52 POTATO DEVELOPMENT WORK IN WISCONSIN. 



nish it. When the time comes that we as shippers can buy a rea- 

 sonable amount of really choice potatoes there will be a difference 

 in the price paid for them as compared to inferior stock; and in 

 this improvement in quality both the grower and the shipper are 

 equally interested. As a matter of fact, the growers' and ship- 

 pers' interests are in a great measure identical. The grower must 

 have a price that will enable him to profitably grow potatoes, and 

 the shipper must secure a margin that will profitably enable him 

 to reach out for new and wider territory and I hope the time may 

 come when there will be less feeling between growers and ship- 

 pers. In this connection I feel that the newspapers, in some in- 

 stances, are responsible for stirring up prejudice against the mid- 

 dleman. If he is an evil, which I cannot admit, he is certainly a 

 necessary evil, for the grower is not in a position to go out and 

 secure trade in cities from one end of the country to the other, 

 for if he should secure customers this year in Oklahoma, who 

 might use all of his crop, it is quite possible that the next year 

 Oklahoma would be entirely supplied by potatoes from some 

 other section and that the grower would have to look to some 

 point in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama. An 

 outlet can not be found near at hand for all of Wisconsin's poto- 

 toes; and the more aggressive and energetic the shipper, who is 

 handling Wisconsin potatoes, the more benefit is he to the Wis- 

 consin grower. I think that we all owe a debt of gratitude to the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station of this State for it has been do- 

 ing a great work and I am deeply gratified to note the interest 

 which has been awakened. I feel sure that the time is coming 

 when our customers in competitive territory will be willing to pay 

 us as much if not more for Wisconsin potatoes than for those 

 from any other section. It 's simply up to the Wisconsin grower 

 to improve his quality and to the Wisconsin shipper to get out 

 and get the business, and I can see from this meeting that we all 

 feel sufficiently enthusiastic about this to make its accomplish- 

 ment certain. 



