DISTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL INCOME 329 



win, though they may win on some of their early ventures. 1 But 

 in i;he case of an enterprise which does not appeal to the 

 gambling instinct, men are so reluctant to buy the risk that its 

 market value is usually less than its real worth, and men who 

 persist in buying such risks inevitably gain if they continue 

 long enough and are not ruined by early losses. 



In the former class of enterprises there are no profits, but 

 losses instead, for the adventurers as a class, though an occa- 

 sional fortune is won. In the latter class of enterprises there 

 are profits for the adventurers as a class, though occasionally 

 an individual becomes bankrupt. 2 



What becomes of the price paid by the consumer. Another 

 important problem in distribution is that of finding what part of 

 the price paid by the consumer of farm products goes to the 

 farmer, and what part goes to the various agencies which take 

 part in bringing the products of the farmer to the consumer. 

 Unfortunately this problem cannot be reduced to general prin- 

 ciples, but must be solved for each particular product for each 

 particular locality. A full and complete answer to this question 

 would therefore require elaborate investigations in many locali- 

 ties, and the tabulation of the results of these investigations in 

 voluminous tables. Some indication as to the nature of such an 

 investigation and its results may be gathered from the following 

 table, the facts for which were gathered by the members of the 

 author's class in agricultural economics in Harvard University 

 in the spring of 1911. 



1 This is invariably true of lottery tickets. It is believed by most men of 

 sound judgment to be true also of mining risks. 



2 Cf. the author's Distribution of Wealth (New York, 1905), pp. 270-285. 



