356 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



product — flour — is sold and resold many times, so that 

 while many men handle the wheat many men own the wheat, 

 so that there is always some one near who has a proprietary 

 interest in the wheat. Do these men, each in turn, render a 

 service? They do. Is this service rendered in the most eco- 

 nomical manner and for a just charge ? This question is not so 

 easily answered, and here lies the center of the middleman 

 problem. This is the real issue between the farmer and the 

 middleman, — an issue which has not been well defined as a 

 rule by those who have talked most about it. 



