14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



which will better distribute food when it is cheap and conserve 

 it during periods of scarcity. One side gains something at the 

 expense of the other, no matter whether prices are high or low. 

 The side which gains the most in the long run is that side 

 which can stand the losses best. Generally speaking, this latter 

 is the farmer who can live even though his crops may not re- 

 turn him a profit for a number of years. Under present con- 

 ditions these two great forces are bound to be in conflict most 

 of the time, the one blaming the other for adverse conditions. 

 Just at present it is the consumer who can see nothing good in 

 the producer, and all sorts of stories are prevalent from the 

 farmer destroying his crops in order to keep up prices to the 

 farmers combining to limit production. It is now the consumer 

 who would co-operate. Little do consumers, as a rule, realize 

 the cost of producing food products. To most of them the 

 farmer's task is a simple one, — just planting the seed and 

 harvesting the crop, — they not realizing the long struggle to 

 get a farm on a paying basis, and the long hours of labor under 

 all kinds of weather conditions. Little do they realize that if 

 the farmer were limited to the eight-hour day food prices 

 would be prohibitive. Before there can be any real co-opera- 

 tion there has got to be a more sympathetic understanding 

 between both sides of this great controversy. Possibly it is the 

 business of the farmer to inform the consumer more about his 

 business. Certainly the farmer should know more about the 

 conditions which prevail in the cities, and to this end might it 

 not be possible to arrange mass meetings to discuss this 

 question and get a full expression of the whole vexed problem? 

 There have been many requests made upon the Board this 

 year for help in co-operative work. The secretary has spoken 

 to several meetings along these lines, and while many persons 

 are very glad to inform themselves there seems to be very little 

 desire to go any further. Real work is more often undertaken 

 by persons of foreign birth who have come in contact with the 

 same sort of work in their own country. It should, however, be 

 borne in mind that the process of co-operation is bound to be 

 slow, and only as economic pressure is brought to bear will the 

 movement gain much headway. 



