160 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



the plan in universal use in Denmark by the dairy- 

 men, cattle and hog raisers, the egg and poultry 

 men, who collect, pack, ship, and market directly 

 to their customers through co-operative agencies. 

 Possibly voluntary co-operation is too difficult for 

 diversified farming and truck-gardening in this 

 country. As an alternative, a State department for 

 collective marketing, such as is proposed in New 

 York, with county agents who would receive, ship, 

 and sell at the final market, is the best solution. 

 This would cut out the soHcitors for the city dealers, 

 it would reduce the cost of transportation, and would 

 give the farmer a responsible agent, under surety 

 bond, in the city to whom he could look to sell 

 and account for his shipments.^ 



(2) In every large city there should be one or 



* The following is a description of the methods by which the 

 Danish farmer reaches his market in London. It was published 

 in the New York Evening Mail: 



"Just picture what goes on in Denmark, a country where farmers 

 are prosperous. Consumers buy cheaply, and there are no rob- 

 bers who stand between them. In this country the farmers are 

 not prosperous, the consumers do not buy cheaply, and there are 

 robbers between them. In Denmark, on a country road in the 

 afternoon, one can see a man wearing the cap of the Farm- 

 ers' Co-operative Association pushing a cart through the village, 

 gathering from each house a dozen or two dozen eggs, tubs of butter, 

 and packages of cheese. As he takes the produce he stamps the 

 eggs and records the quantity delivered in the record book of the 

 member. At the end of his three or four mile trip he meets a half 

 dozen other men at a small transfer-station owned by the co- 

 operative association. At the transfer-station great wagons or 

 trucks are loaded with the products brought in by the hand-carts, 

 and the trucks haul their loads to a near-by railroad-station. At 

 the railroad-station enough is concentrated to fill a railroad-car. 



"The raib:oad-car proceeds to a seaport, where it meets scores 



