122 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



almost the entire trade in raw materials and manufactured 

 products. 



It is only natural that the middlemen should endeavor to in- 

 crease their gains by buying cheap and selling dear, that they 

 should specialize and multiply as the wants of consumers grow 

 and the sources of supplies become more and more distant. The 

 widening gap between the farmer and the users of the farmer's 

 product makes a place for a large number of go-betweens. 



Aside from the fact that these men are specialists in their 

 various activities, that they furnish the money to store and 

 distribute the products of producers, to find markets and facili- 

 tate trade, they have in many instances taken over all the mar- 

 keting activities of the farmer. They often purchase apples 

 upon the tree, pick them, grade them, pack them and ship them, 

 severing all connection between the farmer and his product be- 

 fore his fruit is harvested. Differing somewhat in degree, the 

 same may in many instances be said of tobacco, live stock, poul- 

 try, eggs, potatoes, grain, etc. The farmer buys his fertilizer 

 and feed prepared, mixed, bagged, labeled, delivered by the re- 

 tail dealer into his wagon and paid for by the dealer, who gives 

 the farmer credit. The farmer is a producer of goods, nothing 

 more. Possibly that is sufficient, but if so, he should be an in- 

 telligent producer, purchasing shrewdly and selling his produce 

 at a reasonable margin of profit. 



Now it is very evident that farm methods are improving; the 

 farmer is a better producer than he was years ago. But it is 

 also evident that much of the advantage he has gained through 

 education, applied science, government aid, better equipment 

 and more intelligent practice, has been altogether lost because 

 he has not been able to dispose of his crop or to buy his supplies 

 and equipments advantageously. 



In some agricultural industries in the United States and al- 

 most everywhere in Europe, farmers have secured great financial 

 advantages and acquired a keen sense of business by combining 

 their interests, by buying and selling together. In some coun- 

 tries the results of cooperative business methods are marvelous. 

 Denmark has become rich and world-famous, and little Ireland, 

 for years known as the very poorest agricultural country in Eu- 

 rope, has made remarkable progress, simply because the farmers 



