tion was $847. In other words a high school education is 

 equivalent on the average to $6,000 worth of five percent 

 bonds. 



Marketing. Better business through better marketing 

 conditions is one of the pressing needs of farmers and city con- 

 sumers today. The long line of middlemen and distributors 

 between the farmer and the consumer are in a position to take 

 advantage of the market and to a certain extent control the 

 market because they are organized to keep informed of market 

 and crop conditio,ns and to act more promptly than either far- 

 mers or consumers who are not organized. The present prices 

 of farm products furnish ample proof that there is plenty of 

 room for lowering the cost to the consumer without injury to 

 the producer. This marketing problem will have to be solved 

 by better organization of farmers and improved methods of 

 marketing. To increase the output of the farm in order that 

 a larger share may go to the middleman is not an attractive 

 program for any farmer. 



Cooperation in Buying and Selling. Many cooperative 

 associations have been formed by farmers for purposes of buy- 

 ing and selling to greater advantage. When these associations 

 were first started it was supposed that the result would be of 

 advantage to both producer and consumer. The chief advan- 

 tage to the consumer has not been a lower price but a better 

 product for the same price. Dairymen's associations, for ex- 

 ample, have endeavored to maintain the going price rather 

 than to lower it, but they have supplied a better product by 

 testing the milk and enforcing rules as to its care from the 

 farm to the market. Another advantage to the producer and 

 especially to the small producer is that of lower freight rates 

 through shipping in car load lots. Cooperative buying has al- 

 so been tried successfully in this and other states with profit 

 to the farmer, but all cooperative movements call for executive 

 ability on the part of those managing the business. The hope 

 of eliminating the middleman wholly from our economic sys- 

 tem has not been realized. Cooperative associations, through 

 competition, have lowered the profit made by the middleman 

 to a more equitable standard. 



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