92 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



the New Day. Why neglect the largest group of la- 

 borers, the farmers? Why are we not studying the 

 problems that the war will bring to our farming popu- 

 lation? A recent book deals with American problems 

 of reconstruction. Yet it not only has no chapter that 

 considers agriculture aside from one on distribution, 

 but the words " agriculture " or " farm " are not found 

 in the index. Is the subject unimportant or is there no 

 one capable of dealing with it? 



One of the great wastes in our food supply is the 

 constant re-shipment of products. Thousands of small 

 cities bring in food products from rather distant dis- 

 tributing centers of precisely the same type as those 

 grown in the surrounding country which in turn are sent 

 to a distant market. Shall we never have an adequate 

 study of this waste and how it may possibly be rem- 

 edied? 



Is there any state in the Union that has inventoried 

 its agricultural resources or developed a consistent agri- 

 cultural program on which all agencies are at work for 

 a common end? 



For nearly twenty years, the market milk problem 

 in the great eastern cities has been one of increasing 

 seriousness and difficulty. In New England, for ex- 

 ample, dairy farmers, pestered with attempts at legis- 

 lation and control, have been going out of business. 

 Valuable studies have been made, but the difficulty has 

 not as yet been " tackled " in the only way in which it 

 can be solved that is, as a whole. Only when the 

 entire problem is viewed as a unit, and producers, dis- 

 tributors and consumers, together with investigators, 

 teachers and regulatory officials, come together in a 

 definite consistent effort, each to do his part in work- 

 ing out a sound dairy policy for New England 



