356 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



product flour is sold and resold many times, so that 

 while many men handle the wheat many men own the wheat, 

 so that there is always some one near who has a proprietary 

 interest in the wheat. Do these men, each in turn, render a 

 service? They do. Is this service rendered in the most eco- 

 nomical manner and for a just charge ? This question is not so 

 easily answered, and here lies the center of the middleman 

 problem. This is the real issue between the farmer and the 

 middleman, an issue which has not been well defined as a 

 rule by those who have talked most about it. 



