MARKET METHODS AND PROBLEMS 537 



and if their interest leads them irresistibly to accomplish their task 

 at the smallest possible cost, the competition which they create 

 amongst each other leads them no less irresistibly to cause the con- 

 sumers to partake of the profits of those realized savings. The grain 

 arrives : it is to the interest of commerce to sell it as soon as possible, 

 so as to avoid risks, to realize its investments and take advantage of 

 the first opportunity to buy again. 



It is true, the consumer is obliged to reimburse commerce for the 

 expenses of conveyance, freight, store-rooms, commissions, etc., but 

 can any system be devised in which he who eats grain is not obliged 

 to defray the expenses, whatever they may be, of bringing it within 

 his reach? The remuneration for the service performed has to be 

 paid also; but as regards its amount, this is reduced to the smallest 

 sum by competition. 



But if, according to the Socialist ideas, the state were to stand in 

 the place of commerce, what would happen? I should like to be 

 informed where the saving would be to the public? Would it be in 

 the price of purchase? Imagine the delegates of forty thousand 

 parishes arriving at Chicago on a given day, and on the day of need: 

 imagine the effect upon prices. Would the saving be in the expenses ? 

 Would fewer vessels be required, fewer sailors, fewer teamsters, fewer 

 railways? or would you be exempt from the payment of all these 

 things ? The Socialists overlook the fact that society, under a free 

 regulation, is a true association, far superior to any of those which 

 proceed from their fertile imaginations. 



170. THE ARGUMENT FOR SPECIALIZATION 1 

 BY L. D. H. WELD 



Much help may be derived from an application of the principle of 

 division of labor and specialization to the marketing process. Farm 

 products, in passing from farmer to consumer, normally pass through 

 the hands of certain middlemen, who may be classed roughly as local 

 buyers or country shippers, transportation companies, one or more 

 classes of wholesale dealers, and, finally, retailers. The need of the 

 local shipping unit, in order to consolidate small contributions of indi- 

 vidual farmers into car lots, to furnish storage facilities until time of 

 shipment, and to establish trading connections with city dealers, is 



1 Adapted from American Economic Review, V, No. i, Supplement (March, 

 1915), pp. 126-28. 



