564 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



the government would become autocratic to an extent that would 

 nullify its republican and democratic status. If, on the other hand, 

 it were absolutely disconnected from any government influence, it 

 would then not be possible to materialize itself. There would then 

 be nothing to prevent any number of competing organizations from 

 springing up with like powers and functions. Were such to be the 

 case it would soon neutralize the power and effectiveness of all these 

 organizations, the same as it does now in the United States and as it 

 formerly did hi Germany. 



The chief merit of the German system consists in the fact that the 

 Landwirtschaftsrat is a semi-official organization. I wish to empha- 

 size the word "semi-official." While the German Landwirtschaftsrat 

 exists under the imperial laws of Germany, and while its operations 

 must conform to those laws, there is no jurisdiction between this 

 organization and any cabinet ministries of Germany. The Landwirt- 

 schaftsrat, while under government law, is not a servant or adjunct 

 of the government. Apart from obeying the few fundamental and 

 simple by-laws inscribed on its charter by the government, it is in 

 all other respects autonomous. In the place of being subject to a 

 department of the government, it is, on the contrary, a critic of the 

 government; in other words, it is semi-official. 



Being composed of a membership of millions of units, units com- 

 posed of all political shades, there would then be no danger of wielding 

 this organization as a special political party machine, not any more 

 so than it would be possible to utilize politically the members of the 

 chambers of commerce or boards of trade. 



Last fall I had occasion to travel around in Massachusetts in an 

 automobile. On the road I saw in the fields heaps of apples on 

 the ground. There was no market for the apples, anyone might take 

 them, they were lying around on the ground rotting. Out in California, 

 at Lodi, I had a talk with the owner of a large vineyard. He gave me 

 to understand that, so far as production was concerned, thanks to the 

 scientific information from the Department of Agriculture, there was 

 nothing to complain of; that by skilful pruning and cultivating he 

 had increased production a ton to a ton and a half an acre; but when 

 asked about distribution, with regard to the sale of his wine grapes, 

 that was a different story. The wine grapes from which the "vin 

 ordinaire" is made are worth about $30 a ton in Italy, France, or 

 Spain. They used to be worth from $30 to $40 a ton in California, 

 but the organization of wine-makers, through combination, have 



