MANAGEMENT 



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middlemen who control these channels are able to levy a rather 

 heavy toll upon goods which pass through them. In order to 

 prevent abuses of this kind it is important that as many chan- 

 nels as possible be kept open between the producer and the 

 consumer ; in other words, it is desirable that they should have 

 as many opportunities as possible to deal directly with one an- 

 other, even though they may not always find it profitable to 

 do so. It is extremely improbable that any scheme by which 

 consumers could buy directly of producers and producers sell 

 directly to consumers would eliminate the middleman altogether. 

 He will always be in a position to save trouble to both the pro- 

 ducers and the consumers. And yet if producers and consumers 

 always have an opportunity to deal directly with one another, 

 the result will be that the middleman can only charge for his 

 services what they are actually worth. If he attempts to charge 

 more than they are worth, that is, if his charges are such as 

 to make it cheaper for producers and consumers to deal directly 

 with one another, they will dispense with his services. But 

 if such opportunities are closed and the producers and con- 

 sumers are compelled to deal through the middleman, he will 

 find himself in a position to levy a toll in excess of the real 

 value of his services. 



Parcels post. For these reasons it is highly important that 

 such opportunities should be kept open as are furnished by 

 public markets in our large cities. Again, it would be highly 

 advantageous if a parcels post could be established. Under this 

 system, if it were properly administered, it would be possible in 

 a great many instances for consumers to order poultry, eggs, 

 and certain of the less bulky farm products by mail from pro- 

 ducers. This would not mean that any considerable proportion 

 of the business would actually be transacted through the post 

 office, but it would serve to keep open the channel of commu- 

 nication between producer and consumer, and thus to restrict 



