i64 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



" We have 1,628 warehouses, mainly for storing cotton ; 

 Mississippi leads the warehouse movement with a million-dollar 

 corporation. We own and operate a large number of elevators 

 and terminal agencies for the handling of grain. We own and 

 operate 245 packing houses. We own and operate dozens of 

 newspapers. We own and operate coal-mines. We own and 

 operate several banks, flour mills, creameries, pickle factories, 

 several hundred stores, an implement factory, a phosphate plant, 

 a phosphate mine. We own and operate tobacco factories and 

 warehouses, produce exchanges, fertiliser factories, peanut ware- 

 houses, a peanut reclean, many cotton grading schools, co- 

 operative life and fire insurance companies." 



The country beyond the Atlantic is accordingly all astir 

 with Co-operation of a sort and, with the help of its Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, its State Legislatures, its Universities 

 — such as Madison — and its Bankers' Association, scenting 

 profit for banking in the advance of Agriculture, the national 

 farming interest is developing much further. 



Now one would like to ask : Have we in this busy country 

 of ours no need of a bridge to span the space which still 

 separates the producer and the consumer so as to bring 

 them into direct touch with one another and do away with 

 unnecessary toll taking — repeated as it is at more points 

 than one ? Are our agriculturists so prosperous that they 

 can afford going on doing as they do now, that is, buying 

 in the dearest market and selling in the cheapest^ — even 

 supposing that there is no fraudulent rigging of the market 

 by means of disloyal combination or conspiracy on the 

 other side ? And that at a time when all the business world 

 has settled it that the proper business principle is, to buy 

 in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market, and has 

 organised its forces accordingly, so as to avoid loss where it 

 can be avoided and ensure profit by appropriate distribution. 

 Listen to what Mr. A. D. Hall says on the point : ''' The 

 uneconomic nature of the present system may be gauged 

 by the number of dealers, auctioneers, agents, etc., that even 

 the smallest country market supports. Undoubtedly by 

 Co-operation something might be knocked off the cost 

 of materials bought, and in the end a more stable market 

 might be found for produce." Those hosts of middlemen 



