THE ORGANIZATION OF RURAL INTERESTS 503 



as between the long haul and the short haul in order that both 

 the distant producer and the nearby farmer may have sub- 

 stantial justice. 



4. The Problem of Storage. The purpose of storage is to keep 

 such part of the product as is not immediately necessary, until 

 it is needed by the consumer. The farmer believes, and probably 

 with reason, that those who control storage facilities exact unfair 

 toll from the farmer. The difficulty lies less in dishonesty than 

 in the fact that the whole system is purely a profit-making 

 affair. The storage system should be organized and controlled 

 as primarily a method of relating supply and demand. 



5. The Selling of Crops. In case of fruits, vegetables, and 

 poultry products, producer and consumer may be brought to- 

 gether face to face in public or community markets where they 

 may make their bargain. For most crops, the middleman is 

 indispensable. He should not be abolished but redirected. 

 We shall never have satisfactory methods of marketing farm 

 products until we have a thoroughly organized group of pro- 

 ducers, each group with its special product, dealing directly with 

 well organized groups of consumers, or with well organized 

 groups of middlemen whose activities are regulated by the gov- 

 ernment in the interests of both producers and consumers. 



6. The Farmer's Interest in Manufacture and Care. The con- 

 servation and processing of farm products has gone largely into 

 the hands of commercial concerns. The farmer, however, has 

 a moral obligation to eliminate all wastes on the farm itself. 

 Community enterprises looking toward the manufacture or 

 preservation of certain products, both for use in the community 

 itself and as a business venture, will probably increase. There 

 is a vast waste in double transportation; for example, wheat 

 is shipped one thousand miles for milling and the flour is brought 

 back to the farm region where the wheat was grown. 



7. Protection and Insurance. The farmer wages a constant 

 battle against insect pests, diseases, of plants and animals, un- 

 favorable natural conditions such as weeds, flood, drouth, frost, 

 wind, hail, fire. Widespread education, mutual insurance and 

 cooperative action seem to be the main solutions. One of the 

 biggest problems of protection is whether it is possible to insure 

 the farmers to some extent against loss due to inadequate knowl- 



