Part II.] STATE BUREAU OF MARKETS. . 125 



bulletin on the supply and distribution of Connecticut valley 

 onions, and will soon publish the results of a study of the costs 

 of milk distribution in six Massachusetts cities and towns. The 

 investigational work of the Federal Office of Markets has been 

 explained by Mr. Gilbert. 



Field Instruction in Organization and Marketing. 



. Up to the present the organization work in marketing has 

 consisted chiefly in instructing farmers in proper methods of 

 organizing co-operative societies for purchase, sale and produc- 

 tion, and in teaching the best methods of conducting the busi- 

 ness of the association after organization. None of the market 

 bureaus, except perhaps those independently established, have 

 undertaken the actual organization of farmers. In the practical 

 division of labor the college men and the market bureaus estab- 

 lished in agricultural colleges have had the most to do with 

 this organization work. As a general principle, all matters of 

 education, whether at the college or throughout the State, 

 should be placed in charge of the educational institutions. 



In Massachusetts instruction in the organization of co-opera- 

 tive societies and in marketing has been carried on by the ex- 

 tension service ever since the extension professorship in agricul- 

 tural economics was established. Any one who has attended a 

 meeting of farmers who desire to organize a co-operative society 

 understands the necessity for much more instruction along this 

 line. This instructional work in organization, then, is a real 

 function of the agricultural college, and in practice, where two 

 agencies are doing marketing work in one State, this function 

 is being taken over by the agricultural college. 



Administrative and Regulative Activities. 

 The four remaining functions outlined are managed in various 

 ways by the different State bureaus. The independent bureaus 

 have very wide powers, and in some instances have undertaken 

 the actual work of distributing farm products, and have become 

 middlemen in distribution. In the southern States the work of 

 the bureaus has been pretty largely devoted to maintaining 

 exchanges between farmers and consumers for the sale of com- 



