital by which have been made possible our 

 church organizations that have carried on and 

 promulgated the religion of the Christ, the very 

 foundation of good society, and the erection and 

 maintaining of the hospitals where the diseases 

 and frailties of man have been cured and cor- 



