CHAPTER XXVII 

 THE FARMER AND THE MIDDLEMAN 



DURING the past ten years the marketing problem has come 

 prominently into the foreground. To some it has appeared 

 that the middleman is in a position to demand that his basket 

 be filled without rendering a corresponding service. To others 

 it has appeared that the present system of marketing is waste- 

 ful of human energy because there are too many middlemen. 

 There is truth in both of these suggestions, but, as often pre- 

 sented by the cartoonist and by the excitement-loving editor, 

 much besides the truth is conveyed to the reading public. 

 Fortunately, while the earlier farmers' conventions dealing with 

 this problem indulged largely in emotions and sentiments, recent 

 meetings of farmers give primary attention to fact and reason. 



Our pioneer forefathers were not confronted with the modern 

 marketing problem. Their agriculture was conducted more 

 largely with a view to the direct satisfaction of their own wants. 

 With the cheap freight rates resulting from modern methods of 

 transportation, agriculture has become commercial. The farmer 

 produces primarily for the market, and the farmers of the dif- 

 ferent parts of the country give a more especial attention to 

 some one or two lines of production. For example, the Dakotas 

 produce wheat; Iowa markets hogs and cattle; Wisconsin 

 specializes in dairy products and potatoes ; Texas sells cotton 

 and cattle; and other states likewise have their specialties. 

 Each state produces a large surplus of a few articles and must 

 buy many articles from other states. It is the exchange of 

 these specialties which brings the marketing problem into the 

 foreground. 



Those who criticize modern commercial systems as wasteful 

 are certainly not comparing the present system with that of the 



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