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of production, shipment of their product, and its disposition, so that in 

 the end we shall have the farmer, through his organization, dealing much 

 more directly with the consumer than he does now. It will put a lot of 

 the middlemen out of business, and I think that will be a good thing. 

 Some think that agricultural co-operation will have an injurious effect 

 on the country towns. I believe that whatever makes the farmers more 

 prosperous will make the country town that supplies the farmer's needs 

 more prosperous. In my mind, the cure for much that the farmer suffers 

 because he is not organized, because he does not get a fair share of what 

 he produces, is agricultural co-operation properly applied. 



The attention of the nation has been fixed on better business, better 

 methods of work, better living conditions in the towns. We are beginning 

 to understand that better living is just as important on the farm, and that 

 we must recognize the farmer and his wife as a most useful part of our 

 population. We shall then have a greater appreciation of what this meet- 

 ing means, for I think we can all put it down as an absolute fact that no 

 matter how useful a man may be in town, the most useful citizen of any 

 republic is now, and must always continue to be, the man who owns and 

 tills the soil from which he makes his living. 



