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consumer can buy it; if the consumer on the other hand, is willing to take 

 a little trouble and not expect instantaneous service from the nearest 

 store, but buys a little in advance and will buy in uniform, standardized 

 packages, then the gap is bridged. 



The next point is that not all the produce, or any large proportion of 

 it, is likely to be sold directly to consumers. I should expect that a great 

 amount of farm produce would continue to go through agencies of one 

 kind or another. The first effort would be to substitute the jobber for 

 the commission man. So long as the handling of farm produce is largely 

 speculative, as it must be, if farm produce is nondescript, ungraded and 

 unstandardized, the middleman does not like to assume the risk; he does 

 not want to do the speculating and he throws it back on the other fellow. 

 He merely receives it on consignment and the farmer must take the risk. 

 When the farmer himself standardizes his product, so that there is a 

 little less risk in handling it, then the jobber or the middleman ceases to 

 become the middleman and becomes the jobber. That is the history of 

 the development thus far. He buys it outright, takes it off the farmer's 

 hands and distributes it himself. I should expect the man who makes 

 that his specialty would probably continue to be distributing more 

 economically in the mass than the farmer himself. But the fact that 

 this other avenue is open, that the consumer can go to the producer with- 

 out having to go through the intermediary of the middleman, or the 

 producer can get his stuff past the middleman to the consumer, that 

 in itself will limit the toll which a middleman, who will then become the 

 jobber, can charge for his services. I should expect, as I said, the man 

 in that business who makes it a specialty can do it far more cheaply than 

 the co-operative society or any other society who tries to market directly, 

 but he is compelled to do it cheaper by reason of the fact that it is pos- 

 sible for them to get along without him. 



The same principle is involved here as in the theory of railway rates 

 where a railroad has to compete with water transportation. Railroads in 

 the neighborhood of the great lakes, for instance; it is well recognized 

 that they keep their rates down by reason of the fact that water trans- 

 portation is still a possibility. It is not necessary that the bulk of the 

 freight shall go by water; it is not necessary that a very large percentage 

 shall actually go by water. The mere fact that the channel is open limits 

 the toll that the railroad can charge. 



So, in this situation which I am describing, it will not be necessary 

 that a large proportion of the farm produce shall be actually marketed 

 through parcel post or any other direct method. The mere fact that 

 that method is open and possible will force the surviving middlemen to 

 do their business economically. If they can do that, it will force efficient 

 methods upon them. I do not know that middlemen are different from 

 other people. So long as conditions are easy we are certain to profit in 

 a way, no matter what the methods are. The farmer, the middleman, 

 the merchant and others are inclined to be a little slipshod in their 



