THE FARMER'S MARKET 93 



ideal substances mentioned above. He necessarily 

 must dispose of other things, else the rest of the world 

 would starve. Therefore we must face with philo- 

 sophic resignation the yearly necessity of disposing of 

 the very cream of our fields. In doing this does the 

 farmer have a fair chance ? I think the answer is em- 

 phatically " No." 



The reasons of the disadvantages in which the farmer 

 finds himself are not hard to find. First is his pitiful 

 degree of isolation. When a farmer approaches the 

 market he goes out singly, as a soldier would by himself 

 to battle. The result is that he becomes the victim of 

 every organized form of greed. On the contrary, when 

 he buys anything, he buys of an organized industry, 

 which knows how to protect its product and secure the 

 highest price. The farmer's market, therefore, is tied 

 at both ends. The pitiable helplessness of the farmer 

 in the market ties his end of it; the organized fore- 

 sight of the market from which he buys, ties the other 

 end. The result of both of these restrictions is that 

 the farmer does not get a fair share of the money that is 

 expended finally for his products. 



It is difficult, of course, to determine what the final 

 expenditure is ; in other words, what the consumer pays 

 for bread, meat, fruit, vegetables and clothing, the 

 things the fanner produces. Of one thing we may be 

 certain, and that is that the final price which is paid 

 is many times higher than what the farmer gets. No 

 one complains of this condition of affairs. It costs 

 money to bring the farmer's products to the consumer's 

 home, and that cost, with a fair profit thereon, is a 

 legitimate tax upon the farmer's products, paid partly 

 by the consumer and contributed partly by the farmer. 

 Too many middlemen spoil the farmers' broth. 



