CHAPTER I 

 THE FEEDING OF THE NATION 



The feeding of the nation has been left almost 

 wholly to chance and to unorganized, uncontrolled 

 agencies. Production and distribution have been 

 permitted to evolve from the conditions of a half- 

 century ago into the highly complex relationships 

 of a whole nation, if not the entire world, with but 

 little official concern for either the producer at one 

 end of the line or the consumer at the other. 



Before the coming of great cities each community 

 sufficed for itself. The marketmen or local grocer 

 bartered for food with the neighboring farmer, and 

 the laws of demand and supply regulated produc- 

 tion and kept prices at a reasonable figure. This 

 was the condition up to a few years ago. 



Cities grew. The nation became a market. The 

 Northwest entered into competition with New Eng- 

 land, and California and Florida with the local 

 truck-garden. The steamship widened the market 

 into the world. Canada and the American North- 

 west, Russia, Australia, and South America pro- 

 duced for the industrial workers of the world, and 

 the prices of cereal and meat products were fixed in 

 London and Liverpool. Refrigerator-cars brought 



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