THE FARMER AND THE MIDDLEMAN 365 



solving the marketing problems. Local cooperative companies 

 would prosper better under state supervision, especially with 

 respect to the auditing of accounts. Farmers' federated com- 

 panies are doubly in need of aid and supervision in order to 

 succeed in their more difficult task. But a still more important 

 function for public authority is the regulation and control of 

 private corporations dealing in farm products in the central 

 markets and beyond. 



It should not be assumed, however, that all charges are unfair 

 and require regulation. Whenever middleman services are per- 

 formed for a fair charge, and it is believed that this is true of a 

 great part of the middleman functions, regulation by farmers or 

 by government is but sand in the wheels of industry. 



