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tmg it worked into their heads that they have got to com- 

 bine and do their own marketing, and that is what they are 

 going to do. It may be slow coming, but you chaps are cer- 

 tainly killing the goose that lays your eggs. There ought to 

 be no question about the proposition that the interest of the 

 producer, the interest of the transportation company, and 

 the interest of the commission man should be one and the 

 same. They ought to work together, but they do not, and 

 the farmer believes he has good cause to believe that he is 

 being crowded, and he is going to take the matter somewhat 

 into his own hands, or I am no prophet. But you can readi- 

 ly see that when a man only gets his bare cash outlay for 

 producing an article, he has no incentive to increase his 

 product. If he could get a square deal from commission 

 houses he could and would do more and ship more. 



Perhaps it is idle for me to make these remarks, but it 

 certainly will do no harm to either one of us to discuss the 

 thing for a moment from the producer's standpoint. And 

 for myself, I don't care whether it does or not, for I think 

 I see my ,way clear along the lines indicated herein. 

 Yours respectfully. 



That letter was written by an intelligent person, and [ 

 confess that I don't know whether I am here as the plaint- 

 iff or the defendant (laughter). Perhaps before I finish I 

 shall have pleaded for and defended my associates suflScient- 

 ly. If I do not, I shall be only too pleased to be questioned. 



The great and wonderful industry of producing and 

 disseminating food products must of necessity have its inter- 

 mediaries, perhaps more so than any other line of business. 

 Who are the intermediaries? The transportation compan- 

 ies, commission merchants, jobbers and retailers. No less 

 important than the others are the honest commission mer- 

 chants. Why are they important? Because they are in- 

 dispensable. Let us approach this subject broad-mindedly. 

 I know that there are many of you who through personal 

 energy and regular deliveries have created a demand for 



