FROM PRODUCER TO CONSUMER 175 



the life of the community. Individual farmers 

 could ship directly to individual consumers or re- 

 tailers. They could thus be assured of means of 

 transportation and of delivery as well. Moreover, 

 rates and charges should then be fixed by the gov- 

 ernment, as they are in the parcel-post, rather than 

 by the carriers, who have it in their power not only 

 to decide what freight shall be carried and what 

 not, but also to fix arbitrarily the rates for carriage, 

 which in many instances are so prohibitive as to 

 kill the industry. 



With an unlimited parcel-post, local gardening, 

 the raising of poultry, eggs, butter, etc., and their 

 direct shipment to market would become a possi- 

 bility, as it was in the days when each farmer drove 

 to the near-by town and sold his produce to his own 

 customers. There is nothing extraordinary about 

 such a proposal. The parcel-post is used all over 

 Europe as a means of marketing directly and for 

 cutting out of the middlemen. 



The proposals herein suggested merely open up 

 the distributing agencies. They offer a free means 

 of circulation between the consumer and producer. 

 They destroy all of the useless middlemen and make 

 it impossible for them to live. They re-establish 

 conditions that prevailed all over the country up 

 to a generation ago. And the high cost of living 

 only appeared with the coming of these agencies 

 that should have reduced the cost of living and 



