54 THE MODERN MILK PROBLEM 



power, in which endeavor his chief advisers must be 

 the agricultural authorities and many of his best text- 

 books will be their bulletins. It rests with himself as 

 to whether he will take advantage of his opportunities. 



THE POSITION OF THE DEALER 



The modern development of the milk business has 

 brought into existence a highly important factor 

 the person or concern known variously as the middle- 

 man, distributer, retailer, contractor, or dealer. He is 

 the successor of the farmer-retailer who enlarges his 

 business by collecting and selling milk from his neigh- 

 bors, but is a different type in that he is distinctly a 

 business man. He occupies to-day, in the larger cities, 

 the central position in the milk situation. Reaching 

 far out into the country districts by means of the rail- 

 roads, collecting and distributing on a large scale, he 

 connects, at the same time that he separates, producer 

 and consumer. This middleman business involves 

 large investments of capital and is one of the "big 

 businesses" of to-day. 



In milk controversies in the large cities it is the mid- 

 dleman who seems to hold the key to the situation. 

 Under ordinary conditions he virtually sets both the 

 price paid to the producer and the price to be charged 

 the customer, and he will not readily make concessions 

 at either end. Being a better business man than the 

 farmer, it is natural to infer that he reaps the lion's 

 share of the profits. 



In certain respects, this concentration of the milk 

 business is, as Rosenau points out, an advantage. It 

 makes for economic efficiency and at the same time 



