BEGINNINGS OF THE NORTHWEST 



notices became more and more frequent in 

 the Northwestern journals and the farmer 

 saw his chances for success always dwindling 

 before him. 



Yet at any time (and here was the bitter- 

 ness of his case) he could trace back the 

 barrel of flour bought by an Eastern house- 

 holder, put together the retailer's profit and 

 the wholesaler's, add in the cost of trans- 

 porting, the cost of milling, the cost of 

 hauling the wheat to the mill, clear back to 

 the day when he started from his farm with 

 that wheat in his wagon, and see that between 

 the price paid by the householder and the 

 money he, the producer, received was a huge 

 discrepancy beyond all allowances and beyond 

 all reason. And he saw plainly also that this 

 discrepancy was what made to him all the 

 difference; that if at any time he could ob- 

 tain a fair share of the price paid by the 

 householder, farming would not be a hand-to- 

 hand struggle for life, but a business of just 

 compensations. 



Feeling more and more the sting of this 

 wrong, it was inevitable that he should revolt 

 against it. 



Gradually there had grown up a system of 

 handling the wheat from the farm to the con- 

 sumer that involved much machinery, need- 

 less operations, and stupendous waste. Part 

 of this waste was paid for by the consumer; 



9 



