THE MIDDLEMEN AND DISTRIBUTERS 75 



them from ten to twenty times the haul from the 

 near-by points. And as the railroads either control 

 or work with the distributing agencies, the latter 

 can only acquiesce in the proceedings. The farmer 

 is helpless, as is the consumer. The fact that, as 

 already stated, of New York's $800,000,000 food bill 

 only $40,000,000, or 5 per cent., comes from the 

 farmers of New York State is one reason why 

 only 40 per cent, of the land of the State is un- 

 der cultivation and only 375,000 people out of 10,- 

 000,000 are agriculturists. The railroads have de- 

 stroyed farming in New York in order that they 

 may enjoy the earnings that come from a thousand- 

 mile haul from the Far West. 



The food speculators and gamblers form an al- 

 most endless hierarchy of operators, each one of 

 whom is interested in inflating the prices as high 

 as possible in order to secure the largest possible 

 profit before he passes the produce on to another. 

 A useful ser\dce is performed by a small portion of 

 them, but service is secondary to speculation. In 

 other words, a legitimate function has been con- 

 verted into a gambling transaction, and in the proc- 

 ess a large number of perfectly useless intermedi- 

 aries have wedged themselves in between the pro- 

 ducer and consumer. It is difficult to tell the cost 

 in actual dollars to the consumer, or the increase 

 in price. Farm produce is marketed whose cost to 

 the consumer is four or five times what the producer 



