

methods. No economical society is interested in preserving a type of 

 business after that business ceases to be necessary. When the consumer 

 finds that he can get along just as well without certain products, the 

 farmer that produces that kind of product becomes unnecessary and must 

 go. The same will be true of the middleman whenever his services are 

 unnecessary. There is no use in complaining about that. It is a law of 

 the universe. Possibly some other kind of universe might be run on a 

 different principle. That is not our concern. 



I have mentioned grading, standardizing, getting a direct market and 

 the effect which this will have on indirect marketing, which will be the 

 principal method of getting the goods from the producer to the consumer. 



Then there is the question of transportation. The chief difficulty 

 is not with railway rates. I have recently been in Alabama and I have in 

 mind the experience of a co-operative society in marketing strawberries. 

 They have no complaint to make against railroad rates. They are willing 

 to pay good rates for good service, but what spoils the business is the 

 frequency with which a carload of strawberries fails to reach its destina- 

 tion. It is properly started on its way, it gets off on a side-track some- 

 where, is three or four days late getting to market, and the loss of one or 

 two cars of strawberries is a pretty severe one to a group of co-operators. 

 They would much better sell on the spot than to undertake to do their 

 own marketing. They cannot afford to stand the risk. This particular 

 co-operative strawberry growers' association has lost in the last two years 

 several carloads of strawberries just by that method. 



As I have said, they have no complaint against the railroad rates; 

 they do complain against the inefficiency with which those goods are 

 delivered. This is not meant as an attack upon the railroad. 



I have not named any railroad. It happens that all these losses 

 have come through the inefficiency of one particular railway system. It 

 might be interesting if I should name that system, but I will not. I say 

 this for the general benefit of the railway men who are genuinely inter- 

 ested in this problem of farm economics and the improved methods of 

 distribution. One of the first things they ought to do is to see to it that 

 perishable freight is delivered promptly. Perhaps they think they are 

 doing it. The specific cases which I have mentioned, which I can vouch 

 for, show that there is still room for improvement. I believe the rail- 

 roads can do more for this problem by getting efficiency in service than 

 by engaging in any kind of an educational campaign, although educa- 

 tional campaigns are always valuable. 



Mrs. Smith: What we need is this sort of a clear explanation of 

 where we stand, what the condition of the country is, what we have to 

 face and how these things can be remedied. We need to understand each 

 other. We at these meetings represent so many different interests, the 

 farmers, the commission men and the business men who are handling 

 this food problem; also the people of the city, the consumers — all sides 



