CHAPTER XIV 

 FROM PRODUCER TO CONSUMER 



I AM convinced that America would be the cheap- 

 est place in the world to live in were industry and 

 agriculture free from the many obstacles to produc- 

 tion and the many agencies which take tribute from 

 the consumer. There is land enough ; there are men 

 enough; there is willingness enough to produce fuel, 

 food, lumber, and all of the necessities and comforts 

 of life if the obstacles that lie in the path of agricul- 

 ture and industry were swept away, as has been 

 done in some industries and as has been done to 

 all industry to a greater or less extent in other 

 countries. 



\Vhat can be done to eliminate unnecessary costs, 

 middlemen, speculators, and dealers? How can 

 the producer be brought to the consumer and the 

 farmer be insured that protection in the marketing 

 of his product that is essential if he is not to be 

 discouraged from producing at all? Before trying 

 other remedies, such as regulation, price-fixing, etc., 

 why should not the very simple expedient be tried 

 of freeing industry and agriculture from the control 

 of parasitical agencies and the laws of supply and 

 demand be given a chance to operate? We had 

 such freedom up to the advent of monopoly in the 

 nineties and we had no cost-of-living problem. 



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